Montréal celebrates 20 years as a UNESCO City of Design

A new festival to commemorate Montréal’s sense of style

With Bethan Laura Wood as guest of honour, an internationally recognized British creative known for her colourful, experimental design language and boundary-crossing practice, the Semaine Design de Montréal is all set to anchor Montréal on the global design map.

This city-wide, 10-day event will connect professionals, institutions and the public and provide a platform to witness up close how design has shaped Montréal’s identity, urban fabric and global standing.

The 10 days of programming will take place from April 28 to May 7 across nearly 60 venues, and celebrate design in all its forms — architecture, interior design, makers, shops, and creators, whether emerging or established. It will feature:

• Design exhibitions
• Open studios from ateliers like Futil Studio and Ināt
• A special craft program coordinated with the Conseil des métiers d’art du Québec 
• Architectural walks
• The Salon Index-Design Trade Show for professionals, featuring 70+ exhibitors and 2,500 expected visitors
• Exclusive trade events
• And 50+ free and accessible public happenings

Supported by the City of Montréal, the festival is organized by Archi-Design QC, with creative direction from Index-Design. It included grants for 15 community-led initiatives and will feature close to 30 emerging designers via its exhibitions and installations.

Consider this inaugural edition a symbolic birthday party, bridging Montréal’s design heritage with global networks and new generation of talent. Part symposium, part celebration — and we’re all invited.

The roots of Montréal’s rich design heritage

Montréal was designated a UNESCO City of Design by prioritizing creativity and leveraging design as a driving force for urban development. Its history of design excellence shines in areas such as architecture, urban planning, interiors and industrial design. 

To get a sense of Montréal’s design legacy, start with your own architectural tour:

• Habitat 67, a landmark of modern housing design, conceived by Moshe Safdie to reimagine dense urban living
• Westmount Square, designed by Mies van der Rohe, pairing sleek glass towers with minimalist design to help shape Montréal’s mid-century skyline
• Segal Centre, designed by Phyllis Lambert in a sleek mid-century style featuring iron, glass and terrazzo
• Place Ville Marie, a cruciform tower designed by I.M. Pei that remains one of the skyline’s most iconic landmarks
• Notre-Dame Basilica, a masterpiece of Gothic Revival architecture, famed for its soaring vaulted interior
• The Olympic Stadium, a bold feat of modern engineering by architect Roger Taillibert, famed for its sweeping concrete form and soaring inclined tower
• The Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA), a jewel of a museum and research centre founded in 1979

Events to experience the city’s creative effervescence

In addition to the brand new Semaine Design de Montréal, Montréal hosts other creative events, festivals and artistic activities throughout the year that showcase design disciplines ranging from fashion to fine art. 

• MONTRÉAL EN LUMIÈRE, which involves many works by designers who completely transform Quartier des Spectacles spaces like Esplanade Tranquille with light or installations. 
• Nuit Blanche, an overnight happening that sees cultural spaces light up the night
• Art Souterrain, an annual free art exhibition network in the Underground City
• M.A.D. Festival, which demonstrates how style in Montréal distinguishes itself from the rest of Canada by its European flair and international influences. This is truly a cosmopolitan, multicultural city, and we literally wear it on our sleeves. 

Montréal is also home to world-class design schools and institutions, fostering a strong community of makers and thinkers in graphic design, industrial design, interior design, digital media, the arts and fashion. There’s the textile design school, fibre arts programs both in college and in university, jewellery design programs, renowned post-graduate fine arts programs — even a circus arts school that generates graduates that work around the world.

And Montréal’s proud design legacy continues

The UNESCO City of Design designation isn’t only an acknowledgment of Montréal’s past accomplishments in fostering and promoting design — it also recognizes the city’s commitment to furthering the role of creativity and design in shaping its future. 

The title involves a duty to continually enhance the city’s creative infrastructure, support local designers and artists, promote cultural diversity and celebrate design in all sorts of aspects of urban life, which the Semaine Design de Montréal will do in spades.

Doubling as an economic engine and networking platform, Semaine Design de Montréal will create measurable opportunities in terms of commissions, collaborations and supplier relationships, especially with important corporate and institutional partners, including:

• Tafisa
• Kohler
• Montoni
• Vicostone
• Sid Lee Architecture 
• Humà design + architecture

This new event both celebrates Montréal’s design legacy and points toward its future as a multidisciplinary, internationally engaged creative capital. See you from April 28 to May 7!