A boundary, as it turns out, is a site of creative exchange rather than division
The Lake Como Design Festival is back for its eighth edition, taking place from 12 to 20 September 2026 across the city and beyond. Centred around the theme, Confine, the festival explores the idea of a boundary, not just as a wall but as a threshold—or rather, a site of creative exchange rather than division.
Curated once again by Giovanna Massoni with the direction of Francesca Prandelli, the festival will come after Milan’s summer rush, bringing exhibitions, installations and talks to Como’s hidden historic places. As a literal enactment of its theme, it will also step outside its boundaries for the first time, extending the programme into a series of new venues in the neighbouring city of Lecco. At the Politecnico Lecco campus, Unstable Borders tells the story of a mountain in motion, while Oltre al Vedere aims to make art and design accessible to the blind and visually impaired.
The expansion is paired with a new partnership with four institutions of higher education—the University of Insubria and Como Conservatory, for instance—so as to draw a younger audience into design and architecture. As for the festival’s signatures, Villa del Grumello (pictured above) will return with Future in the Past, which treats design archives as material still capable of generating new work, and the fourth Contemporary Design Selection, which will showcase in Villa Saporiti, an 18th-century neoclassical building known for a rare elliptical salon. The latter will see over 50 designers, architects and collectives from roughly 30 countries, each addressing the main theme from several angles.
