Bucharest Design Festival is the largest creative festival in and for Bucharest and takes place between May 20 and June 21, and we have prepared a selection of the most interesting exhibitions for you.
A first for the residents of the Capital comes at the very beginning of the summer when Bucharest will be, for a month, the host of Bucharest Design Festival – a creative event that brings together THE INSTITUTE's iconic projects: Romanian Design Week, DIPLOMA Show and Cartierul Creativ, alongside new formats and initiatives.
The event explores and promotes the intersections between design, city and people, in a complex program of exhibitions and events held in over 150 locations in Bucharest.
And so that you don't miss the most important moments, we have made a list of the most interesting exhibitions and events to watch.
BDF Young, signed by DIPLOMA Show
Want to see how an artist or designer evolves? Come to the expo-reunion of 24 creatives, former DIPLOMA Show participants. The exhibition traces their journey, from the diploma theses to the latest projects.
Also here you will be able to see the B50M installation. A 50-meter bench in the Court of Honor of the Royal Palace (MNAR), which will transform the seemingly closed garden into a common space. The installation is signed by the studios alt.corp., cryptic.k and the architect Justin Baroncea.
Location: National Art Museum of Romania (MNAR), National Gallery ground floor
Period: 21 – 30 May 2026
Schedule: Wednesday–Friday: 10:00–18:00 | Saturday–Sunday: 11:00 – 19:00
BDF Highlights
The Cotroceni National Museum will host the first exhibition of the festival: BDF Highlights: Branding Romania Through Creativity. Open to the general public, the exhibition brings to the fore creators and reference projects that put Romanian creativity on the international map. You will be able to see projects made by ADNBA, Ancuța Sarca, Asociația Ivan Patzaichin – Mila 23, Asociația Tășuleasa, Attila Kim Architects, Brandient, Corvin Cristian, Dacia Design Center, Dan Perjovschi & Lia Perjovschi, Daniel and Andrew, Dico și Șigănaș, Dragoș Motica, Fabrik, Meze Audio, Mircea Cantor, Murmur, Ovidiu Hrin, STARH – ACD, Zeppelin Design
Location: Cotroceni National Museum, Cerchez Salon
Period: May 20 – June 21, 2026
Schedule: Tuesday – Sunday 9:00 – 17:00, last access at 16:00
BDF Professional, signed by Romanian Design Week
If you feel like seeing what's happening outside but also locally in terms of design and architecture, you can go to a series of exhibitions as well as professional dialogues and events dedicated to the community, within BDF Professional. And here we recommend:
BDF Professional – International Design
- FRANCO RAGGI retrospective exhibition Nomadic digressions about designcurated by Francesca Molteni. Tapestries, drawings, ceramics and design objects signed by one of the most eclectic Italian creators, complemented by a documentary film and a discussion in the presence of the artist.
- Out of Playa sculptural exhibition by the artist Linda Ottosson, which starts from the language of sport to explore the relationships of power and fragility
Location: Mincu Gallery within UAUIM;
Period: June 5 – June 21, 2026
BDF Professional – Local Design
- exhibition Objects of Romanian Designcurated by Mihnea Ghilduș, brings together nine brands that prove that Romanian design is produced, bought and present on the real market — Catrinel Săbăciag, Electra, Unique by Klausen, Narativo, .lumen, Desiro, Poemi, Luster, Dacia Design Center
- Bogdan Ciocodeica signs Matter over Dataan exhibition with award-winning interior design and product design projects, signed by Romanian designers and architectural offices
- Andreea Macri presents the exhibition The Outsideran archive that captures multiple layers of the fashion universe – from backstage and the atmosphere behind the scenes of the shows, to the scenography, front row and the presence of celebrities – documented through the lens of Andrea's participation in Fashion Week as a photographer, since 2007
- House Con – made by LH47 ARCH – which is a creative ecosystem from Chisinau (founded in 2015) where over 50 architects and strategists transform “square meters into emotions”. Casa Con is a hi-tech fusion between biomimicry and sustainability, ready for new urban experiences.
- Alifanti Library – a project carried out by BAAB – Architecture & urban design, recreates the paradigmatic space of knowledge of the last European millennium: a cubicle articulated between the library and the writing table.
Location: CINA building (CINA building (Benjamin Franklin Street, no. 10)
Period: June 5 – June 21, 2026
BDF COMMUNITIES, signed by Cartierul Creativ
If you feel like walking around the city, Bucharest Design Festival offers you exhibitions and events in 3 representative areas in the center of the capital: Amzei, Grivița and Brezoianu.
For example, in the deGalben building in Amzei Squarereopened as a cultural space, BDF brings 6 exhibitions developed in partnership with studios, associations and relevant institutions from the creative industries:
- Local Design Circle presents Local Design Awards 2025a traveling exhibition of the first national graphic design competition in Romania.
