Forty years ago, this was overhead.

At forty most people in the UAE have built something: a family, a career, a home here or a life between two countries. A gift for that birthday should honour where they began. The birth date, the hour if it is known, and the city of birth, wherever that is, give one galaxy, and that is what we frame.

Many of the people celebrating a fortieth in Dubai were born in Cairo, Amman, Kerala, Manchester or Manila. The galaxy is found from the city of birth, and the artwork names it. For an expatriate it becomes a link between the place they started and the home they have now.

Ask a parent or sibling for the birth time; it is often on the birth certificate or remembered by the mother. If nobody knows, use the morning. The galaxy will still be one that was above the city that day.

The same works for the thirtieth, the fiftieth and the sixtieth. For a parent's sixtieth, the children often choose the parent's birth; for a fiftieth, some choose the wedding instead, so the gift is shared with the partner.