Bringing you the very best design fairs from all around the world!
It goes without saying – we are BIG lovers of a good design event, and love traveling so heading overseas for a fair or design week is just up our alley! Combining our love for international design, inspirational product launches + installations and new cultural experiences.
So we’ve pulled together a hit list of some of the best design fairs from Milan to Miami, New York to Helsinki, we’re sharing them all with you and where they sit on the annual calendar so you can start planning in your design trips for 2023.
–
Stockholm Design Week
Early February
“The official Stockholm Design Week offers an exciting schedule engaging both professionals and design enthusiasts. Spread out in the city centre and beyond, industry insiders as well as the public, are invited to attend showrooms, design events, exhibitions, open studios, and talks.
Design events in a variety of venues across Stockholm, from galleries and showrooms to dinner parties, after fair meetings, opening cocktails, museums and cultural institutions. Everyone in anyway connected to, or interested in, Scandinavian design meet and thrive, leaving with new ideas, contacts and lots of inspiration.
In 2023 Stockholm Design Week will return to its traditional date in February coinciding with Stockholm Furniture Fair.”
Milan Design Week + Salone del Mobile
Early April
“Milan design week is the world’s most important design event, anchored by the Salone del Mobile furniture fair and featuring shows and events in hundreds of venues across the city’s design districts. A wide range of fringe events, installations and exhibitions take place across Milan to coincide with Salone del Mobile, which are collectively known as the fuorisalone. These events largely take place as part of several design districts. Design districts who take part are often Brera Design District, Isola Design District, Tortona and 5Vie.
The Salone is held in Milan in April every year, along with the biennial Euroluce exhibition in odd years and EuroCucina and the International Bathroom Exhibition in even years, and in tandem with the annual International Furnishing Accessories Exhibition and Workplace3.0. Under the umbrella of the Salone del Mobile.Milano, these events cover a net area of almost 210,000 square metres overall at the Rho Fiera Milano fairgrounds, showcasing more than 2,300 of the most dynamic and creative companies on the global market each year.”
DesignMarch Iceland
Early May
“DesignMarch brings together participants and guests with progressive design and innovation. The festival heralds new and surprising approaches and is a vibrant platform for ideas, diverse perspectives and knowledge driving force that enriches and enhances society. DesignMarch gives inspiration and enjoyment with the aim to share the exhibitions, participants and their content to a broader audience, both in Iceland and abroad, in collaboration with other stakeholders, such as Promote Iceland.
DesignMarch is a harbinger of optimism and creativity. The festival takes the opportunity to focus on design as a driving force for innovation, and demonstrate the important role of design, architecture and innovation in society, especially during this time of uncertainty the world is facing now.”
Design Shanghai
Early June
“The show presents a wide selection of Chinese designers and brands alongside a host of international exhibitors, as well as installations, exhibitions and a talks programme. Claiming to be Asia’s premier design fair, Design Shanghai brings together the work of both established and emerging designers from China and abroad. The show was actually one of the few design events to take place in China in 2021. With over 400 brands represented in a new, much larger venue.”
NYCxDesign and ICFF
Early – Mid May
“New York City’s most important design festivities take place in May when the citywide NYCxDesign festival and the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) coincide. NYCxDesign, also known as New York City by Design, is an annual design festival in New York City which takes place every May. The festival is made up of independently hosted exhibitions, open studios, panel discussions, and other in-person and virtual events that take place in the five boroughs of New York City. As a non-profit organization, NYCxDesign organises year round programs that create more equitable opportunities in design, and provide platforms to support, empower, & grow NYC’s incredible design community. “
Clerkenwell Design Week – London
Late May
“The UK’s leading independent design festival. Clerkenwell is home to more creative businesses and architects per square mile than anywhere else on the planet, making it truly one of the most important design hubs in the world. To celebrate this rich and diverse community, Clerkenwell Design Week creates a showcase of leading UK and international brands and companies presented in a series of showroom events, exhibitions and special installations that take place across the area. So whether it’s following the design trail, listening to the many conversations or attending the showrooms + workshops – this is a great one!”
Design Miami/Basel – Switzerland
Mid June
“Design Miami/Basel returns to Switzerland each year for its next edition providing a platform for exhibiting, acquiring, creating and discussing collectable design from around the world. The fair runs alongside the huge Art Basel art fair in the Swiss city. It is also the sister event of the Design Miami show that takes place in Florida each December. The show is open to the general public for 6 days, and this Basel version is the more nuance edition with a focus on the history and academia. Giving visitors a chance to understand key movements in the history of design and experience rare objects from around the world.”
3 Days of Design – Denmark
Mid June
“Denmark’s most important design fair sees design brands throw open their showrooms across Copenhagen. 3daysofdesign is an exclusive event that’s inclusive. Everyone is invited to visit the showrooms, galleries, exhibitions and design talks. Meet the minds behind the designs, see previews of new products before they’re launched, hear about new trends forecasted for the future and more! We really enjoyed our time at 3daysofdesign this year – taking in a curated selection of noteworthy Danish and international brands within the realm of lifestyle, design, furniture, lighting and interior design.”
Maison&Objet – Paris
January + September
Sparking business opportunities and creative interaction between the world’s decoration, design and lifestyle community, Maison&Objet is your never-ending source of inspiration, constantly serving up exciting new finds: in the flesh twice a year at our trade fair in Paris; in the streets of Paris during Paris Design Week
A B-to-B event in January in Paris designed for professionals, which will bring together, in one circuit, the 100 spots that make up the Parisian ecosystem of excellence in decor: decorators, interior designers, galleries, great maisons and exceptional craftspeople.
Helsinki Design Week
Early – Mid September
“Helsinki Design Week brings together design professionals and creatives for a curated selection of citywide events in the Finnish capital. With a rightful claim to the biggest design festival in the Nordics – Helsinki Design Week presents new people and phenomena within design in cooperation with various partners. Established in 2005, the festival offers the citizens a platform to participate in the development of the city and in related discussion. The design week looked to the theme of ‘openness’ for its recent 2022 event and explored questions surrounding sustainability, curiosity and transparency.”
Design Miami/
End November – Early December
“The Design Miami collectable design fair once again rounds off the year by bringing together designers, curators, critics and gallerists in the Florida sunshine. With the 18th edition of Design Miami/ kicking off later this year, this year’s program will explore the theme of The Golden Age: Looking to the Future, celebrating a tomorrow of our own creation. The founders of this fair believe that in a time when human beings are challenged in unprecedented ways, The Golden Age could become a source of inspiration to imagine and shape a brighter future for human beings and our planet.”
