About Dialogues Vanguard
Dialogues is an invite-only conclave that brings together India’s leading architects, designers, and design brands for three immersive days of conversation, collaboration, and creative exchange. Held at some of the most iconic properties across the world, it is deliberately intimate, designed not for networking in the conventional sense, but for the kind of unhurried, meaningful dialogue that actually leads somewhere. Dialogues Vanguard – Edition I marked the conclave’s first foray beyond India, taking the community to Abu Dhabi, a city that understands, perhaps better than most, that culture and design are not embellishments to everyday life but its very foundation.
Bringing Baaya to Abu Dhabi
The exhibition was where things got personal. Our booth brought together some of the work we are most proud of, and watching it find a new audience in Abu Dhabi was a reminder of why we make what we make.
On display were two of our signature wall panels. The Ocean Floor Panel, a handcrafted seascape rendered in enamel, wood, and metal, where swirling corals, resting shells, rippled sand beds and drifting seaweed come alive as light plays across the surface like sun filtering through water. And Grounded, a biophilic composition in copper enamel, metal artistry, and wood carving, where the textures of the forest floor are captured with an intimacy that invites you to touch and linger.
Alongside these, we displayed two variations of our Signature Helix sculpture, perhaps the pieces that drew the most conversation. Both are three-dimensional reinterpretations of the DNA double helix, each one a column of interconnection and continuity. One, finished in silver leafing, carried hand-painted visuals of the ocean floor , pale, ethereal, the iconography of the deep sea rendered in miniature across every curve, perfectly in dialogue with the craft beneath it. The other, finished in gold leafing, was painted with the flora and fauna of Tamil Nadu, coral formations, coastal patterns, geological bands, and the rich ecological detail of the region layered across the surface in a miniature style that rewards the closer look. Every rotation revealed something new.
Together, they brought together science, craft, cultural memory, and the natural world, and that, in many ways, is what Baaya has always been about.
The conversations at the booth were some of the most energising of the trip. There is a genuine appetite in this part of the world for art that carries meaning, not just beauty, but depth and story. We felt that clearly.
Ending at the Beginning
The final day took us to the Zayed National Museum. Walking through the founding story of the UAE, ancient history, Bedouin roots, the vision that built a modern nation, was a quietly powerful way to close. A reminder that before architecture shapes skylines, it listens to history. For a studio that has always believed objects and spaces must carry memory and meaning, it felt like the right note to end on.
What We’re Taking Forward
Abu Dhabi has a real appetite for design rooted in craft, story, and intent. We came to reconnect with old collaborators and left with exciting new ones. Full notebooks, warm conversations, and a lot of momentum.
