Designblok celebrates courage with its inaugural conference
Promotion: Prague-based festival Designblok returned in 2025 for its 27th edition, focusing on "risk-taking" within design, architecture and art.
The festival, which took place from 7 to 12 October 2025, explored the theme of Courage.
It addressed new approaches to design and highlighted projects that combine the latest technology with traditional crafts and skills.
Designblok spanned the city, with events taking place at the Museum of Decorative Arts, the Křižík Pavilions at Výstaviště Praha, Galerie Rudolfinum and the Queen Anne's Summer Palace at Prague Castle.
Programme highlights included the launch of Designblok Talks, a conference co-curated by Dezeen, located at cultural centre The New Spiral at Prague Exhibition Grounds.
Taking place during the festival's annual networking day, titled Professionals Day, the conference comprised five talks.
This included panel discussions, The Future of Design, The Future of Prague and The Future of Living, and keynotes led by director of product design at Snøhetta, Marius Myking, and designer Erwan Bouroullec.
Czech bathroom manufacturer Ravak supported The Future of Design, which was moderated by Dezeen's editorial director Max Fraser and welcomed designers Cyril Zammit, Patrick Norguet and Lucie Koldová, and China editor at Wallpaper* magazine, Yoko Choy, to outline the upcoming role the design industry can take in an undetermined future.
Architects Jakub Cigler and Bernard Dubois, fashion designer Jan Černý, managing director and head of marketing at Koma Modular, Stanislav Martinec and Marie Schüller, and partner at Esty Real Estate, Jakub Vrzala, forecasted architecture and interior trends at The Future of Living.
Participants in The Future of Prague, a talk moderated by Dezeen's co-CEO Benedict Hobson, included architects Winy Maas, Rozálie Kašparová, Jan Magasanik, spoke about urban transformation, outlining their ongoing projects in the city, including Prague airport and the Vltava Philharmonic concert hall.
Myking's keynote highlighted Snøhetta's first furniture collection, the Array modular seating system for MDF Italia, while Bouroullec spotlighted his work with Swiss furniture brand Vitra, the Mynt task chair on display during the festival at the Křižík Pavilions.
Another event highlight was the 11th edition of Designblok Diploma Selection, a showcase and competition for product and fashion design graduates across Europe.
With over 190 projects submitted by almost 20 universities across 12 countries, 15 product pieces were selected to be displayed at the Museum of Decorative Arts, while 15 designs were spotlighted at a fashion show in The New Spiral Na Výstavišt.
Designblok's jury was made up of curators and directors from Design Museum Gent, the Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts in Lausanne, Switzerland, Fondation Martell and 3 Days of Design.
The jury selected Belgian designer Jaron Vandevelde as the winner of the product design category for his piece Woodwormdesign, which addressed how humans and nature can co-create, while Andrea Rehbein from the Swedish School of Textiles won the fashion award for her work Approximation to the Acrobatics of Flesh.
Spanish architect and designer Patricia Urquiola also received the Award for Extraordinary Contribution to Global Design at the festival, with the award made from Czech crystal by the creative director of glass brand Moser, Jan Plecháč.
"Designblok, with the theme Courage, was for me above all a manifestation of Czech design in the context of the global scene," said the director of the festival, Jana Zielinski.
"We hosted the largest number of international guests so far and introduced two new formats – the Designblok Talks conference and the Designblok for Kids pavilion – both met with an excellent response from professionals and the public," she added.
The festival has announced its theme for next year's event, Light, which encourages participants to explore "hope, truth and life" through design.
The 2026 iteration of Designblok will take place from 6 to 11 October. To find out more about Designblok, visit the brand's website here.
Photography is by Martin Faltejsek unless stated otherwise.
Designblok took place from 7 to 12 October 2025. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
Partnership content
This article was written by Dezeen for Designblok as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.
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