Perth Design Week launches curated 2026 program

Perth Design Week organisers have unveiled the festival’s 2026 program under a new curated format.

Perth Design Week (PDW) 2026 plans to bring local and national design leaders together with the wider community in a program of events running from 19 to 26 March.

The festival’s fourth iteration is set to celebrate a broad spectrum of design disciplines, including architecture, landscape, planning, interiors, furniture, fashion and graphic design.

New funding, new format

Since launching in 2022, PDW has spotlit Western Australian creativity in an effort to place Perth firmly on the global design map.

Last year, PDW received $100,000 in funding from the Western Australian Government to support the upcoming 2026 festival and assist in building a strong foundation for the future.

This year, the festival shifts from an open-call model to a curated program of larger-format events, allowing expanded event audiences, while maintaining its strong focus on a sustainable design future.

PDW co-founder and chair Sandy Anghie says the new format reflects the festival’s growth and ambition.

“Perth Design Week has evolved into a platform where meaningful conversations about design, place and the future can happen at scale, championing Western Australian creativity and innovation,” she says.

The 2026 program will feature several key hubs of activity.

Perth Design Week 2026 HQ

The Liberty Theatre is set to become the heart of PDW 2026, hosting four major evening talks alongside the new PDW Local HQ, showcasing the best of WA’s interiors industry.

The Festival will open at The Liberty Theatre on Wednesday 18 March with a conversation on ‘Designing the Future’, featuring an address by the state’s Minister for Creative Industries, Simone McGurk.

Other headline conversations at the Liberty Theatre include ‘Designing a 24 Hour City’ (Friday 20 March), ‘Living Large in Small Spaces’ (Tuesday 24 March) and ‘Designing with Purpose’ (Thursday 26 March).

Building on PDW’s two-day interiors showcase in 2025, this year the PDW Local HQ takes over hidden backrooms of The Liberty Theatre for the duration of the festival, with an expanded showcase of Western Australian furniture and interiors manufacturers and suppliers. The PDW Local HQ will serve as the festival meeting place in a central city location. It opens on Thursday 19 March, followed by a week-long program of events and viewing times.

Exhibitions and installations

The festival’s partners, the WA Museum Boola Bardip and the State Buildings, will host a curated program of exhibitions and installations.

WA Museum Boola Bardip is once again hosting the annual PDW exhibition, which opened in February. This year’s exhibition is Chirriger Moort: A 30 Year Retrospective of the Work of Peter Farmer, presented in collaboration with Peter Farmer Designs and the WA Museum Boola Bardip. The free exhibition celebrates the three-decade creative journey of leading Noongar artist and designer Peter Farmer, whose multidisciplinary practice spans painting, sculpture, public art, fashion, interior design and the built environment.

On Wednesday 25 March, WA Museum’s Hackett Hall will host the conversation ‘Designing Spaces for Culture’, featuring Geoff Warn, Helen Curtis, Leah Bennet, Randal Humich and Steve Woodland.

The Mark at the State Buildings returns as a PDW hub – with a twist. Ligne Roset Perth will create a relaxed lounge setting featuring evening events and Perth Design Week’s first Digital Detox Lounge by day.

“Design isn’t just about productivity and progress, it’s also about wellbeing, and the Digital Detox Lounge invites people to slow down, disconnect and engage with design in a more reflective way,” Anghie says.

PDW 2026 also includes partner events with FORM and the Property Council of Australia. FORM’s event Momentum: Shaping Our World is a showcase of art, place and story. The Property Council of Australia’s conversation, ‘Designing Value: Where Beauty Meets the Bottom Line’, considers how to strike a balance between ambitious architecture and commercial reality.