Design Week Philippines 2026 Celebrates 15 Years With “Sama All”
Last Updated on October 16, 2026 by Over Here Toronto
Design Week Philippines 2026 marks 15 years with “Sama All,” a theme for shared creativity and collective action. The nationwide festival brings together designers, artisans, students, entrepreneurs, and communities. It runs until October 18. Meanwhile, the Design Fair runs from October 15 to 18 at Likhang Filipino Exhibition Halls in Pasay City.
Through talks, workshops, exhibitions, and performances, the festival shows how design shapes everyday life. More importantly, it invites everyone to help build a more inclusive and sustainable future.
What “Sama All” Means for Filipino Design
This year’s theme takes inspiration from the familiar Filipino expression “sana all.” People often use the phrase when wishing for something better. However, Design Week Philippines gives it a new meaning.
Instead of simply wishing for change, “Sama All” encourages people to work together and make it happen. It also reflects a simple idea: no one can design the future alone.
As a result, the festival brings together different voices, experiences, and creative disciplines. It encourages people to share ideas and find solutions to common challenges.
Rhea Matute, Executive Director of the Design Center of the Philippines, explained the thinking behind the theme. She said it moves people from wishing for a better future to helping “actively design it.”
For Matute, everyone has something to contribute. Through their ideas, creativity, and skills, people can help shape a better future.
A Nationwide Festival of Creativity
Design Week Philippines 2026 features activities that highlight the many ways people experience design. In addition, its programs welcome different interests and skill levels.
Here are some of the festival’s main program formats:
- Design Talks: These sessions spark conversations about design, current issues, and new ideas.
- Design Tours: Participants discover the stories behind places, neighborhoods, and creative spaces.
- Design Workshops: These hands-on sessions encourage learning, making, and collaboration.
- Design ATBP.: This open platform features exhibitions, performances, installations, pop-ups, and experimental projects.
Beyond its main venue, the festival reaches communities across the country. Partner-led events take place in different cities and municipalities. Therefore, people can experience design in their own communities.
The festival also connects local talent with national partners. Together, they create opportunities to share stories and explore new approaches to design.
Local Communities Help Shape the Festival
Community participation remains central to this year’s edition. Rather than relying on one central program, Design Week Philippines encourages local groups to organize their own activities.
For example, Cagayan de Oro-based Uncurated Studio supports the festival through its work in the local design community. Karl Adrian Aguro, the studio’s Design Director and organizer of the Oro Design Conference, believes collaboration can create meaningful results.
“Design is more effective when people work together,” Aguro said.
He also highlighted how the festival brings local talent and national partners together. Through this exchange, designers can combine perspectives and create work with real-world impact.
Meanwhile, Design Week Baguio is expanding its community partnerships. Candy Alipio, Creative Director of Vivita Philippines and organizer of Design Week Baguio, is introducing new fields of design and experiences for local residents.
For Alipio, designing together means “designing for the greater good.” It also means thinking beyond individual needs and making room for more people.
These efforts reflect the festival’s wider goal. By involving schools, studios, cultural groups, and local governments, Design Week Philippines brings design closer to everyday life.
Making Design More Inclusive Through the Senses
Design can also make experiences more accessible. In La Union, Hiraya Collective for the Blind is bringing this idea to life through its program, “Hear and Touch the Sky: A Multisensory Star Party and Space Accessibility Program.”
Founder and Convenor Eva Marie Wang leads the initiative. The program explores how participants can experience space and the stars through touch, smell, and taste.
As a result, learning becomes a more layered experience. It also opens new ways for people to engage with a subject beyond sight alone.
Wang believes collaboration makes design more thoughtful and caring. She describes this shared approach as “a practice of Sama All.”
The initiative reflects the festival’s commitment to inclusivity. More importantly, it shows how design can respond to different needs and experiences.
The Design Fair Brings Filipino Creativity Together
The Design Fair serves as a major highlight of Design Week Philippines 2026. It brings together designers, brands, creative entrepreneurs, design advocates, and the public.
Visitors can explore products, ideas, and experiences shaped by Filipino creativity. At the same time, the fair creates opportunities for designers to connect with new audiences.
The wider festival also turns galleries, campuses, creative hubs, and public spaces into places for learning and exchange. Through these activities, partners help introduce design to different communities.
For the Design Center of the Philippines, these connections are essential to a stronger design ecosystem. Matute emphasized the importance of creating opportunities for practitioners and communities to meet and share ideas.
Ultimately, the festival depends on the people who take part. Their participation helps bring more voices into the country’s creative movement.
How to Experience Design Week Philippines 2026
Design Week Philippines 2026 runs until October 18, 2026. Meanwhile, the Design Fair continues through October 18 at Likhang Filipino Exhibition Halls, International Trade Center Complex, Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City.
Visitors can explore the official Design Week Philippines website for event schedules, registration details, and available workshops. Some activities require advance registration. Therefore, checking the program before visiting is a good idea.
With its 15th anniversary, Design Week Philippines celebrates more than Filipino creativity. It also highlights the value of working together and making design accessible to more people.
After all, better ideas can emerge when different perspectives come together. Through “Sama All,” the festival invites everyone to take part in shaping a future that includes us all.ed needs, and open opportunities for communities to shape a more inclusive future.
