Designblok returns to Prague with city-wide programme for 2026
DesignBlok 2026 returns from 7 to 11 October for its 28th edition, bringing Central Europe’s largest design and fashion festival to major cultural venues across Prague. Led by festival director Jana Zielinski, the event is organized around the theme of Light, considered both as a physical design medium and as a symbol of knowledge, truth, hope and life. More than 300 selected designers, studios and brands are expected to take part, while a professional programme begins on 6 October ahead of the public opening.
The festival unfolds across the Trade Fair Palace of the National Gallery Prague, Prague Castle, the Museum of Decorative Arts and the newly restored Industrial Palace at Výstaviště Praha, alongside more than 50 galleries, showrooms and independent spaces across the city. At the Trade Fair Palace, exhibitions and installations occupy multiple floors and atriums, with Maxim Velčovský presenting a performative light installation focused on movement and collective experience. Prague Castle adds projects dedicated to design, craft and cultural memory, including Design for Václav Havel and Eva Eisler’s contemplative installation in the Chapel of the Holy Cross.
Light also structures the curatorial programme through historical research, contemporary practice and public installation. At the Museum of Decorative Arts, Retro Lamps: Rediscovered Stories of Czechoslovak Design from the 1950s–80s examines the designers behind serially produced lighting that became familiar in Czech homes while many of their authors remained little known. Elsewhere in Prague, Lee Broom’s Beacon, made in collaboration with Czech glass manufacturer Brokis, extends the festival into the public realm through a large-scale work that uses illumination as both material and shared urban experience.
Professional exchange forms another major part of DesignBlok 2026. DesignBlok Talks expands to two days on 6 and 7 October inside the central hall of the Industrial Palace, reopening the restored building to the public after seven years of reconstruction. Produced with Dezeen, the conference considers light as a design phenomenon, architectural tool and cultural subject through lectures, discussions and interviews. Its programme brings together international and Czech designers, architects and specialists, while the restored hall also hosts the DesignBlok Awards and Diploma Selection fashion events during the week.
Emerging designers remain central to the festival through the 12th edition of Diploma Selection, a European graduate competition presenting product and fashion design projects from universities across the continent. An international jury evaluates the selected work, while School Today introduces presentations from Central European design schools and universities. Together with the DesignBlok Talent Cards programme, these formats give early-career practitioners access to an audience that includes design professionals, manufacturers, curators, media and the wider public.
Across its five public days, DesignBlok 2026 uses Prague itself as part of the exhibition structure, linking institutional spaces, temporary installations, design showcases and professional events through a city-wide programme. The Light theme provides a clear framework without limiting the festival to lighting design, connecting questions of perception, material, architecture, craft and social exchange. With the reopening of the Industrial Palace and an expanded conference programme, the 28th edition reinforces DesignBlok’s role as a meeting point for Czech design and the wider European scene.
All images courtesy of DesignBlok
