Madrid is preparing to become one of the international epicenters of design With a new edition of the Madrid Design Festival, an event that unfolds over several weeks with exhibitions, professional meetings, and activities open to the public throughout the city, the capital transforms into a grand stage where design is showcased as a tool capable of rethinking how we live, work, and relate to one another.
For just over a month, the festival's program invites you to discover projects that combine craftsmanship, industry, innovation and culture, with proposals ranging from graphic design to textilesencompassing architecture, furniture, and material experimentation. All of this is approached with a focus on both the Spanish and European context and on dialogue with other creative regions.
Madrid Design Festival: dates, theme and conceptual axes
The next edition of the festival will be held between February 5 and March 8, 2026, in what will be its ninth year of existence. During that period, Madrid becomes a true urban laboratory where design occupies museums, cultural centers, galleries, schools and independent spaces, reaching both professionals and the general public.
The discourse of this edition is structured around the motto "Redesigning the world"This declaration of intent underscores the role of design as a driver of social, economic, and cultural change. Far from understanding design solely as an aesthetic matter, the festival presents it as a discipline that delves into major contemporary debates and proposes new forms of coexistence and day-to-day organization.
To organize this approach, the programming is structured in four main dimensions: responsibility, transcendence, impact and transmissionThese axes serve as a conceptual framework from which issues such as sustainability, memory, technological innovation, education, or the relationship between territory and production are addressed.
Responsibility refers to the need to design taking into account the social and environmental consequences; transcendence refers to the design's ability to project itself into time and leave a mark; impact refers to its real influence on daily life and production systems; and transmission focuses on pedagogy, shared knowledge, and intergenerational alliances.
With this structure, the festival reinforces its role as cultural and professional platform which connects designers, institutions, companies, schools and citizens, and consolidates Madrid on the European map of contemporary design.
Guatemala, guest country and focus on textile design
One of the most unique aspects of this edition is the focus Guatemala as the guest countryThe festival will dedicate a central space to contemporary Guatemalan textile design, putting on the table the relationship between identity, tradition and current creation through inherited techniques and knowledge.
The main proposal is embodied in the exhibition "Textile art in Guatemala: design and identity"This exhibition, presented for the first time in Spain, showcases the work of Idonika alongside the architecture of Amarillo Studio. The selection brings together huipiles and other pieces made using traditional methods such as backstrap loom weaving and brocade, reinterpreted through a contemporary lens.
This exhibition allows us to get closer to the way in which the fabric operates as bearer of memory, worldview and collective knowledgeand how creative communities update their languages without breaking with their cultural roots. Guatemala's presence fits perfectly with the festival's conceptual framework, especially regarding territory, circularity, and the transmission of knowledge.
Beyond the exhibition, the guest country's participation extends to other festival programs, with activities related to the crafts, materials research and intercultural dialogue, reinforcing the international dimension of Madrid Design Festival without losing sight of its anchoring in the European context.
Fernán Gómez: main venue and three major exhibitions
El Fernan Gomez. Cultural Center of the Villa It once again becomes the exhibition heart of the festival. There, visitors can explore a series of three long-term exhibitions, open from February 5 to May 3, 2026, which address the relationship between memory, territory, and material culture from different perspectives.
The first one is «André Ricard. Design in Use», a review of more than six decades of work by one of the leading figures in industrial design in SpainThe exhibition focuses both on his best-known pieces and on his way of thinking about everyday objects, highlighting how design is embedded in daily life often without us noticing.
The second sample, «Mediterranean Manifesto"," curated by Mariona Rubio and co-produced with Cosentino, brings together the work of more than thirty creators. Here, the Mediterranean is presented as shared cultural, material and environmental territoryAnd the exhibition functions as a choral narrative about its legacy, its tensions, and its possible futures.
Complete the set «Textile art in Guatemala: design and identity"," which links the exhibition program to Guatemala's role as guest country. The exhibition proposes an interpretation of textiles as a living archive where ancestral techniques, activism, contemporary design, and reflection on the country's social landscape intersect.
These three exhibitions, viewed together, offer a broad overview of How different geographies and generations engage in dialogue through designFrom everyday objects to the most experimental installations, they consolidate the role of the Fernán Gómez as a key meeting point for professionals and the general public.
Fiesta Design: Installations, workshops and design for everyone
One of the most participatory programs of the festival is Fiesta DesignThe event will take place between February 12th and 22nd at the Institución Libre de Enseñanza. This initiative aims to allow the public to experience design directly, moving away from a purely contemplative approach.
Over several days, the following will take place facilities, workshops, presentations and activities that connect creativity, everyday life, and research. The idea is to show how design seeps into seemingly small gestures and decisions, but with a real impact on how we inhabit spaces and relate to objects.
This edition is expected to include the participation of brands, studios and institutions as diverse as Amazon together with Kavita Parmar, Castilla-La Mancha with a project directed by Tomás Alía, Signus with Gianluca Pugliese, Finsa with Enorme Studio and Alex Fenollar, as well as Clínica Studio, Víctor García or IED Madrid, which acts as the official school of the festival.
