Workshops, tours & outreach — Vienna Design Week

Festivals are places for meeting people and experiencing things. They create informal settings and safe surroundings for exchanging and understanding. This is the spirit with which the diverse outreach program of the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK takes visitors of every age by the hand and offers them opportunities to experience and access design as well as to discuss it with others.

From the classic guided tour through the Festival Headquarters to insider tours of hidden places – the program offers dozens of perfect opportunities for collective experiences. One special focus is the program for schools and children, which aims to make the notion of design more tangible to young people. In other words: The outreach program of the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK brings design to the place, where it is most urgently needed – to the people.

A binding reservation must be made in advance at viennadesignweek.at/booking

TOURS

Marion Kuzmany with participants of her guided tour — VIENNA DESIGN WEEK / Kollektiv Fischka / Phillip Podesser

Education

Guided Tour

ARCH ON WALK 1: WIEDEN WALK FROM KOREA TO JAPAN

ARCH ON TOUR

27.9.2025, 2.30pm–5.30pm

From Kärntnerstraße to Belvederegasse, from Korea to Japan: Marion Kuzmany’s architecture and design tour begins at the Korean Cultural Center and its exhibition on the connection between the traditional Korean alphabet Hangeul and contemporary product design. The tour continues along the design … more

A look inside Caramel Carage by Caramel Architects — Caramel Architects

Education

Guided Tour

ARCH ON WALK 2: WIEDEN NEW AND SUSTAINABLE

ARCH ON TOUR

3.10.2025, 4pm–7pm

This architecture walk begins with an exclusive tour of a true gem of Vienna’s urban and broadcasting history: the Funkhaus Wien on Argentinierstraße, the former broadcasting station of the ORF, which, after its temporary use, will be converted into a sustainable concept for culture, gastronomy … more

Geri from Wien Popkultour with participants during one of his tours — Patrick Muennich

Education

Guided Tour

HISTORY OF VIENNA’S POP AND SUBCULTURE

Wien Popkultour

1.10.2025, 5pm–7.30pm

Music nerd, record collector, and amateur music historian Geri Hollerer follows in the footsteps of legendary local musicians and pioneers. The city walk takes participants to locations in the city center that have had a major impact on pop and subcultural life in Vienna over the past 70 years.

Johanna Reiner from Unsichtbares Handwerk on her tour — VIENNA DESIGN WEEK / Kollektiv Fischka / Maria Noisternig

Education

Guided Tour

TOUR OF WORKSHOPS IN THE 5TH DISTRICT

Unsichtbares Handwerk

30.9.2025, 5pm–8pm

What is the history of craftsmanship in Vienna? And what role does it play today? For several years now, the research project UNSICHTBARES HANDWERK (hidden crafts) has been dedicated to tracing the increasingly invisible craft businesses and their workshops in Vienna. The tour offers insights into … more

Participants at an event at the Silbermanufaktur Jarosinski & Vaugoin — VIENNA DESIGN WEEK / Kollektiv Fischka / Maren Jelef

Education

Guided Tour

TOUR OF WORKSHOPS IN THE 7TH DISTRICT

Unsichtbares Handwerk

1.10.2025, 5pm–8pm

What is the history of craftsmanship in Vienna? And what role does it play today? For several years now, the research project UNSICHTBARES HANDWERK (hidden crafts) has been dedicated to tracing the increasingly invisible craft businesses and their workshops in Vienna. The tour offers insights into … more

Werkstatte Digitale Fotografie

PLATFORM

Exhibition

COMMUNIO

Mathias Leberbauer, Valentin Bauer

26.9.–5.10.2025

Mathias Leberbauer and Valentin Bauer share an interest in ritual, space, and the cultural significance of design. In the Maria am Gestade church, they present two contemporary objects that take up liturgical forms and translate them into a new context. With COMMUNIO, a subtle intervention in the … more

WORKSHOPS

Embroidered cushions from a workshop by Nina Vastl Štefe — Nina Vastl Štefe

Education

Workshop

DVOJINA / DUET

Nina Vastl Štefe

28.9.2025, 1pm–3pm

DVOJINA / DUET is a social textile project that fosters openness, dialogue, collaborative manual labor, and individual expression. Two individuals collaborate on a textile project and create something beautiful and useful together. The project provides an opportunity to form a new connection with … more

Xpoints

PLATFORM

Workshop

JUST DO IT

Xpoints

26.9.–4.10.2025

The ability to quickly implement ideas developed in the digital workflow in the real world enables iterative developments without losing sight of overarching concepts and visions. After presenting a few examples from everyday life at studio Xpoints, participants will focus on a topic of their … more

Studio Anouk Rehorek

PLATFORM

Exhibition

ARBEIT × MUSSE – SCENARIOS FOR 2035

Studio Anouk Rehorek

26.9.–5.10.2025

In a present where time is considered the scarcest resource, “Muße” (leisure) becomes a radical practice. In a workshop with actors from the Viennese creative scene, future scenarios were developed in which the concept of leisure is socially anchored. The Futures Cone, a walk-in installation, and a … more

Anna Zimmermann

PLATFORM

Work-in-Progress

THE FEMINIST WELDING CLUB

Anna Zimmermann

26.9.–5.10.2025

THE FEMINIST WELDING CLUB invites women, trans, and genderqueer individuals to reclaim their place in metalworking. Through open welding courses at the Festival Headquarters – a former auto repair shop – and the community that forms around it, the club serves as both a resource and a statement. The … more

October

PLATFORM

Exhibition

TRANSFORMING TEXTILES INTO LIVING INTERFACES

October

26.9.–3.10.2025

With its contribution, the label October focuses on a disappearing textile tradition: silver block printing, which is mainly practiced by artisans in the Indian foothills of the Himalayas. In addition to presenting selected textile artworks with contemporary appeal, the showcase at the Mixer!

