Designblok, Prague International Design Festival, is the largest exhibition of design and fashion in Central and Eastern Europe. It takes place in the creative heartland of the European continent.
Established in 1999, the six-day festival starts with the Professionals’ Day and continues with a five-day exhibition for the public. The design festival presents new projects from over two hundred carefully selected makers, studios and established brands.
The festival’s curated exhibitions react to current social topics and draw attention to the work of both up-and-coming and long-established designers. They also offer a creative and professional business platform that allows designers and brands to meet the expert public, suppliers, and customers. The exhibitions also include a wide-ranging accompanying program in the form of lectures and discussions, field-specific encounters, fashion shows, and other special events that open spaces for networking and mutual inspiration.
Over 41,000 people visit the Designblok festival every year, including designers, curators, collectors, architects, interior designers, journalists, and design lovers.
Discover DesignMiami, the collectible design fair
Designblok Prague 2024. Photo Nikola Tamchynova
The 26th Designblok takes place October 2nd-6th, 2024, at Prague Castle, the Museum of Prague, Bastion Florenc, the Museum of Decorative Arts, and other locations around Prague. The exhibition Bóda Horák: Biosphere will be open until 28 October 2024.
The complete program is on the designblok.cz website.
International guests at Designblok Prague
Design legend Ron Arad will come in person, to present his new work with Moroso. He will also accept the Designblok Award for Outstanding Merit in Design, from festival director Jana Zielinski. Winy Maas, the multi-talented Dutch designer and founder of the MVRDV studio, will transport festival visitors into a world where the foliage will overgrow the cities. Instead, Vitra has invited the Panter&Tourron design studio, which specializes in sustainable design. This year, the jury of the festival’s central competition – the Designblok Awards – will assemble under the directorship of jury president Benedict Hobson, co-CEO of the Dezeen platform, the most-read online design magazine. However, the Diploma Selection jury will welcome new faces, as will the Art House exhibition focusing on collectible design. The 26th Designblok, the grandest design festival in central Europe, will also welcome Italian gallerist Rossana Orlandi and designer and entrepreneur Giulio Cappellini.
Discover NOMAD, the collectible design touring showcase
Rossana Orlandi. Photo Annica Eklund, courtesy Designblok
Designblok Awards
After the French journalist and critic Anne-France Berthelon (Designblok 2022) and the Dutch designer Ineke Hans (Designblok 2023), the position of president of the Designblok Awards international expert jury has been taken up by Benedict Hobson, co-CEO of the Dezeen online platform. The president is responsible for assembling the expert jury and overseeing the vote for the festival’s leading award. The Dezeen online platform has over three million monthly readers, and has been the festival’s primary media partner for the past three years. The Designblok Awards jury will further include designer Emma Marga Blanche of the Swedish Färg & Blanche design studio, Italian designer and creative director Luca Nichetto, director of Wallpaper* China magazine and founder of the Collective Contemporist creative agency Yoko Choy, as well as the British industrial designer Tej Chauhan.
Designblok 2024, in Prague, will also present the progressive designer duo of Stefano Panterotto and Alexis Tourron of the Panter&Tourron studio, in collaboration with Vitra. They will present their newest work to the Czech public, the Anagram Sofa – a modular sofa that will be on view at the Museum of Prague.
Discover NYCxDesign Festival
Konsepti store in Prague, Designblok 2023
The collectible design at Designblok Prague 2024
The unique Art House exhibition of collectible design takes place at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, curated by journalist and Elle Decoration Czech Republic director Eva Slunečková. Apart from Czech designers and artists, the exhibition will also feature Slovenian designer Lara Bohinc, French designer Audrey Large, whose works combine digital and physical design, Ukrainian designer Masha Reva and Victoria Yakusha, and Polish artist and material experimenter Marcin Rusak.
The Designblok Diploma Selection talent competition, in collaboration with the EUNIC Cluster Czech Republic, aims to develop and support graduates of European universities.
This year, it will welcome new jury members. The jury director in the category of Product Design is Tulga Beyerle, director of the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg. The other members are Thomas Geisler, director of the Museum of Decorative Arts at the Dresden State Art Collections; Jan Boelen, curator and art director of LUMA studio; independent curator, filmmaker, and professor at HEAD-Genève Alexandra Midal; and curator of the Gent Design Museum Evelien Bracke.
The Designblok Diploma Selection expert jury will select the winners from over thirty final projects who will receive 4000 EUR, courtesy of festival partner Ploom, and the opportunity to exhibit at next year’s Designblok. Last year’s finalists Esmée Willemsen, Janek Beau, Julia Huhnholz, and Friedrich Gerlach will present their projects at Bastion Florenc, as will fashion designer Maria Czarnecka during the fashion show at Lobkowicz Palace.
Designblok 2023, Galerie Zdeněk Sklenar. Photo Martin Polák
The Designblok family 2024
The “Designblok family” will also arrive for their traditional trip to Prague to see the grandest central European design event – every year, Designblok welcomes Italian curator Rossana Orlandi, Dutch designer Ineke Hans, Italian art director and entrepreneur Giulio Cappellini, curator, program head at the School of Form and dean of the SWPS University in Warsaw Agnieszka Jacobson-Cielecka, Milanese consultant Stephan Hamel, Paris-based gallerist François Leblanc, strategist and tutor Anil Gezmen and others. The festival will also welcome representatives of leading world media, such as the Dutch FRAME magazine, the Polish DesignAlive and Vogue Polska magazine, the German Wohndesign magazine, and others.
Italian art director and entrepreneur Giulio Cappellini
Why visit
First and foremost, Prague is a magical city in itself. Designblok, the design festival, adds the magic of seeing fine objects and design projects in a beautiful, historic setting. By collaborating with design personalities from all over Europe, the festival develops a program featuring great cultural depth. The festival takes place in charming locations: Prague Castle, the Museum of Prague, Bastion Florenc, the Museum of Decorative Arts, and other locations around Prague, so it’s a unique opportunity to see halls of historic buildings, with special setups.
Designblok, Prague, October 2-6, 2024
Designblok is for professional and general public
Different locations (Prague Castle, the Museum of Prague, Bastion Florenc, the Museum of Decorative Arts and other locations)
Size: over 200 makers, 41,000 visitors
Visit website Designblok.cz for more info
Some images from Designblok 2023
