From Sept. 30–Oct. 9, Vienna Design Week returns to Austria’s capital, staging its largest annual celebration of contemporary design. This year the festival centers in the Margareten district, housed in the historic former Bothe & Ehrmann exhibition halls. The program highlights a selection of designers who have shaped the event over the past decade, including Julia Landsiedl, Thomas Feichtner, Kueng Caputo and Robert Stadler.
Continuing a popular tradition, the Passionswege initiative links established local businesses with festival exhibitors across seven stations, providing visitors with behind-the-scenes access to traditional Viennese workshops. These immersive encounters showcase craftsmanship in active studios and offer opportunities to learn about time-honored techniques as they are practiced today.
The festival program includes a broad range of educational activities—guided tours, hands-on workshops and public lectures designed for both design professionals and curious visitors. Featured speakers this year include acclaimed French architect Dominique Perrault and German curator Oliver Elser, who will present insights into contemporary practice and curatorial strategy.
Panel discussions and curated talks address current themes in design and craft. Topics on the schedule include Polish Design Stories, Handicrafts and Design: Tradition Revived, Concrete: Brutalism, a Misunderstanding?, and an in-depth conversation on Social Design. These sessions aim to bridge historical perspectives with contemporary debates about material, social impact and cultural identity.
Exhibitions and openings throughout the festival highlight a mix of experimental projects and refined studio practice. Notable events include the window gallery premiere of Dress a Bulb: Lampshades for Nomads by Patrycja Domańska, a project exploring portable lighting and nomadic aesthetics, and David Tavcar’s Surfaces, which examines texture, finish and the sensory qualities of material.
Vienna Design Week offers a compact yet rich program that balances exhibitions with participatory experiences. Visitors can expect to encounter site-specific installations, collaborative works between designers and manufacturers, and a range of talks that encourage reflection on tradition, innovation and the social role of design. The festival’s setting in Margareten provides an engaging urban backdrop, bringing design into conversation with local businesses and neighborhood life.
Practical information and daily schedules are available through the festival’s official channels. Whether you’re a design professional, student or an interested traveler, Vienna Design Week presents an accessible way to explore contemporary design practice, discover emerging voices and witness how craft and industry continue to inform the built and material environment.