Their first minute. Framed for life.

When a baby is born in the UAE, the visitors come for days and the gifts pile up in the majlis: baby gold, designer clothes the child will outgrow by spring, chocolate trays. Very little of it lasts. A framed artwork of the galaxy above the birth starts in the nursery and moves with the child: to their bedroom, to their first apartment, eventually to their own family's home.

• The hospital: Latifa, Corniche, American Hospital, Mediclinic, wherever the birth was.
• The time from the hospital bracelet or the birth notification. To the minute is ideal; to the hour still works.
• The name, if the parents have announced it. If not, wait a few days; there is no rush.

Grandparents often want to give something with more weight than another outfit. A AED 8,900 piece for the family home, with the grandchild's name and the line Our first grandson, welcome, is the gift that stays in the grandparents' majlis after the visitors have gone.

The artwork is made to order after the birth, so it usually arrives one to two weeks later, when the first wave of visitors has passed. That timing works in its favour: it is the gift that arrives when the house is quiet again.