No prizes for guessing the topic of this festival: the Vienna Design Week does what it says on the label, with an eclectic array of events across the city.
- Annual international festival of design held throughout Vienna
- Features regular themes and one-off tracks
- Festival HQ moves district each year (3rd district last time out)
- For both professionals and the curious layperson
- 2025 dates: TBA (was Sept 20-29 in 2024)
- Book tickets for the MAK design museum*
- See also:
- Vienna in September
- Design exhibitions in Vienna
What’s the DESIGN WEEK all about?
(Urban Food track back at a previous event; press photo © Herd Open Kitchen – Vienna Design Week)
Design Week showcases design projects, innovations, processes, and approaches through a wide range of exhibitions, workshops, lectures, tours, and more.
In doing so, the festival presents design as an interdisciplinary endeavour, where aesthetics, sociopolitics, and practical application all meet (perhaps for coffee served out of remarkably elegant yet entirely usable mugs).
Each year also features a focus Viennese district. The third district (Landstraße, home to places like Belvedere) took its turn in the spotlight last time out. The time before that, the 2nd district (Leopoldstadt) found itself the centre of attention.
And each year also has specific tracks and core themes, some consistent across festivals. The regular Urban Food & Design track, for example, explores new concepts in the realm of local food production, distribution, and consumption.
A strong international flavour always runs through the programme, and the festival headquarters moves each year to somewhere within the focus district.
(Design is a strong focus of the lovely MAK museum on Stubenring)
In 2024, the HQ was in the DOCKS business complex (Landstraßer Gürtel 49 & 51) within Village im Dritten: an ongoing large urban development project with an array of residential, business, educational and green spaces.
Although the HQ hosts many activities, Design Week events typically take place throughout the city. Numerous partners contribute everything from exhibitions to one-off talks.
So you likely have relevant museums like the MAK or the Furniture Museum participating, but also designers, commercial entities (IKEA and Lobmeyr were on board in 2024, for example) and many other organisations and locations.
For full details of the festival and the wide-ranging programme, visit the official website.
2025 dates & tickets
I don’t have dates just yet for the 2025 festival, but the previous edition ran from September 20th to 29th. Ticket requirements vary on an event-by-event basis, so check that official website for details.