Brussels Design Week 2026

Brussels Design Week 2026: the program of the 20th edition of Brussels Design September Du September 24 to October 4 Last May, Brussels Design Week unveiled its new identity, designed by Rond Carré Studio. The new name and visual identity generated a lot of positive feedback, both on the concept and the design. Today, the festival is publishing the program of its 20th edition. From September 24 to October 4, 2026, Brussels Design Week will take over galleries, workshops, cultural institutions, shops, hotels and heritage sites throughout the Brussels Region. Central Un Hub For this anniversary edition, Brussels Design Week is acquiring a central location: the Hub, hosted at AME (WOMADE's new home), rue de la Grosse Tour 3 in Brussels. AME is a hybrid space conceived as a contemporary ecosystem, where entrepreneurship meets creativity and design, and where community remains at the center. It features a new-generation coworking space, a vibrant café, a curated space dedicated to limited-edition pieces and exclusive collaborations, a modular event stage, as well as a creative studio for podcasts, workshops and vernissages. This 900 m² space will host an exhibition by designer Alain Gilles, the festival press conference on September 24, as well as three conferences: a talk by Jade Vijt on commercial design education (September 25) and two editions of the "Celles qui font le design" (Women Shaping Design) cycle, dedicated to female and non-binary voices in the creative professions (September 29 and September 30). Commerce Design Awards, 14th edition: the winners Les Commerce Design Awards have been rewarding Brussels commercial spaces since 2012 that demonstrate a successful collaboration between merchants and designers. The 2026 jury, chaired by interior architect Nathalie Deboel, has selected seven winners: The Standard (Bernard Dubois), Atomium Shop (KEPER architecten), COSMOS (Maxime De Campenaere), AKKO CAFÉ (Rebecca Rébillée), Journal (Studio Zazie Maquet), Flipper's (Studio Elmēs) and Bleu (Lolie Coufo). The awards ceremony will be held on September 29 at 7 PM at Trademart Brussels. Public voting will open at the beginning of August. Exhibitions The exhibition "The Secular Chapel", presented by the Rempart44 gallery and curated by Nicole Brock at the The Dominican hotel, will officially open the festival on the evening of September 24. A privileged partner of the festival for years, The Dominican, Belgium's first design hotel, gives Brussels Design Week the opportunity every year to unfold within this setting in the heart of the city. The Dominican bears the traces of a place of faith, contemplation and collective rituals. The Secular Chapel explores how this quest is taking on new forms today: the exhibition brings together designers who develop objects, materials and narratives as contemporary vectors of attention, desire and imagination. Where chapels were once filled with icons and relics, the exhibition offers a collection of new artifacts, not as objects of devotion, but as invitations to reflection. Each work deploys its own system of values, a personal mythology or a possible future. The Secular Chapel is not a place of faith, but of attention. In Ixelles, the gallery located at 57 rue Van Eyck will host "Les Jardiniers du Vide", an exhibition by Zélie Boulestreau and her project Papier Boulettes, from September 24 to October 4 (vernissage on September 23). Papier Boulettes is a monumental recycled paper fresco project, born in 2021 in Brussels from the collaboration between Maud Bocquet and Zélie Boulestreau. The frescoes are most often created in situ using paper and cardboard gathered on site. Inspired by ecological insulation techniques, recycled paper pulp is applied to the walls. This simple process mixing art and craftsmanship gives birth to complex motifs, animal, plant and mineral. A multidisciplinary artist and artistic director of Papier Boulettes, Zélie Boulestreau brings to the project her papermaking expertise, her interest in living things and the preservation of ecosystems, nurtured by her knowledge of the plants she cultivates in her Pyrenean garden. Among the other confirmed exhibitions: Val Saint-Lambert & Design at Design Museum Brussels, three projects at Liszt Institute Brussels, the Brazilian editions of BS Galleria opening its doors in Brussels (Châtelain district), a design, arts and fashion pop-up at Mayfair BXL (Boulevard de Waterloo), IMAGINAIR rue de Prévôt, and the Kartell flagship at Porte de Namur. Shifting Ground, 2nd edition: A Garden Party On the occasion of the festival's 20th anniversary, and following the success of its first edition, Shifting Ground returns to USquare (Avenue de la Couronne) with "A Garden Party": an immersive exhibition centered around the idea of the party as a space for encounter, creation and collective reflection. The exhibition will bring together works by Belgian and European designers. Beyond its festive dimension, the project is rooted in a paradox: organizing a celebration at a time when social, economic and creative expression is increasingly fragile. The garden party, historically associated with certain forms of privilege, is reinterpreted here as both a critical and poetic device, a way of questioning how we gather and how we choose to celebrate. On Saturday, September 26, Shifting Ground will also host Brussels Design September's big birthday party, with cakes and surprises. From September 17 to 27. Curated, 3rd edition Curated returns to Mix Brussels for its 3rd edition, curated by Lionel Jadot. This functional art exhibition, open to all, brings together the creations of 33 designers, artists, collectors and architects in the former historical headquarters of Royale Belge, transformed for the occasion into a vibrant place of creativity. Free admission upon reservation. From September 25 to September 27. Inside the Ateliers: Brussels designers open their doors for a weekend On the weekend of September 25 to 27, some twenty workshops, studios and manufacturing spaces will open their doors to the public: OpenStructures, Recyclart Fabrik, Atelier Tou, Studio with a view, KA PAI studio, studiokhachatryan, alter asbl, Cru atelier, AUXAU Architecture, among others. A trail through the neighborhoods of Brussels, from Anderlecht to Uccle via Molenbeek, Forest and Ixelles. 20 years of the "Designer of the Year" award: retrospective at MAD Starting October 1, MAD Brussels will present a retrospective exhibition celebrating the winners of the Designer of the Year award Knack Weekend / Le Vif Weekend. Visitors will also have the opportunity to discover the selection of 14 graduating students from Brussels design and fashion schools for "MAD Graduation Show 2026". Schools and institutions Several training and manufacturing institutions are participating in this edition: La Cambre presents "Changement de voie / Spoorverandering" at TRACK Brussels (North Station), LUCA School of Arts will exhibit its design students, and the three Brussels cityfabs (Laeken, Evere, Anderlecht) will open their doors, alongside Green Fabric (textile fablab, Forest), Micro Factory (Circular Design, Anderlecht), Materiatek and Circularium. Practical information Brussels Design Week 2026 20th edition of Brussels Design September Du September 24 to October 4, 2026