2026 design fairs: your international calendar

When the world came to a standstill six years ago during the pandemic, some speculated that it might spell the death knell for the design trade show – and in some ways, perhaps it did. Traditional fairs have struggled to draw the same crowds and have taken time to regroup. Stockholm Furniture Fair announced earlier this year that it will skip 2026, returning as a biennial in 2027, while London Design Fair cancelled all future events indefinitely in 2023. Others are taking steps to move with the times. In Milan, Salone del Mobile continues to grow its busy cultural programme and in 2026 will reinvigorate its offering at Fiera Milano with the introduction of a more intimately scaled collectible design pavilion, created by Formafantasma.

In tandem, smaller, more agile design fairs staged in architecturally compelling locations have surged in popularity, with design platform Alcova and the travelling showcase Nomad leading the way. It turns out that making the design fair experience more pleasurable – less overwhelming, more considered – has its appeal. Who would have thought?

The result is a seemingly ever-expanding fair calendar. It’s no exaggeration to say that, if time, money and inclination allow, you could now spend almost every week of the year at a design fair somewhere in the world. But where to begin? Seasoned design tourists have their fixtures – spring in Milan, summer in Copenhagen, winter in Miami – yet there’s something especially appealing about seeking out the less expected. We reached out to friends and insiders for their steer on the most interesting design fairs in the year ahead, and were pleased to find a healthy mix of new arrivals alongside trusted favourites. Here’s what they recommended.

January

Paris Déco Off / Maison & Objet, Paris, France