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Look: Dh1.2 million diamond portraits of UAE leaders catch eyes at hunting event
Also on display was a portrait of the UAE President made out of gazelle and camel skin with Italian-crafted leather, intricate mosaic glass, crystal and shells
- PUBLISHED: Sun 31 Aug 2025, 9:44 AM UPDATED: Sun 31 Aug 2025, 11:03 AM
In a fair best known for falcons, rifles and desert traditions, a lavish arts section offered its own reflection of the UAE’s identity.
Thousands of Abu Dhabi residents and visitors flocked to the inaugural day of this year’s International Hunting and Equestrian Exhibition (ADIHEX 2025) on Saturday, August 30. From falconry to drones, desert culture to conservation, every corner offered something new; yet it was in the arts pavilion that several visitors found themselves lingering longest, dazzled by works that fused heritage, innovation and opulence.
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At one stand, two glittering diamond portraits of UAE leaders became the talk of the hall. Across from them, a UAE-based Syrian designer unveiled a monumental mixed-media tribute to the nation’s President. And nearby, sculpted falcons, gilded rifles and a winged lion gleamed under spotlights, the handiwork of a Dutch artist whose career was reshaped by a life-changing robbery.
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Diamond portraits
Fakhri Tarabein, jewellery fusion artist and diamond coating innovator stood proudly by what he calls “the world’s first and largest diamond plates”, two full portraits surfaced entirely with over a million micro-diamonds, one depicting UAE President Sheikh Mohamed, the other Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Ruler of Dubai.
“They are made with over one million micro-diamonds,” Tarabein explained, noting that each portrait contains more than 184 carats of natural diamonds and weighs over 180 pounds, with frames plated in 24-karat gold. “The most difficult part was the transition of the diamonds. It took us 12 months to choose the stones to create such a picture with this quality.”
The portraits, produced in collaboration with Italian artisans in Verona, are certified by the Italian Gemological Institute and cost Dh600,000 each. “This technique of diamond coating is a product I am proud to say was born in the United Arab Emirates,” Tarabein said. “It is an Emirati innovation that transforms luxury into art.”
Tarabein’s path to ADIHEX began with a passion for jewellery in the 1990s and later a partnership with Italy’s Ferrari family to develop micro-diamond surfaces. His creations have included diamond-coated football boots for Cristiano Ronaldo, entire cars finished in diamond detailing, and “Diamond Whispers” — a diamond coated gold-plated falcon crafted especially for this year’s ADIHEX. He also displayed a golden football trophy, designed with Roman and Mediterranean lines and inlaid with mother-of-pearl, which he described as “the soul of the wind” and “a bridge between East and West".
Leather, mosaic and heritage
Just steps away, visitors paused before a very different kind of portrait: a vast mixed-media work of Sheikh Mohamed, designed and hand-assembled by Syrian-born artist and graphic designer Rania Al Boaini.
“I always like to work on important subjects in an innovative way,” she said, describing how the artwork took nearly a year and a half to complete. “This painting represents his high morals and the Emirati culture," said the artist about the portrait which is worth Dh120,000.
The piece layers gazelle and camel skin with Italian-crafted leather, intricate mosaic glass, crystal, and shell, forming a textured surface that shifts between military camouflage and geometric abstraction. “No one has made mosaic from leather before,” Al Boaini explained. “I wanted to bring harmony and diversity to reflect the UAE.”
Creating it was no simple feat. The massive canvas was carried and set by workers into her small studio horizontally. “So, I had to draw on it that way,” she recalled. “It was very difficult — I could not easily see if the proportions were correct. I had to keep stepping away and snapping photos of it.”
The process involved cutting the image into squares and painstakingly piecing it together, a method she describes as both exhausting and rewarding. Its durability, Al Boaini noted, allows it to be displayed both indoors and outdoors, provided it is housed in a cooled protective case.
From robbery to reinvention
In another corner of the arts pavilion, gold-plated sculptures of falcons, rifles, and a winged lion gleamed with almost jewellery-like perfection. Their creator, Dutch contemporary sculptor Michel Van Den Born, traces the precision of his art back to his original trade: goldsmithing.
“I finish my sculptures like jewellery,” he said. “Originally, I was a goldsmith. But in 2008, I had a very heavy armed robbery in my atelier in Holland, near Utrecht. After that I thought, it’s too dangerous; I will do what my real passion is.”
That turning point pushed him into full-time art, blending goldsmithing techniques with sculptural forms. His works today, which often find buyers among royal families in the Middle East, shimmer with meticulous detail.
“This region — the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, is a very good market,” he noted. “People here appreciate what you cannot buy everywhere.”
