Design Miami Seoul 2026 opens with a VIP Preview on August 31, followed by its public presentation from September 1 through 6 on the first floor of the Design Lab at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP). Following its Asian debut in Seoul last year, the event returns to the city for its second edition.
 
Design Miami is a global platform for collectible design, connecting design galleries, designers, collectors, and cultural institutions from around the world. Rather than conventional industrial design or mass-produced goods, it focuses primarily on 20th- and 21st-century furniture, lighting, ceramics, craft, and objects distinguished by their designers’ individual formal languages, production methods, rarity, and historical significance.
 
Although collectible design often retains a practical function, it is distinct from ordinary household goods. Its value is shaped by who designed and produced it, the materials and techniques used, whether it is a unique work or part of a limited edition, and the exhibitions and collections through which it has passed. It also shares a market structure similar to that of the art world: specialist galleries discover designers, exhibit and sell their work, and collectors and museums acquire it.
 
Since its launch in Miami in 2005, Design Miami has expanded to Paris and, in 2025, presented its first Asian exhibition in Seoul.
 
The 2026 global schedule begins in Seoul, followed by Paris in October and Miami in December. The Seoul edition is particularly noteworthy for its attempt to connect Korean and Asian design, craft, and regional making cultures with the international collectible design market.

The 2025 Inaugural Edition Spotlighting Korean Design
 
The inaugural Seoul edition last year consisted of a single curated exhibition titled 《Illuminated: A Spotlight on Korean Design》. Presented as part of “Design Miami.In Situ”, a program dedicated to highlighting regional design cultures, the exhibition featured approximately 170 works by 71 Korean designers and artists.
 
The exhibition focused on the wide range of materials that have shaped Korean design and craft, including wood, metal, ceramics, glass, horsehair, lacquer, and hanji. Participating practitioners from different generations included Byung Hoon Choi, known for his sculptural furniture; Kyeok Kim, who presented lacquered lighting; glass artist Joon Yong Kim; and horsehair craft artist Dahye Jeong.
 
The primary objective of the 2025 edition was to introduce Korean design to an international audience. It demonstrated how traditional materials and craft techniques are being transformed within contemporary design while drawing attention to Korean designers whose work had not yet received sufficient recognition internationally.
 
Its timing alongside Kiaf and Frieze Seoul was also strategically significant. By taking place when galleries, collectors, and museum professionals from around the world were visiting Seoul, the event created an opportunity for international audiences to experience Korean art, design, and craft together.

Expanding into a Market-Oriented Platform in 2026
 
The most significant feature of this year’s Design Miami Seoul is the considerable expansion of its structure.
 
While last year’s event was a single curated exhibition introducing Korean design, this year’s edition has developed into an international collectible design platform bringing together design galleries, studios, designers, companies, cultural institutions, and collectors from Korea and abroad.
 
The Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Seoul Design Foundation described the 2025 event as an opportunity to present Korean design to the world. They have positioned the 2026 edition as an expanded platform where exhibitions, collecting, discourse, and exchange can take place together.
 
The event consists of three main exhibition programs: the Gallery Program, featuring design galleries and studios from around the world; In Situ, introducing contemporary design from Korea and selected regions of Asia; and the Partner Program, presenting collaborations between companies and designers. These are accompanied by design talks, VIP tours, an opening reception, and networking programs.
 
The newly established Gallery Program is a key element in the event’s shift toward a more market-oriented platform. Last year’s edition primarily functioned as an exhibition of curated works. This year, specialist galleries and design studios participate directly, presenting works and engaging with collectors. The event is therefore moving beyond simply introducing Korean and Asian design to international audiences and beginning to develop a market function that connects the presentation of works with collecting and sales.

Korean and Asian Design in Dialogue through “Resonance”
 
This year’s theme is 《Resonance: Design in Dialogue》. It examines how different times and places, materials and cultures, traditions and technologies form relationships through design and develop into new experiences.
 
While last year’s 《Illuminated》 concentrated on bringing Korean design into view and facilitating its discovery, this year’s edition expands its focus to the relationships and exchanges generated through design. Through a wide range of works, it explores how tradition and modernity, craftsmanship and digital technology, and regional making cultures and the international market can be interconnected.
 
Thirty-six designers and studios participate in In Situ, the thematic exhibition. Moving beyond last year’s exclusive focus on Korean design, the program also introduces practitioners from selected Asian regions, including Japan and Taiwan. Through works spanning lighting, furniture, ceramics, craft, and sculptural design, the exhibition surveys a number of currents within contemporary Korean and Asian design.
 
Among the Korean participants, Jungmo Kwon combines hanji, walnut, brass, and LED technology to reinterpret the traditional hanok window as contemporary lighting. LEJE applies mother-of-pearl inlay and natural lacquer to forms produced through 3D printing. By combining digitally fabricated structures with traditional craft techniques requiring extensive handwork, the studio brings technology and craftsmanship together within a single object.
 
Ilhoon Roh presents lighting works made with carbon fiber, optical fiber, LED, and aluminum. Hwantae Kim, Byungsub Kim, Hyun-hee Kim, and Sangwoo Koo reinterpret traditional memories and materials through the language of contemporary furniture.
 
Japanese architect and ceramic artist Yuki Nara presents works combining traditional ceramics with digital design, while the Taiwanese platform Designsurfing also participates. The exhibition additionally includes works by five Korean finalists for the 2026 LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize: Coco Sung, Jieun Park, Jongin Lee, Somyoung Lee, and Soohyun Cho.
 
