14 Highlights From Dutch Design Week 2026

A bathtub made of soap, textiles telling stories through shifting layers and touch, and 50 chairs that can become 50 possible collections. Dutch Design Week 2026 brings material experimentation to Eindhoven, the Netherlands, October 17-25. This year’s theme, R.A.W., short for Rebel Authentic Worth, celebrates the discovery and unpolished processes behind design.

Throughout the graduate shows the hands-on approach is particularly visible. Design Academy Eindhoven’s bachelor class began in 2022, placing its program beyond the lockdown years. Across the selection, personal experiences and material research lead to new furniture, textiles and installations.

Objects on Trial by Bureau Parso and Meeseek

Taking stage at Het Hornemann Huis, Eindhoven’s former courthouse on Stadhuisplein, contemporary design replaced courtroom furniture. Curated by Bureau Parso and Meeseek, Objects on Trial presents works by more than 30 international designers, from desks and chairs to a gavel, examining how objects establish authority and how their surroundings influence our judgment.

Woven Landscapes by Ori Oirsun Merhav

2026 Dutch Design Awards Emerging Talent Award winner, Ori Orisun Merhav, explores the possibilities of lac, a resin produced by insects. At Klokgebouw, her Woven Landscapes combined the material with woven palm fibres, bringing tradition craft into her ongoing investigation of how living organisms can shape design.

Manual Living by Jieun Kim

Growing up among the predictable layouts and smooth surfaces of South Korean apartments led Jieun Kim to question automatic domestic routines. Her Manual Living collection at Design Academy Eindhoven’s Graduation Show comprises a rocking seat, a tilting bench and a freestanding threshold, combining concrete with paper mineralised in potassium silicate to make everyday movements more noticeable.

CC002 by Julian Bieneck and Tobias Moerenhout

Julian Bieneck and Tobias Moerenhout explored movement and balance with CC02, a modular candle chandelier made from spring steel and stainless steel. During Dutch Design Week they presented the chandelier at HAL2 at Sikgu, an exhibition and series of shared meals curated by Seojun Yun (OHN) and Biuro.Büro.

New Studio Super Show by Teun Zwets

Teun Zwets wanted to work towards a new collection in his new studio and workshop on Hallenweg 11A in Eindhoven. Rather than working on one new collection he explored 50 potential collections by making 50 different chairs. An intuitive exploration of materials and techniques that reflects DDW’s R.A.W. theme.

Her Bed by Sade Linda Ekwedike

An elevated semicircular bed behind translucent blue latex curtains became a private retreat at Design Academy Eindhoven’s Graduation Show. Drawing on her childhood in Italy, cum laude master’s graduate Sade Linda Ekwedike created Her Bed to explore how caregiving responsibilities and a lack of personal space affect daughters within the African diaspora.

Ways of Seeing by NCS Colour, Other Degree, Rive Roshan and Cooloo

For its DDW debut at Piet Hein Eek, NCS Colour translated its system for describing human colour perception into a walk-through landscape of translucent textiles and shifting hues. Other Degree curated Ways of Seeing, Rive Roshan designed the installation, and Cooloo contributed furniture using existing materials and recycled coatings.

Bathing in Waste Streams by Sarah Maurer

Sarah Maurer burned her household rubbish, transformed the resulting ash into soap and cast it as a bathtub. Presented at Design Academy Eindhoven’s Graduation Show, Bathing in Waste Streams by the cum laude master’s graduate connects domestic cleanliness with waste disposal, questioning the assumption that what we throw away disappears.

Wow Nature by Crafts Council Nederland

An artificial landscape formed with craft objects at De Fabriek in Eindhoven. Together with photographers and exhibition designers Scheltens & Abbenes, Crafts Council Nederland’s WOW NATURE brings together 40 makers working across disciplines including woodworking, weaving, ceramics and glassblowing.

The Smell of Rain is a Bacterial Trace by Bridget Boyle

Drawing on her background in biochemistry, Bridget Boyle combined laboratory research with glassblowing to explore the bacterial origins of rain’s familiar scent. At Design Academy Eindhoven’s Graduation Show, The Smell of Rain Is a Bacterial Trace presented living bacterial cultures in more than 200 glass bubbles, allowing visitors to observe and smell microbial life outside the laboratory.

Waiting for the Bus by Luca Ortmann

Bicycle racks, railings and shopfront ledges inspired Luca Ortmann’s Waiting for the Bus on the Demer, part of DDW’s Grand Projects program. Developed for temporary bus stops, the yellow steel tube structures reinterpret the urban fixtures people already use to perch or lean, creating a more inviting setting for an everyday pause.

Table of Power by Show Not Show

A long table by Frank Penders and Studio Luuk Van Laarhoven anchored SHOW NOT SHOW’s Table of Power at de Kruisruimte. Stools and benches by Marc Meeuwissen, lights by Lucas Zito, room dividers by Pablo Octavio, and mirrors by Van Laarhoven and Aleksandra Adamchyk surrounded a setting for dialogue about who gets a seat and who shapes influence in design.

Tactile Notation by Svenja Bremen

Curtains become surfaces to read by touch in Svenja Bremen’s Tactile Notation at Kelderman en van Noort (KEVN). Exploring textiles as a sensory language, she developed a notation system using flocked and wooden elements on silk. The colorful signs form patterns that visitors can explore and decipher with their hands, adding a layer of information to an everyday furnishing.

The Metal House x Designers by Tweek Eek

A broken conveyor belt sparked Sarah Roseman’s woven metal lighting, while unused vehicle components became chairs in Jim Bob Ruijgrok’s Beater Collection. At Halvemaanstraat 30, Tweek-Eek’s The Metal House brought their work together with designs by Studio RENS, Choi Baekgi and Teun Zwets inside a full-size house built from industrial leftovers, exploring new uses for materials discarded by VDL.