MILAN — The social and cultural calendars of discerning art collectors in Abu Dhabi and the Hamptons will be enhanced with two new events over the next 12 months.

The invite-only itinerant art and design showcase Nomad Design Fair is gearing up to host the first Abu Dhabi edition from Nov. 19 to 22 and another one in the Hamptons June 25 to 28.

Nomad has garnered global recognition for its intimate events that take over unexpected, glamorous locations and bring emerging and established galleries, as well as unique projects, together under one roof — think creations from New York’s Friedman Benda, David Gill Gallery from London, Nilufar Gallery from Milan and Etage Projects from Copenhagen.

Nomad’s first edition took place in 2017 in Monaco at La Vigie, a villa renovated and occupied by fashion legend Karl Lagerfeld in the ’80s and used during key moments for Monaco’s ruling family, including Charlotte Casiraghi’s wedding. For Nomad, three floors of the 6,458-square-foot villa — plus terrace — were open to the public for the first time in 100 years. 

The fair’s 2019 edition was held at the similarly stunning Palazzo Soranzo-Van Axel, a Gothic church constructed by the Soranzo family in 1473 on the southernmost tip of the Cannaregio quarter in Venice. Nomad Saint Moritz 2024 hosted guests at Hotel Eden, which boasts sweeping lake and mountain views.

The Inaugural U.A.E. Event

“It’s [U.A.E.] a country where you have a real base of collectors that has been collecting for quite some time now…and now you have these foreigners also living there that you don’t have yet in other countries,” said Nomad cofounder Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte, referring to the region’s ongoing social evolution catalyzed by the growing expat communities of Indians, Russians and British.

Coinciding with Abu Dhabi Art Week, Nomad has been granted the directive by the city’s Department of Culture and Tourism to take over the former Terminal 1 at the Abu Dhabi International Airport, a monument of Arabian modernism designed in the late 1970s by visionary architect Paul Andreu, who also designed Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport. Bellavance-Lecompte said that Bottega Veneta has earmarked its own dedicated space within the terminal, marking the first time the luxury brand has participated in a Nomad calendar event.

Gucci was one of the first luxury brands to catch on to the fair’s charms, and collaborated with Nomad for “Artists in Flux,” a project that unfolded in Milan and took place during Milan Design Week in 2023, in a private home designed by the late architect Luigi Caccia Dominioni.

Landing in the USA

Nomad will make its American debut at the storied Watermill Center in the Hamptons — an incubator of radical creativity founded by visionary artist and director Robert Wilson in 1992. The cultural hub was built on the site of the Western Union communication research facility near Southampton, Long Island, about two hours from New York City.

After scouting several locations in Florida, California and Texas, the organizers decided on the Hamptons after Wilson, who died earlier this year, granted them permission to showcase in his space. “It’s quite challenging to find the right venue in the Hamptons because there aren’t many large-scale venues there.…But then we had this great meeting with Bob Wilson and his staff, and they offered us the Watermill Center. It’s an incredible place,” Bellavance-Lecompte said.

Since Nomad’s inception, Bellavance-Lecompte and his cofounder Giorgio Pace, an avant-garde curator, have seen the fair resonate in the fashion world, while drawing chief executive officers from the sector’s biggest conglomerates. The real estate crowd has gotten involved, too, seeking to capitalize on the potential for vacation homes. Sotheby’s International Real Estate Italy is one of the 2024 Capri edition’s sponsors. Since earlier this month, Bellavance-Lecompte has taken the sole direction of the fair.

⁠Bellavance-Lecompte, a design curator and architect who founded the Carwan Gallery in Beirut in 2011, has forged cross-cultural dialogues within the design community. Having curated more than 65 exhibitions across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, he has established collaborations with designers, companies, museums and art centers. 

Market Resilience

Worldwide, the collectible art and design industry is expanding despite ongoing geopolitical turmoil, especially when there is a fashion component. Born in Brussels in 2018, the Collectible design platform, which was driven by the approval of attendees like Dries Van Noten, fashion boutique architects Gonzalez Haase, and Alexis Martial and Adrien Caillaudaud, former artistic directors of Carven, debuted in New York City in 2024. Paris-based design event Matter and Shape is currently eyeing new cities to fuel expansion, while Design Miami expanded into Paris in 2023 and hosted its first Los Angeles edition in 2024 and first Seoul exhibition on Sept. 1.

Nomad’s flagship winter event will unfurl in Saint Moritz from Feb. 12 to 15.