In these works, tradition is not confined to repeating forms from the past. Materials such as hanji, lacquer, mother-of-pearl, and ceramics are combined with new production technologies and reconfigured within contemporary spaces and ways of living. Alongside the individual achievements of Korean design, this year’s In Situ offers an opportunity to compare the different ways in which craft traditions across Asia are being transformed into contemporary design.
 
 
 
The Partner Program: Collaborations between Companies and Designers
 
Another defining feature of the 2026 edition is the participation of companies not simply as sponsors, but as co-producers of exhibitions and projects.
 
Lead Partner Samsung Electronics presents a collaborative series pairing works by Korean artists with custom frames created for the OLED TV S95H. Through the relationships between screen and frame, digital image and physical object, the project explores how technology and artistic creation can be integrated into a single visual language.
 
Furniture brand Alloso presents 《Layers of Resonance》, in which seven design teams reinterpret the sofa through different materials and production methods.
 
In 《Remaining Things》, Teo Yang Studio reconfigures the materials and spatial sensibilities of the hanok within the contemporary urban environment of Seoul. DANSK, Ayantu, the LOEWE FOUNDATION, and Range Rover also participate as partners.
 
The technologies and production resources of companies can enable forms of experimentation that designers may find difficult to pursue within their individual working environments. At the same time, the balance between corporate technologies and branding on one side and independent design experimentation on the other will be an important aspect of the Partner Program to consider.

Collectible Design Presented by Six Galleries and Studios
 
Six Korean and international galleries and design studios participate in the newly established Gallery Program.
 
London-based Charles Burnand Gallery presents 《Material Echoes》, exploring how materials convey memories of time and culture. The presentation includes works made from a diverse range of materials, including ceramics, bronze, carved wood, resin, recycled textiles, and crocheted copper wire.
 
Featuring artists from Korea, China, Europe, and the United States, the exhibition includes Jan Waterston’s ‘Primitive Excavations’ series and other works that reinterpret traditional production techniques through the language of contemporary design. The final English titles of individual works should be confirmed against the official captions accompanying the event’s press images.
 
New York-based design studio Vagujhelyi presents the Postura Collection, comprising sculptural objects and furniture produced in bronze and stainless steel. The collection exemplifies a defining characteristic of collectible design: its position between functional furniture and autonomous sculpture.
 
Other participants include ALEX TURCO ART GALLERY, Barcelona-based SIDE GALLERY, Ghent-based STACK by studio MOTO, and Seoul’s IN GALLERY. Each presents furniture, lighting, sculptural objects, and material-led practices from a distinct perspective.
 
Although the number of participants remains modest, the direct presence of international design galleries and studios presenting works and meeting collectors in Seoul creates a clear distinction from last year’s edition.

Discussing the Current State of the Collectible Design Market
 
Alongside the exhibitions, “Design Miami Talks Seoul,” addressing the market and future of collectible design, will take place at the DDP Design Hall on September 3.
 
The first session, “Where Is the Collectible Design Market Heading?”, brings together Chad Liu, CEO of Designsurfing; Jen Roberts, CEO of Design Miami; Jesse Lee, Chairman of Design Miami; and Jongwoo Kwak, a specialist at K Auction. Moderated by Hyeyoung Cho, Curatorial Director of Design Miami Seoul, the session will examine changes in the global market and the potential of collectible design in Asia.
 
The sessions that follow will explore how creativity produces new experiences, design in the digital age, and changes in technology and production environments. By bringing together designers, gallerists, companies, and collectors, the talks extend the event beyond the display of works to address the production, distribution, collection, and valuation of design.
 
VIP tours, an opening reception, and networking programs will also be held. These programs are intended to create tangible opportunities for Korean designers to build relationships with international galleries, institutions, and collectors.
 
 
 
New Possibilities for Collecting in Seoul
 
Design Miami Seoul 2026 moves one step beyond last year’s inaugural edition, which focused on introducing Korean design. It establishes a Gallery Program, expands the geographical scope of In Situ to selected parts of Asia, and brings corporate collaborations, market discourse, and international exchange together within a single event.
 
It would be premature to conclude, after only its second edition, that Seoul has become a center for collectible design in Asia. With just six participating galleries and studios, this year’s event is better understood as an early-stage test of the market potential for collectible design in Seoul than as a fully established marketplace.
 
What matters is whether the event leads to actual sales, attracts new collectors, and generates sustained exchanges with international galleries and institutions. Beyond the event itself, Seoul will need to cultivate specialist galleries and a collector base capable of continuously discovering and researching designers while professionally managing production histories, editions, prices, and provenance.
 
Nevertheless, the expansion of an event that began last year as an exhibition of Korean design into a platform connecting collecting and sales with discourse and exchange represents a significant development.
 
During the same week as Kiaf and Frieze Seoul, another field of design will unfold at DDP through furniture and lighting, ceramics and craft, technology and material. Design Miami Seoul 2026 will offer an opportunity to examine how contemporary Korean and Asian design can establish meaningful connections with the international collectible design market.
 
 
 
Design Miami Seoul 2026

VIP Preview: August 31, 2026
Public Days: September 1–6, 2026
Venue: Design Lab, 1F, DDP
Theme: 《Resonance: Design in Dialogue》
Main Programs: Gallery Program, In Situ, Partner Program, Design Miami Talks, and VIP Programs
Website: Design Miami Seoul 2026 — Official Fair Page