Chances are you’ll not understand it, however Paris is not the one Metropolis of Mild. Eindhoven, the Netherlands‘ fifth-largest metropolis, additionally shares the nickname, because of its historical past manufacturing Philips lightbulbs. Although the bulbs are not mass-produced in Eindhoven, the Metropolis of Mild monicker feels apt throughout Dutch Design Week, now on view by 25 October, the place concepts illuminate each nook of the Dutch metropolis.
For its twenty sixth version, the pageant has chosen the theme Insurgent Genuine Value – or RAW – to have a good time experimental, unpolished and in-progress work. ‘Yearly, our theme is just not one thing we invent, it’s one thing we discover,’ says Dutch Design Week director Willem van Zeeland. We just lately popped by the celebration to see exactly what van Zeeland is speaking about. Listed here are 5 issues that caught our consideration at Dutch Design Week 2026.
Highlights from Dutch Design Week 2026
‘All the things Moist Appears Alive’ by Maison the Fake and Boris Acket
(Picture credit score: Hanneke Wetzer)
(Picture credit score: Hanneke Wetzer)
One significantly shining instance of the RAW theme is ‘All the things Moist Appears Alive‘, a collaboration between inventive studio Maison the Fake and artist Boris Acket. The set up explores ‘hydrofeminism,’ an idea that connects all people by the truth that our our bodies are made from about 60 per cent water. As such, ‘All the things Moist’ is crammed with tubes, pipes and swimming pools with water coursing by them. The drips and gurgles of water type a backdrop for each guests and stay performances. Dive in when you’re there.
Design Academy Eindhoven’s graduate present
(Picture credit score: Cleo Goossens)
(Picture credit score: Cleo Goossens)
Should you’re in search of next-gen designers and unconventional pondering, Design Academy Eindhoven’s commencement present is one other spotlight. Right here, BA and MA pupil showcase their senior tasks, starting from furnishings to materials experimentation. The calibre of labor is excellent, with tasks addressing up to date social and environmental challenges. (When you’re there, you should definitely additionally try the associated e-book store and café)
Piet Hein Eek’s pervasive presence
(Picture credit score: almichealfraay.com)
(Picture credit score: almichealfraay.com)
Piet Hein Eek’s presence is felt all through Dutch Design Week, from a shopfront devoted to his historical past with Dutch Design Week, to his personal complicated which hosted the Dutch Design Awards.
As a part of an ingenious retail activation titled ‘The Archive’, by which numerous storefronts celebrated the designers – together with Eek – who’ve helped form the pageant’s historical past. ‘Eindhoven isn’t a backdrop; it’s a co-curator, and store home windows are probably the most democratic show instances a metropolis has,’ explains Miriam van der Lubbe, inventive head of Dutch Design Week.
Eek’s personal complicated, which took 16 years to develop, brings collectively two eating places, a store, showroom and lodge, working virtually as a miniature metropolis. Its structure incorporates salvaged parts from older industrial buildings from the speedy space, giving supplies that may in any other case have been discarded a second life. As former industrial websites more and more give method to residential improvement, the mission gives a compelling various: not preservation for preservation’s sake, however reinvention by reuse.
The Dutch Design Awards
(Picture credit score: Anwyn Howarth)
A spotlight of the week is Dutch Design Awards, which have a good time rising expertise. Three college students from a shortlist of 15 have been recognised, with prizes and alternatives to additional their careers, together with awards price €10,000. The ceremony felt like a passing of the torch or, given Eindhoven’s identification, the lightbulb. An unusually lengthy desk served as each eating floor and stage, with hosts and award recipients standing on it. The gesture was greater than a playful piece of staging; boundaries between viewers and performer, object and structure, have been known as into query. The awards additionally celebrated the subsequent technology of designers whereas inserting them inside an extended custom, one sustained by the likes of Eek.
‘Desk of Energy’ by Present Not Present
(Picture credit score: courtesy StatiusPR)
(Picture credit score: courtesy StatiusPR)
The pageant’s urge for food for rethinking how we occupy area was equally obvious on the ‘Desk of Energy’, conceived by Dutch collective Present Not Present for a press dinner. The group not solely designed the desk however the surrounding surroundings, creating an immersive setting that questioned the social dynamics of a well-known ritual.
‘Parallel Mirror’, designed by Aleksandra Adamchyk, was one instance of the complementary furnishings surrounding stated desk. Positioned at its far finish, the mirror performed with gentle and perspective, showing to increase the room whereas drawing consideration to the relationships between these congregating round it. What started as a backdrop for a press dinner grew to become a part of the broader pageant programme, opening the set up as much as a broader viewers.
