Celebrating ten years of creative impact, Melbourne Design Week 2026 invites designers, studios, and collectives to submit expressions of interest for its statewide program and the Melbourne Art Book Fair.

Now in its tenth year, Melbourne Design Week has shaped the design landscape of Victoria by creating a national platform for designers to share their work and ideas. 

“Melbourne Design Week celebrates Victoria’s outstanding reputation for design excellence and highlights the critical impact of design on our state’s $41.2 billion creative economy and on our everyday lives,” says Minister for Creative Industries, Colin Brooks. 

“I encourage Victorian designers, design businesses and anyone interested in the power of good design to get involved.”

Designers, studios and collectives are invited to submit proposals for events, talks, exhibitions and workshops for the 2026 festival’s statewide program, including the Melbourne Art Book Fair. 

Expressions of interest for Melbourne Design Week are open until 12.00pm AEDT on the 13th November 2025, while expressions of interest for Melbourne Art Book Fair are open until 12.00pm on the 1st December 2025. 

The 11-day festival Australia’s leading annual design event, bringing together designers, industry and enthusiasts to share bold ideas, showcase new work and make connections across disciplines.

Guided by its annual theme, Design the World You Want, Melbourne Design Week has carved out a focus on experimentation, innovation and ideas that can enrich the world. In 2025, the festival featured more than 450 events and welcomed over 100,000 visitors.

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Expanding beyond Melbourne’s ateliers, studios, retail spaces, universities, galleries, gardens and public spaces, the 2025 program also featured regional events in Langwarrin, Long Forrest, Sunbury, St Andrews and Red Hill. 

Melbourne Design Week is an initiative of the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria, delivered by the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV). Since its inception, the program has grown in scope and scale, from just under 100 programs in 2017 to over 450 in 2025. 

Expressions of interest are also open for the 12th edition of the Melbourne Art Book Fair, which has brought together publishers, writers and designers since 2015 to showcase and launch some of the region’s best publications at venues across Melbourne and Victoria. 

The Melbourne Art Book Fair’s annual Stallholder Fair will take place across the opening weekend from 15th-17th May 2026. 

“Since 2017, Melbourne Design Week has grown in strength and ambition – due in large part to the limitless imagination of our local design community,” says Tony Ellwood, Director of the NGV. 

“In 2026, we invite designers, architects, makers and collectives to help us shape this milestone tenth edition and share their groundbreaking work with our ever-growing audience.”

Melbourne Design Week
designweek.melbourne

Photography
Edmund Sumner
Andrew Curtis
Pier Carthew
Sarah Forgie
Nicole Reed