Over 100 events dedicated to international design: the sixteenth Venice Design Week takes place in Venice from October 11 to 19 with the theme Tempora, where each project narrates the stratification of time through the contamination of knowledge, cultures, and technologies
From October 11 to 19, Venice Design Week transforms historic palaces, museums, and contemporary spaces into venues for exhibitions, installations, workshops, and international design conferences.
Tempora is the 2025 theme and indicates time that traverses different eras: designers merge traditional artisan techniques with bio-derived materials and contemporary digital technologies.
The event is in its sixteenth edition, sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Veneto Region, City of Venice, Chamber of Commerce of Venice and Rovigo, ADI Industrial Design Association Veneto and Trentino Alto Adige Delegation, Contemporary Jewelry Association, and IUAV. The organization is by the cultural association Arte e Design Venezia with the General Directorate of Museums of Veneto, Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, IUAV, Chamber of Commerce Venice Rovigo, San Servolo Servizi Srl, and Vela Spa.
Events to mark in your calendar
- The most spectacular event opens on Saturday, October 11 at 7:30 PM with a DJ set and live performance until 8:30 PM at the Church of San Leonardo with WERNS presenting The Giant Hidden Rabbit: a 3.5 m tall lamp sculpture that will be decorated by Jiuliane Golbs.
- Monday, October 13 at 6:00 PM at Riva Ca’ di Dio between San Marco and the Giardini, the Dutch studio MAST with Ceresio Arredamenti, Ideolux and Rubelli presents The Light of Rising Tides: motion sensors activate light waves that react to the presence of the audience. The installation reflects on rising sea levels threatening coastal cities such as Venice and Amsterdam.
- The Radisson Hotel on Fondamenta Cannaregio hosts the Light Selection, a pathway dedicated to innovative lamps. The protagonist is Dondolina by Zafferano, a rechargeable wireless lamp awarded the Venetian Smart Lighting Award.
- Saturday, October 11 at 5:00 PM, conference Light Design Tempora at Sala San Leonardo (Cannaregio 1584).
The weekend of October 18-19, Combo Venezia hosts the Design Market (from 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM) where the public can purchase jewelry, ceramics, lamps, and perfumes directly from designers, free admission. Saturday at 11:00 AM and Sunday at 2:30 PM by reservation at rsvp@venicedesignweek.it, the workshop Create Your Own Perfume with Irina Vaganova of La Profumiera di Venezia.
Design Weeks create connections and Venice welcomes a selection of Croatian designers at the artist’s studio Lo Verso on Giudecca. Additionally, it will be possible to see the award winners from other international Weeks at the Franchetti Gallery at Ca’ D’Oro.
Among the exhibitions, Esprimere with ten emerging Chinese designers at Palazzo Pisani Revedin and LINLI Art Space, Vortice twelfth edition of the international jewelry competition at Ca’ d’Oro, and I don’t shine I have something to say with jewelry that tells stories at the Giovanni Library of the Fondazione Querini Stampalia.
Fusion and collaboration between Fashion and Design
The collaboration between Venice Design Week and Venice Fashion Week brings two exhibitions continuing until October 26:
- At Palazzo Pisani Santa Marina, the city of Gdansk presents Baltic amber jewelry awarded at the Amberif Design Award 2025 with a workshop on Sunday, October 12 at 12:30 PM Create Your Own Pendant and Saturday, October 25 at 6:00 PM fashion show-performance The Amber Route, which evokes the ancient trade route between the Baltic Sea and Venice.
Free admission. - The Museum of Palazzo Mocenigo hosts Filamenta, an exhibition by IUAV students who transform mushrooms into textiles and citrus fruits into fibers with the companies abi3d and Ohoskin.
Paid admission.
Monday, October 13 at 3:00 PM, conference on how bio-derived materials are changing fashion and design.
Saturday, October 25 at 4:00 PM, Clizia Moradei presents the book Moda interspecie. Funghi e pratiche di reincanto published by Postmedia Books, in dialogue with researcher Costanza Sartoris from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice: the research that won the 2023 Stockholm Prize explains how fungal organisms collaborate with designers to create sustainable alternatives in the textile industry.
Free admission.
Venice Design Week
Venice, from October 11 to 19, 2025
The complete map with all thematic routes can be downloaded from the website www.venicedesignweek.com.
For information: +39 351 813 8390 or mail@venicedesignweek.it.
Article by Lucia Pecoraro.
In the images: Leather vases by ADJ, Pinna by Lyxo, Conference at the Swiss Consulate, the game designed by Alan P. Bruton Studio.
Images: Ceramics by Atelier Margot, Ubriako radiator by Maarmo, Apolli by Multiforme.
