The London Design Festival's flagship thought-leadership programme, Global Design Forum, announces the launch of its inaugural edition in İstanbul from 13–16 May 2026. Organised in collaboration with creative platform People & Places & Ideas (PPI) and under the Artistic Direction of Melek Zeynep Bulut, the Forum will present a programme of talks, panels, installations, and citywide experiences, positioning İstanbul as a hub for international design dialogue.
© EBMarketaTopkapı Palace complex, İstanbul.
"The launch of Global Design Forum İstanbul marks an exciting new chapter in our mission to create a truly international platform for design dialogue. İstanbul's unique position at the crossroads of cultures makes it an inspiring setting to explore how design can respond to global challenges while celebrating local identity. We're delighted to collaborate with People & Places & Ideas to bring the Forum's spirit of creative exchange to this remarkable city," said Ben Evans, Founder of London Design Festival and Global Design Forum.
The inaugural edition combines two days of curated Forum sessions with extended citywide programming. Keynote talks, panels, and in-conversations will take place within the historic grounds of Topkapı Palace complex, framed by the curatorial theme Worlds in Contact, developed by Forum Content Advisor Beatrice Galilee. The sessions explore design as a practice that embraces multiplicity, examining how creativity navigates overlapping crises of ecology, technology, migration, extraction, and inequality.
"İstanbul is a city that neither begins nor ends; one that derives its singularity from the ways its fragments connect… Our focus is on the relationships between fragments, on modes of connection, flows, and encounters… Thereby, the programme itself becomes a performance in the city," said Melek Zeynep Bulut.
Citywide initiatives include İstanbullar: Design Route, showcasing 40 key design works and locations across the city, landmark public installations at sites including Topkapı Palace and Taksim, and an international garden design competition in the Yedikule region. The programme actively engages local communities, students, and international participants, reflecting the Forum's mission to connect global voices with the city's creative ecosystem.
Beatrice Galilee noted: "The Forum brings together leading designers and thinkers whose work engages directly with the urgencies of our time… Istanbul, a city defined by contact and convergence, offers a powerful context for this dialogue."
The four-day programme begins with an opening gala on 13 May, followed by two full days of Forum sessions on 14–15 May, and concludes with short-format sessions and a closing brunch on 16 May.
More information:
Global Design Forum
[email protected]
www.londondesignfestival.com
