Creatives Rejoice: The Essential Guide To Barcelona Design Week

Having celebrated its 10th anniversary last year, the Barcelona Design Week has established itself as the leading event for all things design in the city. The event, which brings together creators, businesses and others involved in the industry, has helped secure Barcelona’s reputation as a leading European design capital.

What is it?

The Barcelona Design Week is the city’s premier event dedicated to all things design – from fashion design to 3D printing and more. The event’s aim is to present the latest innovations in the field and enable professionals to exchange ideas, learn from their fellow designers and sustain a local design community. Here in Barcelona, there is a thriving community of designers and design-focused businesses that see this as the high point of the year, a unique opportunity to network and learn about the latest trends in their field.

Throughout the week-long event, there are workshops, conferences, exhibitions and debates by leading professionals and business representatives, both from Barcelona and the international stage. In addition, there are often specific events organised for particular sectors, such as design in the food industry – think 3D food printing.

The past two years saw the ‘Design is Future congresstival’ run during the Barcelona Design Week, exploring the role of design in the future model of businesses and demonstrating the social and economic value of design. The ‘congresstival’ focused on three areas – professionals, businesses and society – and was synthesised in a short movie.

Barcelona Design Week was launched for the first time back in 2006, and last year, the event celebrated its 10th anniversary with a record-breaking 11,000 visitors. The event is supported by a community of local design enthusiasts with diverse backgrounds – from global trendsetters such as Bibiana Bilbè to leading Barcelona architect Lafede.

How do you go?

The Barcelona Design Week is organised each year in the springtime and takes place at the Barcelona Museu de Disseny, the city’s recently inaugurated design museum. The building is located on the Plaça de les Gloriès near the Poblenou neighbourhood and has become a symbol of the revival of this former industrial area. The Design Museum opened in 2014 as the result of a merger of four existing museums dedicated to different branches of design.

The Barcelona Design Museum next to the iconic Torre Agbar

This year, the Barcelona Design Week will take place from June 2–12, 2017. Check the website for the announcement of the full list of events and be sure to buy tickets to your favourite talks and workshops early, as the most popular ones often sell out in advance.