Design Parade, 20th International Product Design Festival
from 25 June to 30 August 2026Created in 2006 with Andrée Putman as its patron, Design Parade was born of an ambition at once singular and generous : to welcome, share and champion the new faces of design before a wide public over the summer. Through a competition, professional encounters and exhibitions, the festival first celebrated object design at the Villa Noailles in Hyères, before adding, in 2016, a second strand in Toulon
devoted to interior architecture, the first of its kind.
Twenty years on, the festival has grown and now enjoys an international reach, yet it remains faithful to the vision conceived by its founder, Jean-Pierre Blanc : each summer, ten young object designers and ten young interior architects from around- the world are selected by panels of established professionals, then supported by the Villa Noailles and its partners in the conception, production and dissemination of their projects. The festival does more than single out talent : it forges close ties between creators, the craftspeople and expertise of the region, and the professionals of the sector, and in doing so gives emerging creators the means to move from idea to realisation and from realisation to exhibition. For this 2026 edition, Design Parade celebrates a double anniversary: twenty years of object design and ten years of interior architecture. For the first time, the Villa Noailles brings together within its own spaces — some of them exceptionally open to the public for the occasion — the exhibitions of both competitions, while the exhibition 20 + 10 : Génération(s) Design Parade casts, in Toulon, in the heart of the creative quarter, a fond and knowing eye over the festival’s history as a site of transmission ; the eye of curator David Giroire.
This year, four women choreograph this joyful parade. Sofia Lagerkvist and Anna Lindgren, of the Swedish studio Front, chair the object-design jury and have devised an installation staging their latest creations, true to a conceptual approach steeped in history. On the interior-architecture side, Laura Gonzalez serves as jury president and offers the laureates of the 2025 edition the opportunity to reinterpret the villa’s historic spaces. Under the artistic direction of Julie Liger, the festival thus welcomes Simon Dupety, awarded for object design, and Thomas Takada and Malo Gagliardini, honoured for interior architecture. Alongside them, the 2026 finalists unveil their projects, the architects going so far as to imagine a living space within this very house, one ever more “interesting to live in”, as Marie-Laure and Charles de Noailles might perhaps once again have thought.
Finally, true to the spirit of the festival, colour becomes the décor of this parade. It unfurls from room to room like a multicoloured ribbon that embraces as much as it contradicts the rigour of the white, geometric lines of Robert Mallet-Stevens’s modernist architecture. Conceived by Joachim Jirou-Najou, this scenography shapes the space, connecting and highlighting the projects. Beyond its walls, Design Parade invites visitors to explore the Toulon metropolitan area, the Var and the Région Sud, and to discover their natural and cultural heritage, their schools, workshops and expertise : an exceptional creative ecosystem on which the festival draws. Supporting emerging creation thus means casting light on an entire territory and its protagonists, who together are imagining the ways of dwelling and living of tomorrow.
Hugo Lucchino
Managing Director
Julie Liger
Artistic Director
COMPETITIONS
Several prizes are awarded to the competing designers thanks to grants provided by the festival’s partners who commit, to-gether with the festival, to provide long term support: Sèvres – Manufacture et Musée nationaux, Centre international de re-cherche sur le verre et les arts plastiques (Cirva) and Tectona for Object, Van Cleef & Arpels, CHANEL, le19M, Manufactures nationales - Mobilier national for Interior Design.
Practical assistance is provided right from the selection stage as well as during a period of two years in various different do-mains: financing, production, craft, materials, production, legal, media, exhibitions, workshops and residencies.
Prize
Grand Prix du Jury Design Parade - product design
The Grand Prix du Jury Design Parade - product consists of:
⏺ A one-year research residency at the Centre international de recherche sur le verre et les arts plastiques de Marseille (Cirva) on the theme of the vase. At the end of the residency, one piece or a group of pieces will become part of the Cirva collection, a leading body of work on glass and contemporary design, and another will be added to the Villa Noailles collection. The winning designer will retain
the majority of their research. This entire research will be presented as part of the next Design Parade, in a dedicated space.
⏺ MATTER and SHAPE is delighted to be associated with the Grand Prix du Jury Design Parade - product, offering the winner a place to express his or her ideas during the March 2026 edition of the event.
⏺ For the first time, IKEA is partnering with Design Parade to sponsor the Grand Prix du Jury Design Parade - product . The winner will receive a prize of €5,000, as well as a study and inspiration trip to Älmhult, Sweden—the brand’s creative heart and the birthplace of its most iconic products.
⏺ a support in image consulting and press relations by Perrier Communication agency during one year to the winner
⏺ an invitation to participate as a member of the jury in the 2027 edition of Design Parade and to present a solo exhibition on this occasion.
Prix Manufactures nationales - Sèvres
The creation of the public entity Manufactures nationales, bringing together the Manufacture de Sèvres and the Mobilier national, marks the beginning of a new phase of development focused on contemporary creation and the transmission of craftsmanship. Within this framework, the partnership with Villa Noailles is taking shape and expanding around two key events: Design Parade – interior architecture, dedicated to interior architecture and decor, and Design Parade – Objet, devoted to the product. Two clearly defined awards embody this ambition and harness the institution’s expertise: Mobilier National addresses the challenges of decor and spatial design; the Manufacture de Sèvres focuses on the creation of objects and ceramics.
Through these two pillars, the national manufacturers affirm a coherent vision: to support emerging design by providing concrete production conditions, while placing designers in direct dialogue with exceptional craftsmanship. This partnership thus takes on its full meaning: fostering new styles, renewing uses, and ensuring the vitality of the arts and crafts, bridging heritage and contemporary creation. With more than 250 years of know-how handed down from generation to generation, the Manufacture de Sèvres is a unique laboratory for creation and innovation, constantly experimenting with new avenues of research and collaborating with contemporary designers.
To mark its 20 th edition, the Manufacture de Sèvres is partnering with the Villa Noailles for Design Parade - Objet with the creation of the Prix Sèvres. This award offers one of the ten finalists the extraordinary opportunity to develop a creative project during a one-year research residency at the Manufacture de Sèvres.
The resulting work will be presented the following year in an exhibition curated by the finalist, with the assistance and support of the Manufacture de Sèvres, which will draw upon its collections and the expertise of its workshops and manufacturing facilities for this purpose.
Frontdesign
Sofia Lagerkvist and Anna Lindgren
President of the product design competition jury
Sofia Lagerkvist and Anna Lindgren are the members of the Swedish design studio Front. Their works are based on common discussions, explorations and experiments and they collaborate in all projects from initial ideas to the final product.
Front’s design objects often communicate a story to the observer about the design process, about the material it is made of or about conventions within the design field. In their work they have assigned part of the making of design to animals, computers or machines.
They have made a constantly changing interior, created objects with explosions, robotic furniture and a range of furniture inspired by their fascination with magic.
Front’s work is represented at MoMA, Victoria & Albert Museum, M+, National museum, Vitra Design Museum and Centre Pompidou.