- The National Heritage Institute presents the installation Brâncuși and the Dance Museswhich brings to the foreground the collaboration and friendship of the great sculptor with the avant-garde dancer Lizica Codreanu
- Cluster B21, a network of 10 creative, civic and private organizations, presents We are B21a project about nature, spaces and communities as pillars of urban transformation, through co-creation
- The University of Art and Design from Cluj-Napoca brings the project On the Move. The project is carried out in two workshop-type components, with students, masters and doctoral students
- The Order of Romanian Architects – Bucharest Branch presents Aesthetic Bucharestan exhibition that highlights the awarded and nominated projects at the Bucharest Architecture Annual 2025
- RITUAL – Romanian Cuisinean exhibition-manifesto about the most intimate space of the Romanian home – the kitchen – organized by ARDI (Romanian Association for Design and Innovation)
Calea Grivița becomes, for four weekends, an active creative microzone, with three exhibitions hosted in spaces with a strong identity and an urban animation program in the street.
- At the National Museum of Romanian Literature, the Faculty of Arts and Design of the Western University of Timisoara presents ALT+REALITY. Concept Art process between digital and three-dimensionalan exhibition that brings to the fore the process of the Concept Art industry, from sketch to digital illustration and three-dimensional transposition, bringing together works from the specializations of game art, graphic design and sculpture.
- At Teatrul Grivița 53, the Aparterre concept store presents an exhibition dedicated to the designer Irish Simone Rochaknown for the romantic aesthetics and gothic accents of his collections constantly presented at London Fashion Week
- At Grivița Creative Corner (Calea Griviței 35), artist Andrei Tripşa presents Cartoons from Romania. A collection of visual stories inspired by the contemporary Romanian imagination
And if you arrive at Brezoianu streetmake a run for the Universul Palace and Entrance Store. Because you will be able to see:
- Dan Perjovschi x Comme des Garçons. A Story About A Collaboration. An exhibition in three acts built around the unexpected collaboration between the Romanian artist Dan Perjovschi and the Japanese fashion house Comme des Garçons.
Location: Entrance Store
This exhibition will open on May 23rd and can be visited until May 30th.
- At Palatul Universul (Mezzanine), FABER, the independent cultural center from Timisoara, presents Chemical Bonds, an exhibition that explores the chemical industry in Romania. The exhibition is symbolically hosted in the former Azur factory, production site for soap, varnishes and paints.
- At Apollo111 you can visit the exhibition signed by ADC*RO Awards, a presentation of all the winning creative campaigns at the first edition of the ADC*RO Award Gala in 2025.
- HOT LAGOON – fair dedicated to independent design and local production. It will take place over two weekends. Period: 23 – 24 May and 30-31 May
Bucharest Design Festival 2026 takes place between May 20 and June 21, in 10 central exhibition and event locations and over 150 others throughout Bucharest. The festival brings together, in a unified framework, the iconic projects of THE INSTITUTE: Romanian Design Week, DIPLOMA Show and Cartierul Creativ, alongside new formats and initiatives. The BDF Professional and BDF Young formats, dedicated to professionals in the field, as well as to young artists, designers and architects, are presented by UniCredit Bank. The BDF Communities format activates the microzones of the Creative Quarter in Amzei, Grivița and Brezoianu, through curated exhibitions and urban interventions, for four consecutive weekends, is presented by Banca Transilvania. BDF is a THE INSTITUTE project produced together with Bucharest City Hall, with the support of ADIZMB and ARCUB, carried out in partnership with Sector 1 of Bucharest Municipality
Photo credits:
Franco Raggi, The Classic, lamp, 1977-2021; photo credits: Muse Factory of Projects
Linda Ottoson Exhibition – Out of Play; photo credits: Fredrik Åkum, Per Myrehed
Exhibition: Matter over Data; Bogdan Ciocodeica, Eva Foundation project, photo credits: Vlad Pătru; Andreea Cornilă, Tabra project, photo credits: Vlad Pătru; Corvin Cristian, Panoramic Restaurant project, photo credits: Corvin Cristian
Exhibition: The Outsider by Andreea Macri; photo credits: Andreea Macri
Exhibition: Aesthetic Bucharest, Order of Romanian Architects – Bucharest Branch, photo credits: OAR
Dan Perjovschi x Comme de Garçons exhibition. A Story About A Collaboration; photo credits: Comme de Garçons
Casa Con, rendering, photo credits: LH47 ARCH
Alifanti Library; photo credits: Marius Vasile
Exhibition Cartoons from Romania, Andrei Tripșa; collage from works
Chemical Links Exhibition, FABER, photo credits: Alex Todirică
HOT LAGOON Fair, photo credit: HOT LAGOON
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