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5 ground-breaking highlights of Zurich Design Weeks 2024 that will have a lasting effect
by Pia Seidel
11 days, 40 locations: your roadmap for the Zurich Design Weeks
2/9/2025
Translation: machine translated
From 4 to 14 September 2025, Zurich will become a design hotspot. At over 40 locations, the festival will show how diverse and exciting design is today - from local to international, experimental to traditional.
The topic of the fourth Zurich Design Weeks is «Team Up». Switzerland's largest design event puts collaboration at the centre of attention - because without it, innovation in design would hardly be conceivable.
«With the motto 'Team Up', we want to encourage collaboration and promote exchange», says Gabriela Chicherio, Festival Director. «We are also focussing on the principles of circular design. Zurich was the first Swiss city to sign the Circular Cities Declaration, an initiative to promote sustainable cities. And it is precisely in this transformation towards a circular society that design plays a key role.»
Source: Zurich Design Weeks
The key visual, designed by ALP Atelier Landolt Pfister, reinterprets the festival's iconic cube: it consists of many smaller cubes - a symbol that great things are only created through teamwork.
Why you should be there
The focus is on design as an attitude and process. The exhibition «Swiss design classics in dialogue» by furniture store H100 brings together popular vintage furniture with modern reinterpretations, while Atelier Pfister celebrates 15 years with «Collection Preview». At «Schere, Holz, Textil», Swiss furniture manufacturer Thut, home textiles label Lavie, artist Claudia Caviezel and interior design studio Neumarkt 17 will be showing just how much teamwork is celebrated in Swiss design.
Materials and sustainability? Right at the forefront! V-Zug × Fischbacher highlight how circular thinking boosts creativity with «Circularity starts with Design». «Herding wool» from Qwstion × Swiss Textiles highlights the importance of natural fibres. And «Radikal zirkulär» from Circular Living × Ruckstuhl presents a textile collection made from recycled post-consumer waste.
Source: Photo Meier
Source: Photo Meier
Spaces and atmospheres are also being rethought. «Reactive Lines» by Polestar Automotive Switzerland × Int Studio makes movement visible in an interactive installation. And the Swiss furniture manufacturer Seledue is giving the street café in front of the Hotel St. Gotthard a fresh design under the title «Hospitality at its best».
What's on my list
The Newcomer format showcases five works by outstanding graduates from leading Swiss design universities. Fresh ideas, bold approaches - the future awaits. I shouldn't miss looking into this crystal ball.
Parallel to this, the Basalto Collective gallery is holding an exhibition. It is dedicated to the first issue of the magazine Distigmo with the title «Trial and Error». In 43 articles from the fields of architecture, design, science and art, it shows how ideas are created through experimentation, mistakes and surprising twists and turns.
Why do I want to go there? Because design can be experienced here as a living process. Last year's exhibition «Echoes» was already inspiring - the combination of traditional craftsmanship and modern design was impressive. «Trial and Error» promises the same: new impulses and fresh perspectives.
Source: Photo Meier
Source: Pia Seidel
Source: Pia Seidel
A festival for all design fans
The Zurich Design Weeks 2025 are not only a stage for modern design, but also a place for dialogue and food for thought. The shortened festival duration of 11 days ensures a compact programme full of highlights. With partners such as the Design Biennale Zurich and the Museum of Design, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2025, the fourth edition will be a real must-see.
The complete programme is available at designweeks.ch. Get ready for 11 days of design inspo. If you want more now - you can find my highlights from last year here:
Header image: Pia Seidel
Pia Seidel
Senior Editor
Pia.Seidel@digitecgalaxus.chLike a cheerleader, I love celebrating good design and bringing you closer to everything furniture- and interior design- related. I regularly curate simple yet sophisticated interior ideas, report on trends and interview creative minds about their work.
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