Open – Design Week Frankfurt RheinMain

Ausstellung Hessen Design Competition

On June 6 and 7, 2026, Hessen Design e.V. presents the winners of the Hessen Design Competition 2025 — a new generation of designers whose work addresses current social, technological, and ecological challenges.

The exhibition brings together interdisciplinary projects from design, research, and applied practice. It presents design as a connecting discipline between people, technology, and the environment — and as a tool for transformation, innovation, and social change.

Visitors will experience projects that understand design not merely as form-making, but as an attitude, a method, and an effective practice.

Featured works include:

• An EEG wearable that rethinks design as an interface between technology, therapy, and user needs, enabling non-stigmatizing applications in the context of autism.
• A project focused on uncovering urban waterways, revealing ecological and social potential through design processes.
• A self-sufficient photobioreactor and research initiative exploring microalgae as a sustainable biological resource within urban circular systems.
• An experimental AI-generated newspaper edition critically reflecting on media production processes and algorithmic bias.

The exhibition and discussion program highlight how the next generation of designers thinks, works, and takes responsibility. The exhibition stands for new perspectives, interdisciplinary approaches, and the question of what role design plays in shaping our future.

Hessen Design e.V. is a center of expertise, consulting, and mediation for design in the state of Hesse, making outstanding design achievements visible across their full cultural, social, and economic spectrum. In its role as the state’s design coordination body, the association effectively supported the State of Hesse in implementing design funding initiatives.