From 24 to 27 September, designaustria hosted the designers-in-residence programme as part of its Next Gen Design project. Over four days, a group of emerging designers from across Europe took part in a packed schedule of talks, workshops, studio visits, guided tours, an assignment, an exhibition and an award ceremony.
Festival highlights
A highlight of the programme was a guided tour led by the designers in person during Vienna Design Week’ 20th anniversary, giving the residents insight into current developments in the Austrian and international design scene. The festival also featured the Next Gen Design Edu Talks series, in which experts from different design fields shared their knowledge and experience with the participants.
Speakers included:
Juan Umbert Rosselló, Barcelona, about gastronomy innovations for global and regional brands with high market demand.
Barbara Gollackner (Studio Barbara Gollackner, Salzburg) who presented Rest in Beauty, a sustainability design project that reuses material leftovers from various handicraft sectors in Austria.
Reanne Leuning of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKO), who spoke about internationalisation opportunities for creative professionals.
Lotte Kristoferitsch, who introduced her social design research and her projects for EOOS next.
Traveling Exhibition “Futures Worth Living”
To bring the project’s vision to a broad audience, the Traveling Exhibition “Futures Worth Living” is on view at designforum Wien in MuseumsQuartier Wien until 24 October 2026. It presents the bold concepts of the 50 winners of the Next Gen Design Open Call 2026. The installation invites passersby to engage with these creative ideas and also serves as a tribute to the award-winning designers and their work.
Featured designers
Residents and exhibitors from all over Europe are showing their award-winning works at designforum Wien:
Abril Poblet Baringo, Giulia De Franco, Jana Valdé, Milja Brstina, Ougezihan Xieraili, Kelly Azevedo, Sara Bologna, Emily Klein, Natalia Valverde Garrido and Davide Onestini.
