The first edition of the festival opens on May 20th, at the National Cotroceni Museum, with the exhibition “BDF Highlights: Branding Romania Through Creativity”
Bucharest Design Festival 2026 will take place under the High Patronage of the President of Romania, Nicușor Dan. This relationship recognizes the festival as a strategic project for affirming Romania’s contemporary cultural identity, both for Romanians and at an international level, and as a platform through which local creativity becomes a cultural ambassador for the country.
Organized by THE INSTITUTE Foundation between May 20th and June 21st, Bucharest Design Festival is conceived as a creative festival from and for Bucharest, bringing together professionals from design, art, architecture and other creative industries, large public and private cultural organizations, international companies and local entrepreneurs, vocational universities from across the country, relevant professional organizations, embassies and foreign cultural centers, creative communities and hubs, alongside the general public connected through design, in an extensive system of exhibitions and events across more than 100 spaces throughout the city.
Starting May 20th, 2026, the National Cotroceni Museum will host the festival’s first exhibition: BDF Highlights: Branding Romania Through Creativity. Open to the general public, the exhibition brings to the forefront creators and landmark projects that have placed Romanian creativity on the international map. Through the choice of the National Cotroceni Museum as the debut venue, the festival anchors Romanian design in a place symbolic for the national cultural heritage.
The hosting of the exhibition by the Cotroceni Museum and the Presidential Administration is, in itself, an act of institutional recognition of the value of exceptional creative organizations and great personalities, as well as of the potential they hold to become, in an assumed manner, valuable ambassadors of the country’s brand, both domestically and at an international level.
“Bucharest Design Festival is an important event for Romania’s creative scene and for the way Bucharest asserts its current cultural identity. By granting the High Patronage, I wish to support initiatives that promote Romanian talent and contribute to Romania’s international visibility.” declares Nicușor Dan, President of Romania.
Bucharest Design Festival brings together in a single platform the projects developed by THE INSTITUTE – Romanian Design Week, DIPLOMA Show and Cartierul Creativ alongside new formats that explore the relationship between design, the city and community. The festival emerges as a response to the need to connect Bucharest’s creative initiatives within a common framework, highlighting the role of design and art in urban life and supporting the local creative ecosystem.
“Bucharest Design Festival starts from the creative energy of Bucharest, but looks further, toward the way Romanian design can become an instrument for building national identity and connecting with the international creative scene. Through this event, we aim to bring design closer to the general public and highlight the role of creative industries as a strategic resource for Romania’s image, modernization and development. The granting of the High Patronage of the President confirms that this vision is recognized at an institutional level as well.” Andrei Borțun, CEO, THE INSTITUTE Foundation.
