DIA Guide to Melbourne Design Week 2026
It’s hard to describe just how alive Melbourne becomes during Melbourne Design Week. Across eleven days, the city transforms into a national stage for design innovation, experimentation andexchange, with talks, exhibitions, workshops and tours presented by leading and emerging voices from across Australia and around the world.
Taking place from 14–24 May, this year’s program includes more than 400 events and the involvement of more than 100 DIA Hall of Fame luminaries, Fellows, members and partners, so we felt it was time to create a dedicated DIA x MDW Guide celebrating the contribution of our community to one of the nation’s most significant design events.
Melbourne Design Week 2026 is the result of a decade-long vision, collaboration and commitment across government, the National Gallery of Victoria, industry and the broader design community, continuing to position Australian designers on the national stage. We’re incredibly fortunate to have an event of this scale and ambition in Australia.
So here it is, your DIA x MDW Guide for 2026.
Get out and experience it. Support Australian designers and our members. Follow, share and champion their work online and in person.
Enjoy the energy — it’s big.
TALKS & WORKSHOPS
Mary Featherston. Image courtesy of the designer.
With more than 140 talks, conversations and workshops across Melbourne Design Week 2026, dialogue and exchange sit at the heart of the program. Bringing together designers, makers, artists, educators and industry leaders, the program reflects the interdisciplinary thinking and practice that defines contemporary design practice in Australia. Here, we highlight keynote talks, discussions and workshops featuring DIA’s community and industry friends from across the sector. Be sure to book early.
At NGV International, acclaimed Australian designer Mary Featherston joins TV presenter and Professor of Architecture Anthony Burke for an after-hours conversation reflecting on a life shaped by design, from her partnership with Grant Featherston to her pioneering work reimagining learning environments. Also, in conversation at NGV International, interior designer David Flack, founder of Flack Studio, reflects on the evolution of his celebrated practice and key projects.
Interior Design Day on Saturday 23 May transforms the NGV Great Hall into a free full-day program of talks featuring leading voices from the profession including Sarah-Jane Pyke and Fiona Lynch. At The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, the What I Wish I Knew Then series pairs emerging designers with senior industry figures, including a conversation between designer Sandra Githinji and 2025 DIA Hall of Fame recipient Geraldine Maher.
Alison Page. Image courtesy of the designer.
Presented by Melbourne School of Design, Creative Shape Shifter celebrates the twenty-five-year career of designer, filmmaker and artist Alison Page, exploring her influential contribution to Indigenous design and storytelling. Architectural photographer John Gollings also reflects on his iconic practice in Creative Conversations with NGV Curator Dr Timothy Moore, alongside a display of his work at NGV Australia.
At the Victorian Artists Society Gallery, Kristine Slawinski presents Creative Legacies in Melbourne’s Interiors, exploring the artists, artisans and craftspeople who shaped Melbourne’s interior design identity across the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Presented by Melbourne Heritage Interiors, Fred Ward: Design Luminary examines the life and work of Fred Ward (1900–1990), including a panel discussion at Southwood Furniture featuring Kristine Slawinski, Martin Ward and Oliver Smith.
Fred Ward. Image courtesy of the Fred Ward Archive Collection, PowerHouse, Sydney.
Flapper Said: Conversational AI in Culture, Design & Interpretation, presented by Deakin University Library and facilitated by Dr Russell Kennedy brings together experts across law, First Nations knowledge, museum practice and technology to discuss the cultural and ethical implications of conversational AI. Meanwhile, Authentic Stories in Architecture: The Importance of Indigenous Co-Design, presented by Gray Puksand, explores the importance of grounding architecture in place, history and culture.
For a more hands-on experience, Moose Toys opens the doors to its global headquarters for HANDS ON an immersive open-studio event exploring toy design, creativity and innovation. Presented by Monash University Department of Design, Object Intimacies: Sensing Shifts invites participants to explore how objects, materials and sensory experiences shape the way we connect and relate.
For younger audiences, FutureSprint: Different by Design is a full-day learning experience for high school students interested in creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship, featuring hands-on workshops, prototyping and pitching activities led by LCI Melbourne educators and Future Anything facilitators.
