DESIGNART Tokyo 2026

We begin the week with the opening of Shaikha Alketbi’s exhibition at the Outpost.

Join us for an evening of art, music, and delicious bites, with a few words to introduce the exhibition, the program, and the ideas behind it. More than an opening, it’s a chance to meet the people gathering around the Outpost, reconnect with friends, old and new, and start a few new conversations. Come for the exhibition. Stay for the cool stories and cool people that’ll make this a memorable night.

Five mornings. Five guests. Five ways into the same question.

Small Talk is an opportunity for us to sit down with someone we’ve met along the way, from the UAE or Japan, for an hour of coffee, baked goods, and conversation. Designers, makers, and influential voices, each bringing a different perspective to our theme: Me and you, we’re not that different, right? Across five mornings, we’ll look at the small things that bring two places closer: how we make, how we live, what we value, and the ideas we carry from one culture into another. No big stage. Just a table, a guest, and a good chat to start the day.

What can we build together that we couldn’t build alone?

The Outpost didn’t begin with a space in Tokyo. It began with people: encounters between the UAE and Japan that became conversations, collaborations, friendships and, eventually, reasons to keep coming back.

We bring together some of the people behind that journey to talk about what happens when an exchange becomes something more lasting. From Shaikha Alketbi’s years between the UAE and Japan to the Ripple Collective’s decision to put down roots in Tokyo, the conversation looks at what each side brings, what changes through working together, and what might still be possible.

Five mornings. Five guests. Five ways into the same question.

Small Talk is an opportunity for us to sit down with someone we’ve met along the way, from the UAE or Japan, for an hour of coffee, baked goods, and conversation. Designers, makers, and influential voices, each bringing a different perspective to our theme: Me and you, we’re not that different, right? Across five mornings, we’ll look at the small things that bring two places closer: how we make, how we live, what we value, and the ideas we carry from one culture into another. No big stage. Just a table, a guest, and a good chat to start the day.

Five mornings. Five guests. Five ways into the same question.

Small Talk is an opportunity for us to sit down with someone we’ve met along the way, from the UAE or Japan, for an hour of coffee, baked goods, and conversation. Designers, makers, and influential voices, each bringing a different perspective to our theme: Me and you, we’re not that different, right? Across five mornings, we’ll look at the small things that bring two places closer: how we make, how we live, what we value, and the ideas we carry from one culture into another. No big stage. Just a table, a guest, and a good chat to start the day.

Five mornings. Five guests. Five ways into the same question.

Small Talk is an opportunity for us to sit down with someone we’ve met along the way, from the UAE or Japan, for an hour of coffee, baked goods, and conversation. Designers, makers, and influential voices, each bringing a different perspective to our theme: Me and you, we’re not that different, right? Across five mornings, we’ll look at the small things that bring two places closer: how we make, how we live, what we value, and the ideas we carry from one culture into another. No big stage. Just a table, a guest, and a good chat to start the day.

Five mornings. Five guests. Five ways into the same question.

Small Talk is an opportunity for us to sit down with someone we’ve met along the way, from the UAE or Japan, for an hour of coffee, baked goods, and conversation. Designers, makers, and influential voices, each bringing a different perspective to our theme: Me and you, we’re not that different, right? Across five mornings, we’ll look at the small things that bring two places closer: how we make, how we live, what we value, and the ideas we carry from one culture into another. No big stage. Just a table, a guest, and a good chat to start the day.

What does a country look like through the things it designs?

From Japan, the UAE can seem defined by a familiar set of images: skyscrapers, oil, luxury, desert. If we look closer, another picture emerges. A young country with deep cultural roots. Cities changing at remarkable speed. And a design culture still finding, questioning, and defining its own language.

For DESIGNART Tokyo, Ripple Collective and YL Projects bring some of that conversation to Tokyo. Through objects, images and stories, the evening looks at design in the Emirates today: what comes from tradition, what comes from change, and how places as different as Abu Dhabi and Dubai are shaping their own creative identities. And then, the view shifts between the UAE and Japan. What draws Japanese creatives to the Emirates? What do they see when they arrive? And what can happen when two very different design cultures begin to influence one another?

The event will include a panel conversation and audience Q&A featuring Nuno Abreu, Founder of Ripple Collective, Jonathan Kennaugh, Head of Ripple Design Outpost in Tokyo, and moderated by Yoichiro Tamada, Founder and Creative Director at YL Projects.