A Journey Woven in Fragments: Emirati Design Meets Italian Artistry

There is a particular moment when a designer’s vision transcends the personal and becomes something that speaks to a culture, a lineage, a conversation between worlds. This year, that moment belongs to Maitha Alansaari, whose winning design for the Design Award demonstrates the kind of thoughtful exploration that defines the most compelling contemporary fashion.

Alansaari’s creation, titled A Journey Woven in Fragments, moves beyond mere ornamentation to ask deeper questions about identity itself. The work engages in a deliberate dialogue between Emirati heritage and Italian artistry, two traditions meeting not in collision but in conversation. Ornamentation here becomes a language, a means through which the designer articulates something essential about who we are and where we come from.

The award itself represents something vital for the region: a commitment to nurturing the voices of emerging designers within the UAE, to recognizing that fashion is not simply about garment making but about cultural expression, about the hands and minds that shape how we present ourselves to the world. The Design Award has drawn together the finest emerging talent, celebrating not only the winner but the finalists whose designs equally demonstrate remarkable craftsmanship and innovation.

Those who wish to encounter these works may do so at the Dolce and Gabbana boutique at The Galleria Al Maryah Island in Abu Dhabi, where Alansaari’s winning design is displayed alongside the finalist creations from 14 October 2026. To stand before these pieces is to understand what happens when a designer truly listens to both tradition and imagination, when heritage and contemporary vision find themselves in productive alliance.