In addition, there are university centers such as CEU Universities, IE University and UDITwhich brings an academic and experimental perspective to the program. The mix of established professionals and emerging talent makes Fiesta Design a space where it's possible to see how the next generation of designers in Spain are being trained.
For the general public, this section of the festival serves as an accessible gateway to design culture, with proposals designed for overcoming the fear of "not knowing" about design and to understand it as something close and applicable to everyday life, beyond the great author icons.
Madrid Design PRO and MDF Awards: the professional focus
The professional dimension of the festival is concentrated in Madrid Design PROA four-day program to be held from February 18 to 21, 2026. Conferences, round tables, talks and meetings create a space for reflection where the main lines of work in current design are analyzed.
Confirmed speakers include internationally renowned names such as Patricia Urquiola, Luca Nichetto, Emma van der Leest or Christien Meindertsma, alongside key figures from the European scene such as Héctor Serrano, Loumi Le Floc'h, Benjamín Iborra (Mesura), Liza Enebeis (Studio Dunbar) or Alba de la Fuente, among others.
The sessions cover topics ranging from experimentation with biomimetic or circular materials to new forms of visual communication, including spatial design, collaborative processes, and the relationship between the creative industry and public policy. The emphasis is on sharing applied knowledge and in generating networks between studios, companies and institutions.
In parallel, the MDF Awards 2026 The awards will recognize the careers of three highly influential figures: industrial designer Konstantin Grcic, gallery owner and curator Rossana Orlandi, and architect, critic, and popularizer Juli Capella. These awards underscore both the importance of authorship in product design and the role of cultural mediation and criticism.
The combination of professional workshops and awards consolidates Madrid Design Festival as a strategic meeting point for the design sector in Europe, where agents ranging from small independent practices to large cultural institutions and public administrations come together.
Madrid Designs: the city as a great creative map
One of the features that distinguishes the festival is the program Madrid Designs, a large map of initiatives spread throughout the city that turns Madrid into an active design territory for several weeks. With the support of the City CouncilThis network connects around 300 spaces including showrooms, studios, galleries, institutions and shops.
This network is used to organize exhibitions, routes, workshops, open studios and urban installations These experiences allow visitors to discover design at street level, often in places not typically found on traditional cultural circuits. The city comes alive as a creative tapestry where established projects and emerging proposals coexist.
The program not only seeks to give visibility to creators and companies, but also activate local economies linked to innovationThis strengthens Madrid's design scene in the face of other European centers. At the same time, it helps to decentralize the cultural offerings, distributing activities across different neighborhoods.
For those visiting Madrid during the festival, this map serves as a flexible route that allows combining large institutional exhibitions with independent spaces, neighborhood workshops or more experimental initiatives, generating an overview of how design is being done in the capital.
The result is a city that, for a few weeks, feels like a continuous circuit of events in which The boundary between exhibition space and everyday environment becomes more blurredreinforcing the idea that design is part of urban life on multiple levels.
The network of cultural venues and museums involved
Although the Fernán Gómez is the main exhibition venue, the Madrid Design Festival program unfolds across a wide network of cultural institutions. Among the spaces participating in the event are... CaixaForum Madrid, Spanish Film Archive, National Museum of Decorative Arts, National Archaeological Museum and several state and municipal museums.
Historic venues such as the Cerralbo Museum, the Museum of Romanticism or the Museum of the History of Madrid, which open their collections and spaces to interpretations from a design perspective, whether through temporary exhibitions, specific installations or parallel activities such as guided tours and workshops.
The field of contemporary art is strengthened by the involvement of Reina Sofía Museum, the Círculo de Bellas Artes and the Ateneo de Madrid, Whereas the professional design fabric It finds key points in the Official College of Architects of Madrid (COAM), DIMAD or Matadero Madrid, which hosts several of the most experimental initiatives.
This diversity of venues shows the extent to which design intersects with disciplines such as architecture, art, history, and anthropology, and how Spanish cultural institutions are incorporating design to their lines of work, not only as an aesthetic object but as a tool for mediation and reflection.
For the public, this network of spaces offers the possibility of constructing very different routes according to specific interests, from itineraries focused on heritage and design to routes more focused on innovation and contemporary practices.
Extended program: exhibitions, meetings and activities
The ninth edition of Madrid Design Festival, organized by La FábricaIt offers an intense program ranging from large-scale exhibitions to more intimate formats. Throughout the weeks of the festival, a succession of events unfolds. meetings, round tables, conversations, specialized workshops and guided toursmany of them free or with limited capacity.
The goal is for both professionals and amateurs to find spaces for dialogue and learningWhether you want to delve deeper into technical topics or discover, in a more introductory way, how design impacts everyday life, the activities are spread across a wide range of times to make it easier to attend.
Many of these proposals are organized in collaboration with design schools, universities, and cultural entities, allowing the festival to also function as visibility platform for new talent and ongoing research projects. For those working in the sector, these meetings are a relevant networking opportunity within the Spanish and European calendar.
