Melbourne Design Week (MDW) celebrates design in an annual 11-day program of talks, tours, exhibitions, launches, installations and workshops across Australia’s design capital.

The program champions design through promoting its broad array of disciplines, including: communication design, industrial design, service design, gaming, architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, urban design, fashion, craft and functional art. What also unites these disciplines in MDW is a focus on experimentation, innovation and ideas that enrich the world. 

MDW is a platform for designers, educators, enthusiasts, thinkers and businesses to come together to share ideas, show and sell new work, and consider how design can be used as a force for good in an increasingly complex and precarious world. 

The curation of the program is led by the NGV Department of Contemporary Design and Architecture team; Ewan McEoin, Simone LeAmon, Gemma Savio and Timothy Moore. 

The program is curated into two streams. There is a stream of local and international exhibitions and presentations organised by the National Gallery of Victoria, which includes the Melbourne Art Book Fair and the Melbourne Design Fair. There is also the satellite program of events and exhibitions organised by the design community. The satellite program makes up approximately 90 per cent of the program with events held at ateliers, studios, retail spaces, universities, galleries, gardens and public spaces throughout Melbourne and regional Victoria. Participation in the satellite program is via an expression-of-interest. Applications for Melbourne Design Week 2023 will open in late-September, 2022. 

MDW is an initiative of the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria, and delivered by the NGV. The program is built on the enthusiastic engagement and participation of the design sector and the general public. Since 2017 the program has grown in scope and scale from just under 100 programs in 2017 to over 300 in 2022 making it Australia’s leading and largest design event.