L’Eventail - Bienvenue à la nouvelle Brussels Design Week

September 2026, Agnès Zamboni

English translation below

Welcome to the new Brussels Design Week

To celebrate its twentieth anniversary, the annual September festival is changing its identity and schedule. Concentrated into ten days and two weekends, from September 24 to October 4 inclusive, this eagerly awaited week unfolds a range of events open to all.

WHAT'S CHANGING

While the event traditionally unfolded throughout September, this year it adopts the rhythm of Design Weeks in major capitals like Milan, Paris, London, and Copenhagen—without overlapping with other events such as those in Paris (Maison & Objet from September 10 to 14 and Design Week until September 19). “Moreover, with the four additional days in October, we’re no longer confined to the back-to-school month. This has allowed us to incorporate activities from MAD, which is organizing a major retrospective exhibition on the twenty years of Designer of the Year. 2026 is a zero year, a test to grow the event,” explains Elizabeth Djamdjiev, organizer and coordinator.

The large “D” used as signage, signage, and graphic charter for all participants is a thing of the past. The venues on the itinerary will now be marked by the new macaron and logo for BDW, designed by Jade Vijt and O’nonto Zaman from the Brussels studio Rond Carré. “Our goal is to bring together all design lovers—institutions, students, professionals, and enthusiasts alike. Starting on the evening of September 24 from 6 PM, the general public (not just professionals) is invited to the opening vernissage and grand soirée. The recent opening of the Italian publisher Kartell’s boutique on Porte de Namur has enabled us to organize an international event. A new central hub, designed like a conciergerie, the Hub at Ame—a coworking space that houses Womade 2.0—welcomes all visitors, guiding them to different locations on the program and offering personalized itineraries.”

Located near Place Stéphanie, this 900 m² space hosts an exhibition on designer Alain Gilles and conferences, including two editions of the “Celles qui font le design” cycle dedicated to female and non-binary voices in creative professions. Other conferences are also organized at Materiotek in Molenbeek. Several training and manufacturing institutions are participating in this edition, including La Cambre School with the presentation “Changement de voie/Spoorverandering” at Track Brussels (North Station), LUCA School of Arts, the three Brussels city fabs, Green Fabriquer (textile fablab in Forest), Micro Factory (Circular Design in Anderlecht), and Circularium.

WHAT REMAINS UNCHANGED

BDW highlights Belgian creativity in all its diversity—designers, artisans, galleries, and shops—featuring the winners of the 2026 Commerce Design Brussels Awards, with the first prize awarded to The Standard hotel, designed by Bernard Dubois. But above all, it showcases the designers who live and work in Brussels. The focus is on open studio events (Open Doors, with over twenty different locations this year) such as Open Structures, Au Charbon, Recyclart, creators’ spaces in former Ixelles barracks, and several architecture studios. These are places where you can discover the heart of creation, particularly leatherwork and ceramics. Not to mention Prague House, UR Square, The Dominican, and The Mix Hotel (with Curated), an event featuring forty designers presented over two days—four more venues that remain part of the programming.

MUST-SEE EVENTS

The first weekend offers open studio events and festive exhibition openings. The exhibition The Secular Chapel, organized at The Dominican hotel in collaboration with the Rempart44 gallery founded by Nicole Brock, an interior architect, brings together creators developing objects, materials, and narratives that invite reflection on the new values of contemporary design. In Ixelles at 57 Van Eyck Street, the presentation “Les Jardiniers du vide” initiated by Zélie Boulestreau and Maud Bocquet unveils the works of Papier Boulettes. Their projects develop an art of monumental frescoes using recycled paper, a process combining rich ornamentation with ecological insulation properties.

A visit to the Design Museum near the Atomium, which is collaborating with Kartell, is recommended to discover an evocation of the most creative years of the Val Saint-Lambert Crystal Works. “Many designers are participating without gallery representation, which has led us to set up numerous shop window displays around the city, each featuring an object by a creator with a QR code providing all the information.” A stroll down Rue de Namur and through the thirteen participating galleries, such as Imaginair on Rue du Prévôt, guarantees a diverse program. “The second weekend, don’t miss the two MAD exhibitions. Also in Ixelles, a young Brazilian gallery presents vintage pieces and contemporary glass creations in an exceptional apartment.”

A MAJOR EVENT

The second edition of Shifting Ground at UR Square on Avenue de la Couronne presents A Garden Party, an exhibition built around the idea of celebration as a space for meeting, creation, and collective reflection. It brings together the works of about forty Belgian and European designers and is rooted in a paradox: organizing a celebration at a time when social bonds, economic balances, and forms of creative expression are increasingly fragile. “Each designer is invited to design, alongside the objects they exhibit, a lantern specially created for the exhibition. Both simple and universal, the lantern is a light you carry with you: it illuminates paths, reveals shadows, and accompanies movement. As a collective work made up of individual interventions, it embodies both a personal and shared gesture. Together, these lanterns form a luminous constellation that will guide visitors from the entrance of the exhibition,” explains Ariane van Dievoet, who is participating in this event, in parallel with an exhibition in her gallery, Augusta.

From September 24 to October 4 • designseptember.be • Instagram: @brussels_design_week