Budapest Design Week is something you shouldn’t miss, even if you don’t really care about trendy clothes, shoes or home decor. This event is way more than that: Budapest Design Week contributes to raising social awareness of the economic and social role of design, enhancing trust in design and facilitating communication between the actors of this field since 2004. This series of events is supposed to call the attention of economic policy-makers and Hungarian businesses to the potentials of design and it raises competitiveness and provides a competitive edge over peer companies.

Budapest Design Week is already a 10-day festival with more than 120 programs: home decor workshops, lectures, movie screening and many fashion shows await. Apart from social usefulness, it attempts to place an emphasis on the economic role of design: it aims to draw the attention of economic policy-makers and Hungarian entrepreneurs to the potentials of design and the importance of a design-conscious way of thinking.

Budapest Design Week attempts to visualize design as a set of innovative tools and approach, which would harmonically meet the functional and social demands and produce an indispensable device for the creation of products and services. To support this aim, the events include programs both for the public at large (inaugurations of exhibitions, programs for children, thematic tours, workshop visits) and for the profession (round table discussions, professional lectures, conferences, prize winning galas, etc.). Beside their own programs, organizers also provide a chance for professional partners to introduce themselves (museums, institutions, schools, shops, design studios, galleries, etc.).

The three things we wait the most are workshops, open studios and – of course – the fashion shows and collection launches. You can try ceramic panting, learn the basics of woodworking, learn how to make your own sunglasses thanks to Tipton, a Hungarian luxury brand; we can visit iamart Hungarian Cement Tile Manufacture, participate in a motorcycle building team, or in interior design workshop. As this year’s honorary guest country is Denmark, the festival has strong emphasis on the Danish lifestyle.