Ten things to have on your radar ahead of Dutch Design Week 2026
Dutch Design Week kicks off in Eindhoven this Saturday. To help you navigate the many exhibitions, installations and events taking place across the city, here are 10 of our picks.
From 17 to 25 October, Dutch Design Week will take over multiple locations across Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
Both established and emerging designers and studios will present projects based on this year's theme of "raw", selected to interrogate and celebrate raw, unpolished and authentic design projects.
Read on for 10 of Dezeen's highlights to look out for during the city-wide festival:
Design Academy Eindhoven Graduation Show 2026
If you only see one thing, make it the Design Academy Eindhoven graduation show.
The school is responsible for nurturing some of the design world's biggest and most interesting names – Sabine Marcelis, Formafantasma, Hella Jongerius, Philippe Malouin – so take this opportunity to spot tomorrow's rising stars before they make it big.
Microstad, Professor Doctor, Dorgelolaan 2, 5611BA
Between Lights by Teresa van Dongen
Teresa van Dongen has long been fascinated with how clean energy could be used and generated in unexpected ways.
Following her experiments in bioluminescent lighting (powered by bacteria sourced from octopi and boggy World War Two bomb craters), the Dutch designer is now launching her latest project – a transparent window decal that serves as a solar-powered night light.
Klokgebouw, Klokgebouw 50 5617 AB
Among this year's large-scale installations, Field by Isabel + Helen promises to be a standout.
The design duo is taking over Eindhoven's Stadhuisplein with a family of towering wind turbines that passersby are encouraged to move and turn towards the wind to visualise the invisible energy flowing around us at all times.
City Hall Square, Stadhuisplein 5611EM
For the Echo group show, 14 designers have transformed aluminium offcuts from the production of street lighting poles and extrusion profiles into new, useful products.
See the outcomes of their experiments in the newly minted TX Buildings.
Building TX, Achtsteweg Zuid 187 5651GW
On the Way to a Future by Gijs Schalkx
With provocative projects, including a car that runs on waste plastic and a motorbike powered by swamp gas, Dutch designer Gijs Schalkx seeks to question our dependence on fossil fuels.
See these and some of his other dystopian transport designs in Onderweg naar een toekomst or "On the way to a future".
Building TX, Achtsteweg Zuid 187 5651GW
Digital Camouflage by Simon Weckert
As AI systems become ever more pervasive, designers are coming up with new and innovative ways to evade them.
Among them is Berlin's Simon Weckert, who is showcasing one of the most-read projects published by Dezeen in the last few months – the Digital Camouflage shirt that scrambles the facial recognition system of surveillance cameras.
It's worth going to see it with your own human eyes in the Punt-C warehouse, alongside projects from 14 other international designers.
Sectie-C Punt-C Industriële hotspot, Daalakkersweg 10-16 – Hal 10 5641JA
Table of Power by Show Not Show
Eindhoven design collective Show Not Show is back for its third year, presenting an exhibition that recreates a high-powered boardroom inside studio complex de Kruisruimte.
Alongside existing members like Frank Penders and Lucas Zito, the 2026 edition will include work from three invited guest exhibitors – Aleksandra Adamchyk, Kilian Vos, and Pablo Octavio.
De Kruisruimte, Generaal Bothastraat 7-E 5642NJ
New Studio Super Show by Teun Zwets
Rising star Teun Zwets has steadily made a name for himself at Dutch Design Week. Last year, he presented a mobile exhibition of his trademark glossy, splintered wood furniture from the back of a car trailer. The year before, he showcased his playful pieces in an exhibition arranged like a mock home.
For this year's edition, Zwets is trying something new. He is unveiling 50 new chair designs that step away from his recognisable splintered-wood style, each designed with materials and methodologies he has never used before.
The pieces will be on display at Zwets's wood and metal workshop.
Studio Teun Zwets, Hallenweg 11a 5615PP
Forward Furniture by Liv Vaisberg and Dutch Design Week
Curated by Design Biennale Rotterdam co-founder Liv Vaisberg, the Forward Furniture exhibition is returning to Dutch Design Week.
Almost 100 established and emerging designers working in and around collectible design will present three pieces each, highlighting their distinctive visual languages.
The exhibition design is based on carpets, which offer a soft touch to the show's former factory setting.
Building TX, Achtsteweg Zuid 187 5651GW
Local Linoleum by Christien Meindertsma
Local Linoleum is an exhibition by designer Christien Meindetsma, whose aim is to uncover the hidden origins of materials and demystify the murky production chains of everyday objects.
Meindetsma's show highlights how myriad issues related to industrialisation and globalisation mean that these production chains are typically largely invisible to consumers.
Klokgebouw, Klokgebouw 50 5617 AB
Dutch Design Week 2026 takes place from 17 to 25 October 2026 at various locations across Eindhoven, the Netherlands. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.
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