Although the full program is published on the festival's official channels, the overall structure maintains a balance between large-scale projects, which attract a broad audience, and more focused activities that address specific niches, from digital design to experimentation with biomaterials.
The approach reinforces the festival's vocation of democratize access to design without sacrificing depth of content, so that informative proposals coexist with more technical or specialized ones.
FORMA Design Fair: the new collectible design fair
The big news of this edition is FORMA Design FairIt is presented as the first fair in Spain dedicated exclusively to collectible design. It will take place from March 4 to 8 at Matadero Madrid, fitting into the final stretch of the festival and expanding its reach to the world of collecting and the specialized market.
Conceived as a curated and professional space, FORMA was born with the objective of to strengthen the economic and cultural value of contemporary design, connecting designers, studios, galleries, brands and artisan workshops with collectors, institutions and specialized audiences.
The curatorial direction is in charge of Antonio Luna and Emerio ArenaBoth have experience in projects related to contemporary design and publishing. Under their coordination, the fair will bring together a selection of limited-edition furniture, artistic lighting, contemporary ceramics, designer textiles, and objects that straddle the line between design, art, and craft.
The focus is on so-called collectible design, a growing territory that combines Formal and material research, small-scale production, and high added valueUntil now, this field lacked a specific visibility platform in the Spanish context, so FORMA is also seen as a step towards consolidating Madrid on the European map of design fairs.
For five days, the fair will function as a complementary hub to Madrid Design Festival, expanding its formats and reinforcing the idea of the festival as comprehensive platform that encompasses both cultural reflection and the specialized market.
(Per)FORMA and the boost to the professional ecosystem
In addition to the exhibition area, FORMA Design Fair incorporates (Per)FORMA public program of talks, demonstrations, and professional activities geared towards designers, gallery owners, specifiers, and other industry professionals. This section focuses on knowledge sharing and creating real opportunities for collaboration.
The sessions are conceived as spaces where the following topics are addressed: business models, internationalization strategies, sustainability challenges or new ways of working between designers, artisans, and manufacturers. Design is also analyzed here from its economic and cultural policy dimensions.
The program aims to ensure that the fair is not merely a showcase of pieces, but rather acts as platform to strengthen the professional ecosystemfostering alliances between agents who often operate in isolation. The idea is to help collection design gain traction in the Spanish and European context, both in terms of visibility and market share.
The first edition is expected to include projects representing some of the most attentive voices at the intersection of tradition and contemporaneity, with unique pieces, small series, sculptural objects and proposals that integrate criteria of sustainability and technological experimentation.
FORMA was born under the auspices of Madrid Design Festival, organized by La Fábrica, and has the support of Madrid City Council, Matadero Madrid, DIMAD and various state entities such as the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Industry and Cultural Action, reinforcing the strategic dimension of design within public policies.
Diseñoesfera, MINI Award and Alliance for Wool
The aspect of design most closely linked to economics and strategy is channeled through Sphere DesignA set of programs that connects creative talent, businesses, and institutions. Initiatives such as Design à Trois, Viveros, and Rediseña Madrid Industrial focus on collaboration, inclusion, and the regeneration of productive environments.
This set of projects underscores the position of design as applied innovation toolcapable of intervening in industrial processes, value chains, and urban contexts. These are formats that go beyond traditional exhibitions and involve working with communities, businesses, and government agencies.
Another milestone is the MINI Design AwardThe award, which has established itself after six editions as an observatory of ideas for imagining new ways of inhabiting the city, has already received more than 350 professional applications and focuses on projects related to mobility, public space, and urban sustainability.
The winning proposal for 2026 will be announced on February 19, and it usually acts as thermometer of concerns and lines of work that permeate urban design in Spain and Europe, from micromobility solutions to tactical interventions in public space.
Finally, the program Wool Alliance For the second year in a row, the festival reaffirms its interest in strategic materials and their connection to the land. Through installations, research, and talks, wool is explored as a common thread to discuss circularity, landscape, rural memory, and future scenarios.
A key calendar within the design landscape
In the context of major European events related to design, architecture and art, Madrid Design Festival has established itself, edition after edition, as one of the events that mark the annual calendar for professionals and enthusiasts. Its combination of exhibition programming, theoretical reflection, specialized fair and activities open to the public allows it to occupy a unique place.
For those working in the field of design, the festival is part of a calendar that shares the spotlight with fairs and events spread across other European cities, but with the unique characteristic of to emphasize the city as a creative ecosystem, beyond the isolated fairgrounds.
At the same time, for the citizens of Madrid and for those visiting the capital during those dates, the event represents an opportunity to approaching design from multiple anglesFrom major exhibitions in large museums to neighborhood workshops and open studios, including conferences with top-level international figures.
With a ninth edition that promotes new features such as FORMA Design Fair, consolidates programs such as Madrid Design PRO and the MINI Award, and reinforces its international dimension with Guatemala as the guest country, the festival once again places design at the center of the city's cultural debate, showing how this discipline can act as a lever for social, economic and urban transformation.
