The 27th Designblok Records Record Attendance, Main Exhibitions Continue. The Theme and Dates of the 28th Edition Revealed
14. 10. 2025
The 27th edition of the Prague International Design Festival Designblok was visited between 6 and 12 October 2025 by a record 48,722 visitors across the main exhibition venues, free-to-access installations, and accompanying events throughout Prague. The Designblok Talks conference welcomed 530 accredited architects, designers, journalists, and other professionals. The festival presented a total of 265 exhibitors, 32% of whom participated for the first time, and 19% were international brands and designers. The Public Award went to a project by students of the Faculty of Architecture at the Czech Technical University in Prague, who designed dispensers for menstrual products for public spaces as part of a design-build workshop. The main exhibitions – COURAGE: Women in Architecture, Design and Applied Arts, Jiří Pelcl: Design is My Religion, and Zdeněk Vacek: DARK ’n’ LUSH – remain open at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague until 2 November 2025. The exhibition Mary McCartney: STRIKING by PLAYCE at Galerie Rudolfinum is also freely accessible until 2 November 2025. More information can be found at designblok.cz.
“Designblok, with the theme Courage, was for me above all a manifestation of Czech design in the context of the global scene. It featured 265 exhibitors, including 39 Czech manufacturers who courageously placed their success in collaboration with designers. We hosted the largest number of international guests so far and had the highest-ever representation of exhibitors from Central Europe, especially from Slovakia and Poland. Our team introduced two new formats – the Designblok Talks conference and the Designblok for Kids pavilion – both of which were met with an excellent response from professionals and the general public alike,” said Festival Director Jana Zielinski and added: “The curated exhibitions, which remain on view until 2 November 2025 at the Museum of Decorative Arts and Galerie Rudolfinum, were also a great success. Above all, thanks go to all exhibitors, partners, and visitors for their energy and cooperation. This year’s record attendance confirms that courage and openness to new themes are the path we want to continue following. We are already looking forward to the 28th edition with the theme of Light.”
The Public Award, in which 5,455 visitors voted, was won by a project by students of the Faculty of Architecture at CTU – dispensers for menstrual products highlighting the issue of period poverty. Students of the Design Studio at the Faculty of Architecture designed three dispensers for menstrual products as part of a design-build workshop. The metal products by Pavlína Poláková, Tereza Cvrčková, and Štěpán Šuster differ not only in appearance but also in the way the pads and tampons are distributed and in their placement in restrooms. The Faculty of Architecture at CTU is actively fighting period poverty and has already produced 55 dispensers for other institutions during the semester.
Designblok is also about responsibility. Each year, the festival supports one charitable project. This year’s partner was the Tereza Maxová Foundation for Children, which raised CZK 144,850 from visitors through the interactive installation Wall of Joy / Stěna radosti. The festival, together with its partner the ČEZ Foundation, also presented the foundation with an additional donation of CZK 100,000.
The 28th edition of Designblok will take place from 6 to 11 October 2026. Its central theme will be Light – a symbol of knowledge, truth, hope, and life. Next year, the festival will focus on the influence and role of design in society and on the question of how design can contribute to a better world and to the development of human life. Curated exhibitions, discussions, and lectures within the Designblok Talks conference will explore light in both a practical and symbolic sense.
The main exhibition will present lighting and lamps from Central Europe from the 1980s, curated by Eva Slunečková in collaboration with the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague. At the National Gallery Prague, Maxim Velčovský will create a monumental light installation for the Small Courtyard of the Trade Fair Palace, under the curatorial direction of Michal Novotný and Michaela Kádnerová. Installations and new works by leading Czech lighting manufacturers will also be presented. Fiat lux – let there be light!
