Discover Design in Venice

This season, Venice becomes a living design laboratory, where radical ideas, reflections on the future, and ancient crafts renewed meet history and innovation. With the Venice Design Biennial already underway (September 5 – November 2, 2025), the city will soon welcome The Venice Glass Week (September 13–21) and then the Venice Design Week (October 11–19). Together, these three events transform Venice into a unique observatory for creativity, design, and applied arts. Combined with the ongoing Architecture Biennale (until November 23), they reinforce Venice’s role as an international platform for design thinking.


Venice Design Biennial 2025, ph Clelia Cadamuro

The Venice Design Biennial, curated by Luca Berta and Francesca Giubilei, explores the theme Extinction / Salvation this year. The exhibition reflects on the ideas of extinction and salvation as lenses to understand contemporary design. The Main Group Exhibition is divided into two sections: Glass and Collectible. Glass is presented in an old apartment near Ponte dell’Accademia (SPARC – Spazio Arte Contemporanea*), while Collectible is on Giudecca Island at SPUMA – Space for the Arts, featuring works by international designers and a site-specific installation by Victor Miklos Andersen. There is also a rich selection of collateral projects. Highlights include two days of visits to private historic residences designed by masters like Carlo Scarpa, Ettore Sottsass, and Valeriano Pastor, opening to the public for the first time with personal stories shared by the owners.

Venice Design Biennial


Karim-Rashid, Andromeda-Glass - Andromeda Kinbaku Shiroi

From September 13–21, the ninth edition of The Venice Glass Week celebrates the timeless charm of artistic glass. This year set a record with participants from over 54 countries, showing the worldwide interest in this expressive medium. The festival centers on two HUBs: Palazzo Loredan, hosting 50 established and mid-career artists from around the world, and for the first time, the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, hosting HUB Under35, curated by Stefano Coletto and Marta Gradenigo, featuring 30 emerging international artists. Key events include Vero Casanova at the Murano Glass Museum, an immersive exhibition with 11 glass works celebrating one of 18th-century Venice’s most fascinating figures. At Spazio Ex Conterie, visitors can explore Storie di fabbriche. Storie di famiglie. FRATELLI TOSO, a retrospective of the finest glassworks production. On San Giorgio Maggiore Island, LE STANZE DEL VETRO hosts 1932–1942: Murano Glass and the Venice Biennale, curated by Marino Barovier, open until November 23. The Glass Study Center at the Giorgio Cini Foundation also offers guided tours of its archives.

The Venice Glass Week


On the left KUM di Michele Scarpa; on the right the work of Katia Langeard

From October 11–19, it’s time for the Venice Design Week, now in its 16th edition, embracing the theme Tempora. This theme connects past and future, showing design as a tool that blends memory and innovation, tradition and new technologies. Exhibitions, itineraries, and widespread projects will turn the city into a lively stage of experimentation. Highlights include an urban lamp by WERNER along Riva Ca’ di Dio and an interactive installation by MAST with IDEOLUX. The program also features the design market (October 18–19) at Combo Venezia, near Rialto, offering ceramics, wooden, metal, and 3D-printed artworks. An extensive contemporary jewelry section includes the VDW Jewelry Selection themed “VORTICE” and the showcase “I don’t shine I have something to say.”

Venice Design Week