AQForm

PLATFORM

Workshop

VISUAL COMFORT

AQForm

2.10.2025, 6pm

Lighting is so omnipresent that we barely notice it consciously anymore. Those who do usually look at the topic from a purely technical perspective. With its workshop in English, the award-winning Polish company AQForm offers an opportunity as part of the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK to learn how technical … more

Daniel Kalkhofer

Stadtarbeit

Work-in-Progress

ARCHIV DER ANEIGNUNG

Kollektiv Raumstation Wien

26.9.–4.10.2025

The ARCHIVE OF APPROPRIATION focuses on the practices of appropriation, repurposing, misappropriation, care, and repair by the current users of the former University of Economics (Alte WU) in Vienna. Since the university moved out in 2013, the site has served as an ideal alternative location. Now … more

Fabian Spink

Stadtarbeit

Work-in-Progress

THE URBAN WOOD ARCHIVE – STORIES FROM VIENNA’S TREES

Verein Stadtholz

26.9.–5.10.2025

Material: urban wood. After diseased trees in the city are felled, a pile of tree trunks and branches usually remains. In Vienna, this seemingly worthless material currently ends up mostly in compost. However, urban wood is actually a public resource and can be used as a local material. Together … more

Studio pari-pari

Stadtarbeit

Work-in-Progress

STADTSTEMPEL

studio pari-pari

26.9.–5.10.2025

The STADTSTEMPEL project invites participants to look closely and feel deeply, to leave traces and read them: As part of its field research, studio pari-pari captures relief-like structures in Vienna’s urban space using modeling clay and then prints them in black ink on archive cards. This creates … more

Ben Kuhlmann

GAST

Exhibition

DESIGN FOR DEMOCRACY

World Design Capital Frankfurt RheinMain 2026 (WDC 2026)

26.9.–5.10.2025

What can design achieve – for society and our coexistence? This question is at the heart of World Design Capital Frankfurt RheinMain. As a prelude to its festival year in 2026, this year’s GAST at the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK already invites the audience to selected projects that show how design can … more

TEAM TOURS VIENNA DESIGN WEEK

Portrait of Gabriel Roland — Yasmina Haddad

Education

Happening

BAR ALTO

Gabriel Roland

4.10.2025, 5.30pm–7pm

Basso – alto, here – there, full – empty: The bar on Milan’s Via Plinio is not only a reference point for Italian cocktail culture, but also for the international design scene. Just like Salone del Mobile and Fuorisalone (as in, the Milan furniture fair and its parallel program), the circus … more

Portrait of Alma Fiala — Yasmina Haddad

Education

Tour

MIX IT UP

Alma Fiala

2.10.2025, 5pm–6.30pm

This year, the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK engaged in matchmaking: Under the label Mixer!, designers were paired with unexpected locations around the city. Project manager and matchmaker Alma Fiala’s bike tour highlights these connections. The sustainable concept store & Friends showcases handmade lamps by … more

Portrait of Alexandra Brückner — Yasmina Haddad

Education

Tour

IN BETWEEN SPACES

Alexandra Brückner

5.10.2025, 3pm–4.30pm

Vacant buildings are full of stories (and also full of dust, animal tracks, and forgotten things). For the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK, they become vibrant places for a short time. But before that happens, another journey begins: the search for the right property, the first steps through empty corridors … more

Portrait of Laura Winkler — Yasmina Haddad

Education

Tour

THE BEAUTY OF BECOMING

Laura Winkler

28.9.2025, 6.30pm–9pm

An evening for browsing, listening, chatting, and toasting – right in the heart of the Festival Headquarters! On the first Sunday of the festival, Laura Winkler, Head of Communication, invites visitors to join her for a tour followed by a social gathering. The group exhibition FOKUS: Ageing … more

Portrait of Alexandra Rauschgold — Yasmina Haddad

Education

Tour

WIEDEN’S (HIDDEN) LANDSCAPES

Alexandra Rauschgold

3.10.2025, 11am–12.30pm

The tour through the 4th district with project manager Alexandra Rauschgold takes participants from the recently reopened Café-Restaurant Resselpark on Karlsplatz along the bicycle highway on Wiedner Hauptstraße to Planquadrat – a hidden neighborhood park in the middle of the city – and to other … more

VIENNA DESIGN WEEK/esel.at/Joanna Pianka

Vienna Design Week