Must-see programs at the 2026 DesignTO festival
The 2026 DesignTO Festival, which is returning this week, invites the public to explore the built environment through the lens of design.
This year’s festival line-up showcases architectural impact in its entirety, as a design field that encompasses everything from public infrastructure, mobility, climate resilience, and accessibility.
Spanning neighbourhoods across Toronto, the festival brings together exhibitions, tours, films, and installations by architectural and design thought leaders, examining housing solutions, the future of cycling, our built heritage, and the ways we can sustainably steward our land, water, and communities as a future-focused city.
This year’s festival takes place from January 23 to February 1, 2026.
Here are our must-see picks:
Design Hustle: What Masters and New Voices Teach Each Other
This event is a candid, cross-generational conversation exploring contemporary design practice. Established architects and interior designers will join emerging voices to exchange insights on purpose, profit, planet, and process, and learn from one another’s approaches to today’s professional challenges. The discussion offers a look at how the field is evolving, where it resists change, and how experiences are shaping the future of design.
Speakers include Arancha González-Bernardo, co-founder of Odami, Pat Hanson, founding partner and creative director of gh3*, and Paul Lee, project designer of Mason Studio.
It takes place on January 27 at the Cosentino City Toronto Showroom, located at 143 Frederick St.
Light Gathering in the Yuàn 光聚院心 Debuts at DesignTO
An intimate, ticketed dining experience marking the launch of a new dinner series by Mason Studio, created in partnership with VYVYD Lighting and Chef Eva Chin of Yan Dining Room. Inspired by the traditional yuàn, a living courtyard at the heart of the home, the evening will unfold as a choreographed sensory environment where light shifts in dialogue with contemporary Chinese cuisine, shaping mood, ritual, and connection. This is being presented as part of DesignTO, with DBD CoLab supporting the creative connection between collaborators.
When dinner is not in session, The Light Room remains open as an installation. Visitors are invited into this afterglow, where light and space continue quiet conversation.
While the ticketed dinner event is sold out for January 26 and 27, new dates for the Lunar New Year will be announced soon.
The Light Room installation is open is to all ages.
A group of designers and design boosters including hollis+morris’ Mischa Couvrette, Heidi Earnshaw, Mason Studio’s Stanley Sun, DesignTO’s Deborah Wang, SOCA Architecture’s Tura Cousins Wilson, and Casson Hardware’s Jane Son discuss how approaches to living with local design have evolved to meet this growing, “elbows up” enthusiasm, and where homegrown architecture, interiors and housewares are headed next.
This event takes place on January 28 at hollis+morris, located at 501 Alliance Avenue, Suite 4.
This project by collaborators Timothy Lam, Kelly Chan, Marco Tang, and Phoebe Yuen explores how healing, land-based practices, and urban design can shape a trauma-informed Toronto.
It takes place from January 23 to February 1, 2026, and is free with an RSVP.
The project is located at Haven Brews, 222 Finch Avenue West, Unit 101, in North York.
Ideas Forum: Advocating for a Better City
This online event takes place on January 28, 2026. Hosted by DesignTO in partnership with the Toronto Society of Architects (TSA), this forum spotlights five speakers advancing change in Toronto’s built environment: Active18, Cycle Toronto, Park People, Moriyama Teshima Architects, and Toronto Metropolitan University.
Hosted by Arcana Materials Co. and furniture designer Daniel Gruetter, this project debuts an experimental bar crafted from 110-year-old reclaimed bricks and wood salvaged from Toronto’s built heritage. This event takes place on January 30, 2026, at Ouroboros Studio Space, located at 178 Queens Quay East, Building A.
Hosted by Signs of Change with Pedaal Bikes + Coffee and collaborators from Radical Norms and OCAD University Research, this installation uses fictional street signs to spark dialogue about the future of cycling and urban mobility. This event takes place from January 23 to February 1 at Pedaal Bikes + Coffee, located at 168 Brunswick Avenue.
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