Barcelona Design Week 2026: PRO-TEST

Barcelona Design Week returns for its 21st edition from 14 to 25 October 2026. Organised by the Barcelona Creativity & Design Foundation, the festival spreads exhibitions, talks, open studios and workshops across venues throughout the city.

This year’s theme is PRO-TEST. It joins two stages of the design process, prototyping and testing, the moment when an idea meets materials, users and real needs. The organisers also read the word as a form of protest that proposes something: a way of answering uncertainty with visible, tangible alternatives that stay open to revision rather than with critique alone. The visual identity of the edition was created by the studio Abuela.

The programme is set in dialogue with Barcelona’s year as World Capital of Architecture 2026, presenting design as a tool for testing the physical, social and cultural spaces in which future ways of living will take shape. Full listings of activities are published on the festival website.