The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) has officially unveiled the ninth edition of Melbourne Design Week, Australia’s largest and most celebrated design event.
Running from 15 to 25 May 2025, this year’s festival promises to be a spectacular celebration of creativity, innovation, and the transformative power of design. Across 11 days, more than 350 events, exhibitions, talks, and installations will take over Melbourne and regional Victoria, showcasing boundary-pushing work from emerging talents to established industry leaders.
Design the World You Want is the recurring theme of the festival, inviting creatives to explore how design shapes our present and future. NGV Director Tony Ellwood AM described Melbourne Design Week as an invaluable platform for creative minds, saying, “Now in its ninth year, Melbourne Design Week is a vital platform for designers from across the country and the Asia-Pacific region to share ambitious ideas and new works that will shape the future for the better.”
A Bright Start with 100 LIGHTS
The festival kicked off with the visually spectacular 100 LIGHTS exhibition, staged by Friends & Associates at the Meat Market Stables in North Melbourne. Featuring an eclectic and glowing collection of lighting designs by 110 artists, designers, and makers, visitors were transported into a luminous world of creativity. From evocative pendants to experimental sconces, the showcase included works by standout names such as Adam Goodrum, Ross Gardam, Tantri Mustika, and Jay Jermyn. This dazzling opening sets the tone for a festival that embraces both elegance and innovation.
Honouring Design Excellence
At the launch event, Volker Haug was honoured with the Melbourne Design Week Award, presented by Mercedes-Benz Australia. The award recognised Haug’s studio for two decades of outstanding contributions to Australian design. As part of the festival, the studio presents 20 Years of Volker Haug Studio (15–17 May), an exhibition tracing their evolution and groundbreaking innovations in material, form, and lighting design.
Similarly celebrating a two-decade milestone is Trent Jansen, one of the country’s most respected designers. His exhibition, Trent Jansen: Two Decades of Design Anthropology, examines his career trajectory, from early furniture crafted from repurposed road signs to his collaborations with First Nations artists and designers like Maree Clarke and Johnny Nargoodah.
Design for Well-Being and Sustainability
Among the many thought-provoking exhibitions is Sibling Architecture’s Deep Calm, a project exploring how architecture can create sensory-friendly spaces for neurodivergent audiences. Highlighting the calming effects of weighted sofas and tactile rugs, this exhibition showcases innovative approaches to reducing stress and anxiety through design.
A New Normal offers visitors a glimpse into a more sustainable future, presenting designs and ideas from 12 Melbourne architects. The exhibition includes innovative concepts like a waste-to-energy facility attached to local sports centres and the reuse of abandoned buildings for residential and community spaces.
On sustainability, Melbourne Design Week also focuses on breathing new life into urban timber through creative reuse. Exhibitions like the Robin Boyd Foundation’s Knot Pine and Melbourne School of Design’s Tout le Cochon highlight how discarded trees can contribute to a circular economy while fostering stunning furniture designs.
A Platform for Art and Ideas
The Melbourne Art Book Fair returns from 16–18 May at NGV International, offering a vibrant marketplace of over 100 publishers alongside events such as Books By The Gram, an innovative twist on cookbook purchasing, and Catherine Griffiths: Out of Line, an exhibit of the acclaimed New Zealand typographer’s 40-year exploration of language and public art.
This year, Southeast Asian publishers also bring a strong presence, with stalls by Indonesia’s Cahyati Press, Thailand’s Spacebar Zine, and Malaysia’s Suburbia Projects. Visitors will gain unique insights into the contemporary art and design publishing landscape in the region.
Exploring Urban Design and Cultural Legacies
From the intersection of urban design and safety to the cultural legacy of First Nations designers, Melbourne Design Week celebrates diversity in creativity. Exhibitions like Catch: Tales of First Nations Fishing Through the Artbank Collection honour traditional practices through fish traps by Aunty Kim Wandin and others, while talks like The Power of Urban Trees, hosted by Costa Georgiadis, reflect on the ecological and social significance of green spaces in our cities.
Uniting Creativity and Community
Innovative programming throughout the festival includes unique collaborations like a night run club exploring female safety in urban spaces, and a closing event, Reimagining the Clubhouse, offering a playful take on traditional sporting venues. The Melbourne Design Week Film Festival also immerses audiences in design-focused stories, screening documentaries on figures such as Eileen Gray and Arthur Erickson.
The Hon. Colin Brooks, Minister for Creative Industries, summed up the festival’s ethos, saying, “The Allan Labor Government is proud to support Melbourne Design Week 2025, delivered by the NGV, which will explore the vital role design plays in all of our lives now and into the future.”
Join the Celebration
Melbourne Design Week 2025 runs from 15–25 May, with events across NGV International on St Kilda Road and various metropolitan and regional venues. Most events are free to attend, with some requiring bookings due to venue capacities.
Visit designweek.melbourne to explore the full program and discover how this extraordinary festival showcases design’s potential to transform our world. Whether you’re a design aficionado or a curious visitor, Melbourne Design Week promises a provocative and inspiring experience for all.