Design Commission Abu Dhabi, chaired by Her Highness Sheikha Shamsa bint Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Nahyan, has partnered with Tiffany & Co. to launch the Tiffany & Co. Residency Program, a six-month platform for emerging talent in jewellery and watchmaking. It joins DCAD’s multidisciplinary residency portfolio as its most specialised strand yet, and its most direct route into the international luxury industry.
The premise is a meeting of two inheritances. On one side, the Emirate’s architecture, craft traditions and artistic heritage. On the other, nearly two centuries of Tiffany innovation and design. Residents will work between them, sharpening technical proficiency, testing materials, and arriving at a design language of their own, one grounded in local heritage and made for contemporary practice.
Ten residents will be selected. From November 2026 to April 2027 they will convene every Saturday at a dedicated venue in Abu Dhabi, and the programme will close with a capstone exhibition in May 2027, staging their final projects within the city’s cultural landscape rather than tucking them away in a studio.
The three strongest participants will be awarded a three-month internship at Tiffany & Co.’s New York headquarters, running from June to August 2027. Applications and portfolios are open now via the official DCAD website (dcad.ae), and close on 20 September 2026. Residencies are easy to announce and harder to make count. This one has a clear through line from application to exhibition to New York, which is more than most emerging designers in the region are usually offered. Abu Dhabi’s creative economy has never lacked ambition or capital.
