Design Doha puts craft center stage

Welcome to AL-MONITOR Doha.

Plan the next two weeks like a route. Start in a courtyard house in Fereej Al Asmakh, where design is something to experience rather than simply admire. Then head to Old Doha Port to wander among yachts, and save an afternoon for coffee and chocolate because all that looking deserves something to taste. Leave the evenings for sound: Fadel Chaker's return to the stage after years away, and a night of 1980s and 1990s hits that rewinds like a cassette. Bring someone who knows the words. 

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Thanks for reading,

Reve

P.S. Have feedback or tips on Doha's culture scene? Send them my way at contactus@al-monitor.com.

1. Leading the week: Design Doha Biennial 2026 

Visitors at Design Doha Biennial 2026, Doha. (Photo courtesy of Design Doha)

What counts as design knowledge, and who gets credit for it? Design Doha Biennial 2026 builds its second edition around those questions. It argues that, across the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, knowledge lives through making: through the ways people handle materials, build homes, cultivate land and carry out daily rituals.

The theme unfolds through four actions: Carry, Shape, Make and Return. An idea travels with the people and places that sustain it. Designers reinterpret it, and the process of making turns it into objects and spaces. Finally, it returns to the communities from which it originated through recognition, skills and livelihoods.

The stage is Fereej Al Asmakh, one of Doha’s oldest neighborhoods, where heritage houses, courtyards and public spaces become venues for exhibitions, commissions and workshops. The exhibitions look at how traditions and gestures rooted in deep memory can help people find direction in a time of rapid change, with craft serving as a way of navigating and materials mapping new geographies.

Arab Design Now, the headline exhibition, is located at Building i22 in Msheireb Downtown Doha. Mexico is this edition’s guest country, a reminder that the biennial treats design as an exchange between regions rather than a one-way export.

Date: Nov. 5, 2026 - Jan. 31, 2027

Location: Fereej Al Asmakh and Building i22, Msheireb Downtown Doha

More details here.

2. Word on the street: Qatar Boat Show   

Visitors at the 2025 edition of the Qatar Boat Show at Old Doha Port, Doha. (Photo courtesy of Qatar Boat Show)

Old Doha Port was once a departure point for pearl divers and fishing boats. Today, its 450-berth marina offers visitors the chance to walk among yachts. The Qatar Boat Show brings builders, brokers and marine brands to the waterfront under the theme “Crafting Wonderful,” giving visitors a chance to explore the vessels up close and talk with the people behind them.

The show is organized into distinct zones. The Oceanic Display features mega yachts, superyachts and boats measuring more than 15 meters along the pontoons. The Shoreline Display, the largest outdoor space at the show, brings together boats measuring up to 35 feet, from sailing and fishing vessels to marine lifestyle products. Anglers get their own dedicated area at Hooks & Reels, while Equip Pro showcases the gear and services that keep boats running. Confirmed exhibitors include Sunreef Yachts, Gulf Craft and Elite Yachts, which represents Azimut.

When the sun goes down, the show shifts from business to atmosphere. Live performances, fireworks and drone shows light up the waterfront, while cafes and fine-dining options encourage visitors to linger.

Date: Nov. 4- 7

Location: Old Doha Port

More details here.

3. Doha diary

Lebanese singer Fadel Chaker performs for fans at a concert in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in October 2026. (Photo courtesy of Arab News)

• Fadel Chaker Live in Doha

After years away from the live stage, Lebanese singer Fadel Chaker returns for one night only at Katara Amphitheater. Expect romantic ballads and Arabic tarab, with favorites such as “Ya Ghayeb,” “Akhedny Ma’ak” and “Ma’oul” on the setlist. His son, Mohamed Chaker, joins him onstage, making the evening a musical meeting of two generations.

Date: Nov. 12

Location: Katara Amphitheater, Katara Cultural Village

More information here.

• Shareet: ‘The 80s and 90s Rewind’

Shareet means cassette tape, and this concert plays like one. It rewinds to the Gulf and Arabic hits of the 1980s and 1990s: songs that many audience members grew up listening to and can still sing word for word. Conductor Khaled Nouri leads the concert, presented by Tarteeb. Bring along the people you used to sing with in the car.

Date: Nov. 14

Location: Al Mayassa Theatre, QNCC

More information here.

• Tegahwa Al Hazm

Coffee and chocolate lovers have a meeting place of their own at Galleria Al Hazm. The exhibition brings together coffee and chocolate brands under one roof, so you can try distinctive products and talk directly with the exhibitors. It is an easy afternoon outing for anyone who considers a good cup and a square of chocolate essential.

Date: Nov. 5-13

Location: Galleria Al Hazm

More information here.

4. Book of the week:  ‘Sons of Sindbad’

If you’re planning to visit the Qatar Boat Show, this is the book to read first. Before Old Doha Port became a marina for superyachts, the region’s maritime life revolved around dhows. In 1938 and 1939, Australian sailor and photographer Alan Villiers sailed aboard an Arab dhow on a journey from the Gulf to East Africa and back, living alongside Kuwaiti sailors and pearl divers during the final years before the use of oil. Told from the deck, the book offers a compelling adventure filled witha firsthand detail about how these boats were built and sailed. It also makes the yachts at the show seem like the latest chapter of a much older story.

5. View from Doha

A man works on a miniature wooden boat while another holds a net during the Qatar Boat Show on Nov. 5, 2025. (MAHMUD HAMS/AFP via Getty Images)

6. By the Numbers

• The 2025 Qatar Boat Show attracted more than 27,000 visitors from 105 countries, according to Mohammed Abdulla Al Mulla, CEO of Old Doha Port and chairman of the show’s organizing committee.
• The 2025 show featured 65 boats and other marine vessels with a combined value of QR 880 million ($242 million), according to Mohammed Abdulla Al Mulla.