EXHIBITIONS
If talks and workshops sit at the intellectual heart of Melbourne Design Week 2026, then exhibitions are its pulse, where ideas take physical form through experimental works, collectible design, commercial releases and ambitious installations. Across eleven days, Melbourne transforms into a city-wide exhibition trail unfolding through galleries, studios, showrooms, private homes, carparks and heritage buildings.
Part discovery, part design pilgrimage, Melbourne Design Week captures the energy and excitement of the great international design festivals, with packed openings, constant conversations and the inevitable fear of missing out.
Here, we spotlight just some of exhibitions and projects by DIA members, partners and friends from across the country and design community. Be sure to check dates, venues and opening times.
Chairs by Adam Goodrum, Tom Jin, Shareen Joel and Harrison Mark. Image courtesy the designers.
100 CHAIRS is an ambitious exhibition bringing together works by more than 100 Australian designers, artists, architects and practices exploring the chair as a site of experimentation, expression and possibility. Curated by Friends & Associates, an ongoing platform founded by designers Dale Hardiman and Tom Skeehan in 2017 and supported by the Design Institute of Australia, 100 CHAIRS is the fourteenth exhibition presented by Friends & Associates and continues its commitment to championing designers across all career stages through collective presentation and dialogue.
Join 40 participating designers, alongside DIA CEO Simone LeAmon and special guests, for a free floor talk What a Chair Can Be on Saturday 23 May.
Founded by Stylecraft and presented in collaboration with National Gallery of Victoria, the Australian Furniture Design Award (AFDA) is the nation’s leading furniture and lighting design prize, awarding $20,000 to the winner. Visit the new Stylecraft showroom to see the winning and shortlisted works from the sixth edition of AFDA, alongside the latest locally designed furniture and lighting.
Ruby Shields of Studio Shields.
Curated by designer Ruby Shields of Studio Shields, Synthesis brings together more than forty Australian designers and artists in a series of layered domestic settings at the Abbotsford Convent. Furniture, lighting, textiles, objects and art are presented in dialogue with one another, inviting visitors to experience collectible design as part of everyday living rather than as isolated objects.
Presented by Danielle Brustman Studio, Superhot Shop is a bold ten-day takeover of Brustman’s design studio. Saturated in red and fuelled by themes of heat, desire and excess, this pop-up shop brings together more than 50 designers creating one-off and limited-edition works inspired by playful prompts including hot mess, hot flush, hot rod, what’s hot, and what’s not.
Lines of Force by designer and maker Ash Allen pays homage to influential Australian designers Helen Kontouris, Simone LeAmon and Laura McCusker. Known for his striking work in welded steel mesh, Allen reinterprets an iconic piece from each designer’s portfolio, exploring the ideas, stories and processes embedded within the works.
Jon Goulder, Terrain Table. Image courtesy of the designer.
Conversations: New Works by Jon Goulder and Collaborators, Andrew Carvolth, Georgie Cleary, Alex Cleary, Henry Williams and Crafted Hardwoods presents new furniture, lighting and accessories shaped through long-term collaboration, material research and making. Central to the exhibition is a partnership with Melbourne fashion house ALPHA60.
Foolscap x Song for the Mute: The Souffle Reimagined is a one-night event launching a new collaboration between interior design studio Foolscap and Australian fashion label Song for the Mute. At its centre is a newly developed sofa created through close collaboration between designers, textile specialists and local manufacturers.
Form & Phenomenon is a solo exhibition by lighting designer ILANEL exploring the liminal point where glass meets the intangible. The collection features new luminous sculptures and handcrafted objects that manipulate the visible spectrum to redefine the surrounding architecture.
Transformative Repair brings together emerging and established Australian artists, designers and craftspeople reimagining broken objects through inventive approaches to repair and reuse. Led by Dr Guy Keulemans and Dr Trent Jansen in collaboration with JamFactory and Australian Design Centre, the exhibition features works by Edward Linacre, Adam Goodrum, Dale Hardiman, Bolaji Teniola and more.
