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Louvre Abu Dhabi: the New Gallery Shopping

The new Louvre Abu Dhabi designed by Jean Nouvel, an atelier of young jewelry Emirati designers, mostly women, who, starting from traditional ancient stylistic methods, arrive at creating ultra-modern pieces. A new cultural pole arose on Saadiyat island.


  • View overlooking the sea © Louvre Abu Dhabi, Mohamed Somji

    View overlooking the sea © Louvre Abu Dhabi, Mohamed Somji

A 525 million dollar fee. This is whatthe city of Abu Dhabi has ‘donated’ to theFrench government for renting the Parisian museum name for the next 30 and a half years in order to create the Louvre Abu Dhabi.An operation agreed to in 2007 and completed on November 8th 2017. This already astronomical figure is joined by a further 247 million for the loan of between 200-300 works of art for ten years, plus 214.5 million for management consultancy and 253.5 million for creating 4 exhibitions ayear for 15 years. The opening was a jaw droppingevent for the thousands of visitors that rushed to attend and were amazed at the enormous dome covering the 55 buildings housing 23 galleries for 600 exhibits. The museum, designed by Jean Nouvel, is only the first step in an even greater project which will shortly see other complexes rising upon Saadiyat Island including the Zayed National Museum by Lord Norman Foster, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi by Frank Gehryand the Performing Arts Centre by Zaha Hadid. With such a high concentration of artistic and architectonic treasures as the main attraction fast becoming an authentic must-see for the coming years, and especially in such a highly potential geographical area for luxury buyers, obviously some kind of reference to high-end shopping could not go amiss. And so, inside the Louvre, among other things, there is also a jeweler's show casingsome of the Gulf area's most innovative brands. Gafla, for example, founded in 2015 by Hamad bin Shaiban and Abdulla BelJafla, with a showroom in d3, the Dubai Design District, and an artistic touch that draws on Emirati stylistic methods with traditional motifs and highly modern details.Then there is Shamsa Alabbar, who starts from Arabian calligraphy, re-processing it in experimental fine jewelry items that, following an age-old culture, arrive at revealing ultra-minimal shapes and lines. Lastly, Ruwaya, fine jewelry created by Fatima Al Dhaheri. The sense of design lies in the ancient origins of the name, Ruwaya, which means both ‘to appease', alluding to the sensation of beauty that her jewelry give, and‘story telling’, knowing how to tell stories through symbols of local culture.

  • Louvre Abu Dhabi exterior © Louvre Abu Dhabi, Mohamed Somji

    Louvre Abu Dhabi exterior © Louvre Abu Dhabi, Mohamed Somji

  • The Rain of Light effect © Louvre Abu Dhabi, Mohamed Somji

    The Rain of Light effect © Louvre Abu Dhabi, Mohamed Somji

  • Token Collection by Shamsa Alabbar

    Token Collection by Shamsa Alabbar

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