Romanian Design Week 2025 Kicks Off: Bucharest Becomes the Capital of Design

Bucharest is turning into an open stage for contemporary design. Romanian Design Week 2025, organized by The Institute and presented by UniCredit Bank, officially kicks off one of its most ambitious editions yet. Over the next week, the festival brings a dynamic program of exhibitions, installations, public space interventions, and more than 140 satellite events hosted in independent venues throughout the city.

Under the theme “Design Tomorrow Today,” RDW 2025 showcases ideas, projects, and collaborations that explore how design can shape the city, foster dialogue, and empower communities. With the participation of over 150 local and international organizations, the festival offers an immersive urban experience where creativity improves the city in accessible and diverse ways.

Three central venues, dozens of exhibitions, hundreds of ideas

The festival officially opened across its three central venues:

• The former Cina restaurant building (10 Benjamin Franklin Street)
• The ground floor of the National Gallery of the National Museum of Art of Romania (49–53 Calea Victoriei)
• Casa Fratelli (9 Episcopiei Street)

Opening weekend – exhibitions, communities, ideas shaping the future

One of this year’s main formats is RDW Exhibitions, presented by Rompetrol and co-produced by Bucharest City Hall through ARCUB – the Cultural Center of Bucharest. It features 10 curated exhibitions developed in collaboration with organizations across the country, distributed across the festival’s three main venues: At the former Cina restaurant building, visitors can explore Sustainable Bucharest (Bucharest Architecture Annual & OAR Bucharest), 10 Years of Beta (Timișoara Architecture Biennale), ABCDG (Local Design Circle), The New Middle Ages (Transylvanian Design Week), Meaningful Form (Dacia Design Center), Balance. Eliza Yokina X La Centrala (Art in Context Association, Slănic-Moldova) Six Romanian brands—ASKIA, Meze Audio, Optimef, Lunet, MINDTHEGAP, and Kairos—are also featured at Cina, presenting their industrial and product design collections in a dedicated showcase.

At the National Museum of Art of Romania, visitors will find From Craft to Music (Association of Luthier Artists), supported by Rompetrol and Woven Secrets (FABER).

At Casa Fratelli, the program includes a curated selection of 19 emerging and established designers featured at Mercedes-Benz Bucharest Fashion Week. It also includes the installation Fratelli XX by Mihai Popescu Studio and the EAMES ROADSHOW by Project1, Intro & Vitra, part of RDW Design Flags.

The international format RDW Design Flags, presented by Purcari, was inaugurated on the festival’s opening day and features 12 exhibitions curated by the following embassies and cultural institutions: the Embassy of the Kingdom of Denmark, Embassy of Spain, Instituto Cervantes, Embassy of Sweden, Embassy of Italy and Italian Cultural Institute, Liszt Institute, Czech Center, French Institute, Austrian National Tourist Office, Artcor (Moldova), Project1, and Retros Gallery. These exhibitions, along with the RDW Young Design showcase—presented by UniCredit Bank and supported by the Romanian Cultural Institute and Pepsi (creative energy partner) can all be discovered in the former Cina restaurant building. RDW Young Design highlights the work of a new generation of creatives selected from the DIPLOMA Show 2024.

Also, in the first days of the festival, RDW & the City was launched—a creative trail that transforms Calea Victoriei with urban installations by Studio An-An (in collaboration with Logroño’s Concéntrico Festival), BAZA. We Open the City (with Łódź Design Festival), OAR Brașov-Covasna-Harghita, and ASAP Romania & De-a Arhitectura. On Saturday, Instituto Cervantes hosted RDW & The City masterclasses, offering fresh perspectives on how design shapes urban spaces and the future of the creative industries. Speakers included guests from Romania, Spain, USA, and Poland.

Open Venues, Emerging Design, and Nocturnal Encounters

Throughout the week, Design GO! brings over 140 events to life in independent venues across the city: exhibitions, launches, guided tours, parties, fairs, and open studios. Highlights include:

• Tribute to Eames House Bird – exhibition and guided tour at Intro Gallery (May 23, 7:00 PM);
• The Journey in the Diamond Mirror – exhibition and fashion party at Aparterre (May 20, from 4:00 PM);
• New Tenant Sunshine Noir by Marius Bercea with ELLE launch at Casa Presei Libere (May 24, 5:00 PM);
• Towards Fluidity & Softness – by Ami Amalia & Codruța Cernea, at Ami Amalia Flagship Store (2 Thomas Masaryk Street);
• Rediscover Your Style – a workshop with Andreea Raicu & Andreea Chirilă at Paris 7A (May 21, 7:00 PM).

On Thursday, May 22, The Architecture’s Night In will open over 22 architecture studios across Bucharest for a special nighttime journey into the spaces where the city’s future is imagined.

Multisensory experiences and special activations

In the former Cina restaurant building, RDW also hosts partner activations, including:

• Seletti Sensorium Piazza, a multisensory installation by IQOS x Seletti, was first presented at Milan Design Week. It reimagines the Italian piazza through digital-physical interaction;
• Regina Maria 30, an anniversary collection designed by Saddo & Alina Gavrilă-Borțun, featuring an interactive memory game;
• The Design Lounge by Promenada Mall București & Mega Mall is dedicated to sustainable furniture and is part of the It’s Not Goodbye, It’s Rock It Later campaign by Electric Castle x NEPI Rockcastle;
• Loc de Design by Mega Mall, created by Alina Marinescu;
• Raffaello by Mia Peculiar – White Collection: A Dreamlike Poetry of Textures – a series of six fashion creations imagining Raffaello as a dress;
• People of RDW – a photo portrait series by Andreea Retinschi, supported by Pepsi.

Program & Access

The festival unfolds daily across the three main venues and throughout the city with more than 140 events: Former Cina restaurant building (10 Benjamin Franklin Street), and National Gallery, National Museum of Art of Romania (49–53 Calea Victoriei) Casa Fratelli (9 Episcopiei Street).

Entry conditions vary by venue: 

Tickets for the Cina exhibitions are available at bilete.romaniandesignweek.ro, with a 50% discount for payments made with UniCredit Mastercard. Students receive 50% off at the door with a valid student ID. Pupils, pensioners, and people with disabilities benefit from free access, which UniCredit supports.

Casa Fratelli is free to enter, subject to capacity, while at the National Gallery of the National Museum of Art of Romania access is based on the museum’s admission ticket, which is available only onsite (separate from the Cina ticket).

The T Show Collection by UniCredit Bank x RDW merchandise is available in the Cina courtyard. At the same time, the festival brochure—with complete program and venue details—is available in all three central locations.

The full festival schedule is available at https://program.romaniandesignweek.ro, on the RDW app (App Store & Google Play), and on Facebook and Instagram.

A Collective Project, Backed by a Wide Community

The participating organizations and partners of Romanian Design Week reflect the collaborative philosophy of The Institute, coming together to shape an edition that supports local creativity and fosters international dialogue. From the leading partner UniCredit Bank to the support provided by the Ministry of Culture, the City Hall of Bucharest through ARCUB – the Cultural Center of the Municipality of Bucharest, the Romanian Cultural Institute, the City Hall of Sector 1, and the active involvement of private sector brands such as IQOS, Rompetrol, Mega Mall, Promenada Mall București, NEPI Rockcastle, Rețeaua de Sănătate Regina Maria, Pepsi, Purcari, Kozel, Raffaello, and 5 to go—RDW 2025 stands as a collective effort to redefine how design connects people, spaces, and ideas.

More information is available on the festival’s official website, Facebook and Instagram.

Romanian Design Week is part of the international World Design Weeks network. Romanian Design Week is a project by The Institute.