Finite presented by Alterfact & Richard Greenacre brings together thirteen designers, makers and artists exploring ideas of limitation. Through diverse materials and approaches, Finite explores how limitation shapes form, process and meaning, asking how design can work thoughtfully and creatively within constraint.
Dean Norton, Between Planes, Render of Gold Mirrored Installation. Image courtesy the designer.
Between Planes presents a new series of works by multidisciplinary designer Dean Norton, continuing his exploration of reflection and perception. Combining mirror and glass, the works investigate how surface can capture light, shift perspective and subtly fragment the surrounding environment.
Presented by Made by Morgen and curated by Ryan Fernandes, Tactile Dialogues: Fragments of Matter explores fragmentation through handcrafted works in ceramics, glass, bioplastics and mixed media by ten designers and makers, opening new conversations around making, transformation and human connection.
BLEND marks design brand NOMI’s first Melbourne installation, curated by Tom Mark Henry Studio. Showcasing new pieces from the Blend Collection, the installation features sculptural stainless steel screens and mesh partitions that reimagine architectural dividers as contemporary spatial thresholds.
Curious[c]ity: Turning Poetic Fictions into Powerful Facts presents the architecture of McBride Charles Ryan for Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School. Through drawings, models and archival material, the exhibition explores how the practice has reimagined the school campus over eighteen years as a playful and imaginative mini-city.
Monash Art, Design and Architecture is running an exciting program as part of Melbourne Design Week 2026 featuring talks, workshops, forums, exhibitions and more, across sites and venues including Victorian Pride Centre. Explore Monash Art, Design and Architecture events and get involved.
A Sculpted Collective by ESCULTURA explores collaboration across design, craft and education through sculptural furniture handcrafted in Melbourne. Developed with Interior Design students from The Australian College of the Arts (Collarts), the exhibition highlights experimentation, materiality and a new generation of local design talent.
The Melbourne Art Book Fair, presented as part of Design Week, has its annual Stallholder Fair from Friday 15 – Sunday 17 May at NGV International. Transforming the Great Hall into a thrumming marketplace of local, national and international publishers.
Presented as part of Melbourne Design Week 2026, the Melbourne Art Book Fair transforms the Great Hall at NGV International into a vibrant marketplace of local, national and international publishers from Friday 15 – Sunday 17 May. Accompanied by more than 50 talks, exhibitions and activations across Melbourne, the Fair has become an essential gathering for graphic designers, book and type designers, illustrators, publishers and anyone passionate about printed matter.
Program highlights include Book Designers in Conversation, presented by the Australian Book Designers Association, exploring the evolving role of publication design within museums and contemporary cultural institutions. Designer, researcher and artist Xinyuan (Caesar) Li also joins Vincent Chan, director of typographic practice Matter of Sorts for a conversation examining the visual language and cultural implications of typography.
Also at NGV, Posted Up draws from the archive of the Bienal Internacional Cartel Mexico to present powerful examples of typography-led poster design, featuring works by leading international designers including Paula Scher and Wiktor Górka. Free posters will also be available for visitors to take home.
Melbourne Art Book Fair. Image courtesy NGV.
An initiative of the Victorian Government, Melbourne Design Week has grown from just over 100 events in 2017 to more than 400 across Victoria in 2026, attracting record audiences of more than 100,000 people in 2025 alone. It is now one of the most significant platforms for contemporary design in the Asia-Pacific region, demonstrating the extraordinary breadth, depth and cultural value of Australian design practice.
At a moment when the Australian Government is reviewing the next National Cultural Policy, Melbourne Design Week offers compelling evidence that design is not peripheral to culture, but central to it. Across the built environment, interiors, objects, products, furniture, fashion, textiles, jewellery, graphics and digital practice, as well as service and strategic design, and material innovation, design shapes how we live, connect, communicate and imagine the world around us. Perhaps the time has finally come for design’s contribution to Australia’s cultural life to be more formally recognised within national cultural policy conversations.
Melbourne Design Week 2026 runs 14–24 May 2026 at venues across Victoria. Further information via the Melbourne Design Week website.