An airport is, by definition, a place of departure. A space designed for movement, transition and the promise of somewhere else. Yet this November, Abu Dhabi’s former airport terminal will once again become a destination in its own right, as NOMAD returns for its second edition in the UAE capital.
Founded in 2017 by Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte and Giorgio Pace, NOMAD has developed a distinctive approach to the traditional design fair. Rather than relying on conventional exhibition halls, it brings collectible design and contemporary art into architecturally significant settings, from historic villas in St. Moritz to Venetian palazzos and, most recently, the former airport terminal in Abu Dhabi, designed by French architect Paul Andreu.
For Bellavance-Lecompte, whose career has taken him from the founding of Carwan Gallery in Beirut to the development of NOMAD as an international platform, the experience of design is inseparable from the spaces in which it is encountered.
Ahead of NOMAD Abu Dhabi 2026, Marie Claire Maison Arabia speaks with him about the thinking behind this itinerant format, the changing geography of collectible design, and why the Middle East is becoming an increasingly influential voice in the international design conversation.
Architecture has always been at the heart of the NOMAD experience. What makes a location the right setting for NOMAD, and why did you choose Abu Dhabi’s former airport terminal?
The concept of NOMAD is definitely to travel around the world and discover different architectures and formats, where the experience of the visitor can change their perception of the design and artworks being exhibited.
Whether we are at Villa La Vigie in Monaco, formerly Karl Lagerfeld’s residence, Chesa Planta, a historic patrician house in the Engadin, Palazzo Soranzo Van Axel in Venice, the Palais Bulles near Cannes, the Certosa di San Giacomo in Capri, or the former airport terminal in Abu Dhabi, designed by French architect Paul Andreu, it’s always a unique experience to access these buildings and discover the works of designers and artists within such a context.
We have also explored extraordinary architectural settings such as the Palais Bulles near Cannes, through a virtual edition, and The Watermill Center in the Hamptons, founded by Robert Wilson. Each location offers a completely different experience.
I think this has definitely added value to NOMAD and contributed to its uniqueness. This is exactly the type of experience we wanted to create. The airport becomes particularly interesting from this perspective because of the journey within the building, which we will further develop this year. The experience of check-in, security control and so on will be taken to a more performative level, giving visitors the impression that they are literally preparing for a journey.
This year, we have a very wide range of galleries coming from Korea, India, Burkina Faso, the Americas and Europe, as well as across the region, from Istanbul and Cairo to Beirut. So the concept of the airport is particularly relevant to this edition because, in a way, you can travel without actually travelling. As you walk through the fair, discovering the different presentations in the former gates and duty-free shops, you are also discovering different destinations, cultures and creative expressions.
What made you feel the need to conceive a different experience? What did you believe was missing from the conventional design fair model?
I wouldn’t say that the other models are not working. I think it’s more a question of diversity and adding a different type of experience. There are obviously many art and design fairs around the world that take place in exhibition halls, with hundreds of galleries.
The experience is completely different. When you’re in an exhibition hall, you’re essentially in a white-cube environment, with artificial lighting, and the way you move through the space is entirely different. The fact that NOMAD also operates in resort destinations makes it very special.
You travel to a particular destination, whether it’s St. Moritz, Capri, Venice or Abu Dhabi, and that journey becomes part of the experience. You arrive somewhere specific and discover a particular architecture. It’s not about going to a big city, entering an exhibition or congress centre and joining 30,000 people queuing to see booths. It’s a completely different concept.
And that’s what I thought was missing from the market ten years ago: this particular type of experience.
Going back to your experience with Carwan Gallery, do you think the Middle East is now developing its own language of collectible design? How has the region’s creative landscape evolved since you first started working here?
If I contextualise my experience in the region, starting when I had my own gallery in Beirut in 2011, and also travelling to create exhibitions for different institutions and art centres, I had the opportunity to experience the reality of the GCC countries more than a decade ago.
