DesignBlok Draws more Than 50,000 Visitors as Prague Festival Returns to Industrial Palace

From October 7 to 11, the Czech-based brand 'What a Hut' presented its vision of modern sauna culture in front of the Trade Fair Palace (Veletržní palác) in Prague © DesignBlok

The 28th edition of Prague International Design Festival brought together 368 exhibitors from 24 countries, while the reopening of the renovated Industrial Palace provided a renewed setting for exhibitions, conferences and fashion shows.

More than 50,000 people visited the 28th edition of DesignBlok, Prague International Design Festival, held from 6 to 11 October 2026. Bringing together a record 368 exhibitors from 24 countries, the festival combined contemporary design exhibitions with conferences, fashion shows, student showcases and installations across some of the Czech capital’s most prominent cultural venues.

One of the defining moments of this year’s edition was the return of DesignBlok to the renovated Industrial Palace at Prague Exhibition Grounds, which reopened as an event venue after seven years. Its restored central hall hosted DesignBlok Talks, the festival’s awards ceremony and fashion shows, reinforcing the role of the historic building as a setting for multiple forms of creative and professional exchange.

Other principal venues included the National Gallery Prague’s Trade Fair Palace, Prague Castle and the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, alongside more than 30 showrooms and galleries across the city. Several exhibitions and installations remain open beyond the festival dates, including Design for Václav Havel and Eva Eisler’s Circle of Silence at Prague Castle, both scheduled to run until January 2027.

This year’s theme, Light, informed a programme spanning lighting design, technological innovation and the symbolic role of light in contemporary culture. Among the featured projects was Beacon, a light installation by British designer Lee Broom for Czech lighting brand Brokis, presented in Jan Palach Square.

The festival also provided a platform for emerging talent. Its 12th DesignBlok Diploma Selection presented 30 finalists from European universities across product and fashion design. Mo Tong Yang, from the University of Art and Design Lausanne in Switzerland, won the product design category, while Józefina Wojtkiewicz, from ArtEZ University of the Arts in the Netherlands, received the fashion design award. The international DesignBlok Awards jury also made a notable first by awarding its Grand Prix collectively to all students exhibiting at the festival.
 

Industrial Palace © Jiri Sebek

The public award went to Jídelna, an interactive installation by the Faculty of Multimedia Communications at Tomas Bata University in Zlín. Selected through a vote involving almost 7,000 participants, the project transformed exhibition space into a symbolic student canteen, presenting the work of the faculty’s studios through trays displaying materials, tools and creative processes. More than 80 students from 14 studios and the Institute of Marketing Communications contributed to the installation.

International participation extended beyond exhibitors. The festival welcomed designers, architects, curators, journalists and other industry professionals, including Dutch designer Marcel Wanders, who received the DesignBlok award for outstanding contribution to world design, Italian gallerist Rossana Orlandi and British designer Lee Broom. A two-day DesignBlok Talks conference brought Czech and international professionals together to discuss contemporary design.

The programme also incorporated social impact initiatives. The exhibition organised by the AutTalk Foundation, the festival’s principal non-profit partner, attracted more than 15,000 visitors and raised CZK 373,650 through sales of designer candleholders and vases. DesignBlok contributed a further CZK 100,000 from ticket revenue to support the foundation’s work in raising awareness of autism.

The next edition will take place from 6 to 10 October 2027 under the theme Doma, meaning “At Home”. The programme will place greater emphasis on Central Europe, contemporary design from neighbouring countries and the role of design and craftsmanship in shaping the environments in which people live and work. The fully renovated Industrial Palace will again serve as the festival’s principal exhibition venue.

According to festival director Jana Zielinski, the theme will also explore how the spaces people inhabit influence everyday life, wellbeing and a sense of security, with these questions set to feature in the international DesignBlok Talks conference.

The lfet wing of the Industrial Palace © Jiri Sebek

Headquarters was in Prague during DesignBlok to explore the renovated Industrial Palace first-hand. Our full report, featuring interviews with the director of Prague Exhibition Grounds, will follow soon.

Published by Meeting Media Company, the publisher of Headquarters Magazine (HQ) – a leading international publication based in Brussels, serving the global MICE industry and association community.