Dutch Design Week 2026: Ten Shows to See in Eindhoven

Dutch Design Week 2026 runs from 17 to 25 October across multiple venues in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, with this year's theme of "raw" selected to interrogate and celebrate raw, unpolished and authentic design.

Dezeen, which published its festival picks, highlights ten exhibitions and installations spanning established names and recent graduates. Here is what to look out for.

Where can you spot tomorrow's stars?

The Design Academy Eindhoven Graduation Show 2026 tops the list. The school has nurtured Sabine Marcelis, Formafantasma, Hella Jongerius and Philippe Malouin, and the graduation show is where the next generation first surfaces. It takes place at Microstad, Professor Doctor, Dorgelolaan 2.

What is new from Teresa van Dongen and Gijs Schalkx?

Teresa van Dongen, known for bioluminescent lighting powered by bacteria sourced from octopi and Second World War bomb craters, launches a new project at the Klokgebouw: a transparent window decal that works as a solar-powered night light.

At the TX Buildings, Gijs Schalkx presents "On the Way to a Future", featuring provocative transport designs including a car that runs on waste plastic and a motorbike powered by swamp gas — projects he uses to question dependence on fossil fuels.

Which installations will dominate public space?

Design duo Isabel + Helen take over Eindhoven's Stadhuisplein with "Field", a family of towering wind turbines. Passersby are encouraged to move and turn the turbines towards the wind to visualise the invisible energy flowing around us at all times.

Inside the Punt-C warehouse, Berlin-based Simon Weckert shows "Digital Camouflage", a shirt that scrambles the facial recognition system of surveillance cameras. The project ranks among the most-read pieces Dezeen has published in recent months, and appears alongside work by 14 other international designers.

What about materials and collectible design?

The Echo group show, "01 Alu Edition", challenged 14 designers to transform aluminium offcuts from street lighting pole production and extrusion profiles into new, useful products, on view in the newly minted TX Buildings.

Christien Meindertsma's "Local Linoleum" at the Klokgebouw aims to uncover the hidden origins of materials and demystify the murky production chains of everyday objects, arguing that industrialisation and globalisation keep those chains largely invisible to consumers.

Curated by Design Biennale Rotterdam co-founder Liv Vaisberg, "Forward Furniture" returns with almost 100 established and emerging collectible designers presenting three pieces each, in an exhibition design based on carpets that soften the former factory setting.

Who else returns this year?

Eindhoven collective Show Not Show is back for a third year with "Table of Power", recreating a high-powered boardroom inside studio complex de Kruisruimte. Members Frank Penders and Lucas Zito are joined by three invited guests: Aleksandra Adamchyk, Kilian Vos and Pablo Octavio.

Rising star Teun Zwets, who last year showed glossy, splintered wood furniture from a car trailer, is trying something new. He unveils 50 new chair designs that step away from his recognisable splintered-wood style, each built with materials and methodologies he has never used before. The pieces go on display at his wood and metal workshop on Hallenweg.

With graduate debuts, material experiments and large-scale public installations packed into nine days, Dutch Design Week 2026 positions Eindhoven as the place to test which "raw" ideas will shape the coming design year.