And it was drastically different. Every country has evolved. I curated exhibitions in Qatar in 2012 and also worked in Saudi Arabia around that period, so it’s quite interesting to see how all these markets have developed and how the idea of collectible design has established itself, more strongly in some countries than in others.
Back then, collectible design grew very quickly in Lebanon, and you started to find many new collectors. There was already an established community of design collectors in the early 2010s. In other destinations across the region, it took almost a decade for collectible design to become more established. I think one particularly interesting emerging scene is Egypt.
The design market in Egypt is growing at a very impressive speed. It is perhaps a little more chaotic, as the country itself can be, but what is happening there is extremely interesting. One of the great developments, although perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise considering the investments that were already being made 15 years ago, is the United Arab Emirates.
The first design fair was held in Dubai in 2012, and a broader design culture gradually developed through initiatives such as Design Week. Today, that culture has reached a certain maturity. There are many interior designers and designers based in the Emirates, and it has become, in my opinion, the most vibrant design scene in the region. There is also significant economic power. When you combine these factors, the Emirates are now positioned as one of the most prominent design scenes in the world, particularly in terms of purchasing power, new projects and scale.
And that was certainly one of the main reasons why we decided to establish Abu Dhabi as a new NOMAD destination: to become part of this context.
This year, NOMAD Abu Dhabi brings together galleries from an even wider range of countries, from Maison Intègre in Burkina Faso to Nilufar and Carpenters Workshop Gallery. What is the common thread connecting this selection? Are you trying to create a more global dialogue?
I think this particular edition of NOMAD Abu Dhabi is extremely exciting in terms of gallery selection because it’s the first time we have achieved such an important level of diversity in the region. We have really high-level galleries coming from all corners of the world.
If the political situation had been a little easier, we could probably have achieved even more incredible results. But considering the time we had and the circumstances, I think the line-up is already exceptional. It’s wonderful to have new voices, including galleries from Poland, such as Craftica Gallery, and also the first participation of Carpenters Workshop Gallery.
This shows that the vision and strength of NOMAD have become important for some of the more established, major international galleries as well. The common thread is really diversity.
As I mentioned earlier, you walk through a former airport and discover all these different destinations through the provenance of the artworks, design pieces, exhibiting galleries and special projects. We want to create a variety that represents the region in the right way. There is a balanced presence of some of the best design initiatives from the region, alongside internationally relevant voices. And I think this has a huge impact on the local design scene as well. For example, I’ve been looking at the new project by House of Artisans, the design prize for young designers in Abu Dhabi.
Already this year, you can see how the level has shifted. It has improved significantly, and it’s very impressive. You can see how the local scene has been absorbing global design culture and interpreting it through its own perspective, elevating its practice through craftsmanship and its own creative vision, but within a global design context.
And I think that’s great. This is exactly the kind of design culture we wanted to encourage through our partnership with DCT, the Department of Culture and Tourism. There is also an educational process, which is very important to us, in order to help develop the scene, particularly for younger designers, but also for designers in general.
The location clearly changes the experience for visitors. But does it also change the experience for the galleries themselves? You’re asking them to step outside the conventional exhibition format and reinterpret their presentations within a very particular architectural environment. How have they responded?
Absolutely. Whether we’re talking about the galleries that participated last year or those joining us this year, there is enormous excitement about the idea of exhibiting within an airport.
I think airports are very special places for most people. In our lives, we travel constantly, and the airport represents a very particular environment. It’s a place of extremely high security, but it is also a powerful gateway. It represents the fastest way we have, as a society, to travel from point A to point B.
In a way, it’s also a rather futuristic invention of humankind. And I think being able to exhibit art and design within this context generates a great deal of excitement for galleries and exhibitors. They are being invited to work within an environment that is completely different from what they are accustomed to.
And this excitement is shared by the visitors. Even the simple idea of entering an airport terminal without a passport feels strange. It’s almost as though you’re trespassing, crossing a security boundary that would normally be inaccessible.
That creates a very particular feeling. And I think that’s what makes the experience so unique.
