European Design Festival 2025 5–8 June | Ljubljana, Slovenia

13.05.2025

European Design Festival 2025 5–8 June | Ljubljana, Slovenia

This summer, Europe’s most forward-thinking design minds converge in Ljubljana. From emerging talents to established studios, the European Design Festival 2025 invites us to rethink the centre of design — and explore the power of working from the edge.
Hosted in the Slovenian capital from 5 to 8 June, this year’s Festival unfolds under the theme Ex-Centric Design. It’s a week dedicated to ideas, dialogue, experimentation and celebration — uniting professionals, students, academics and institutions through a city-wide programme that challenges conventional thinking and expands the boundaries of communication design.

With over 40 events, the Festival spans three core stages (Main, Business, and ICoD), as well as exhibitions, workshops, design walks and satellite happenings across Ljubljana. From typographic craft to digital innovation, and from design ethics to nostalgic storytelling, the Festival offers multiple ways to engage with today’s most relevant design questions.

Highlights of the Programme

Talks & Main Stage SessionsAcross three days at Hotel Union, international speakers present their work, processes and provocations. Notable highlights include:

CLEVER°FRANKE on subjectivity in data design
Dorotea Škrabo (Skrabzi) blending art history, childhood nostalgia, and internet culture
Andstudio sharing a candid story of building a Baltic design studio from scratch
TypeTogether’s Agyei Archer discussing decentralisation and inclusive typographic practices
Morula Type revealing the eccentric heart of letter design
Studio Gagarin on designing interactive exhibitions from the middle of the Atlantic
Nejc Prah reflecting on visual identity and scale in contemporary design

ICoD Regional MeetingOn Friday, 6 June, the International Council of Design (ICoD) will host a full-day programme at Hotel Slon. From keynote reflections by ICoD President Melike Taşcıoğlu Vaughan to workshops and case studies on design professionalism, the meeting will tackle themes such as ethics in the age of AI, authorship, and the future evolution of the Code of Conduct. The session concludes with a dialogue-led forum moderated by Johnathon Strebly, setting new directions for international collaboration.

Exhibitions & Student ShowcasesThree major student exhibitions titled Ex-Centric Design open in different academic institutions throughout the week, featuring work from:

Faculty of Design
Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering
Academy of Fine Arts and Design Ljubljana

These exhibitions explore illustration, graphic experimentation, apocalyptic aesthetics, and critical reflection on design’s place in society. On Thursday, 5 June, Cukrarna Gallery also presents “Greetings from Sarajevo” — a historical retrospective of the iconic TRIO design group, featuring Dalida and Bojan Hadžihalilović.

Additional exhibitions include:

The ICI Student Exhibition (Xiamen University) at TAM-TAM Poster Gallery
“Eccentricity: Design from the Off-Centre” at Ljubljana City Hall Atrium
The 36th Ljubljana Biennale of Graphic Arts at MGLC, curated by Chus Martínez

All exhibitions offer free entry, with several accompanied by guided tours and talks.

Workshops, Walks & Hands-on SessionsTypography lovers can dive into letterpress printing workshops at TipoRenesansa, while the Studio Walks on Thursday open the doors to seven local design studios in the heart of the city. On Saturday, a Type Walk led by Domen Fras invites participants to discover hidden typographic gems in Ljubljana’s urban environment.

Business Stage & Professional DevelopmentWorkshops on design strategy, symbolic capital, and healthcare innovation offer insights for design professionals working in corporate, civic and interdisciplinary contexts.

European Design Awards Gala

The week culminates on Saturday, 7 June, with the European Design Awards Gala, held at the elegant Grand Union Hall — one of Ljubljana’s most iconic Art Nouveau buildings. The Awards honour the best of European communication design across multiple categories, from editorial and branding to packaging, digital and illustration.
Following the ceremony, guests will gather in the Hotel Union Garden for the Official Afterparty, an opportunity to connect, relax, and celebrate the achievements of this year’s winners.

A Festival Beyond the Centre

This year’s theme, Ex-Centric Design, serves not only as a conceptual thread but as a call to action: to embrace creative work that sits at the margins — geographically, methodologically or ideologically — and to recognise the influence of voices that shape design from outside traditional power centres. The European Design Festival 2025 brings these voices to the forefront, reinforcing the importance of dialogue, experimentation and inclusion across the field.

For the full programme and ticket details, click here

Press contact & media requests: eva@europeandesign.org