Álvaro Catalán de Ocón lighting installation @ Matadero Madrid – Photo by Uxio da Vila, courtesy of Madrid Design Festival 2023.

Design –  Madrid Design Festival 2023 takes over the Spanish capital with over 100 events and exhibitions across the city, exploring the creative spectrum from craftsmanship to graphic design and contemporary architecture. Archipanic’s founder and editor in chief Enrico Zilli has selected six must-visit exhibitions and installations on show.

• RELATED STORIES: Discover more architecture and design from Spain on Archipanic.

Mother Nature exhibition.

At the Fernán Gomez cultural centre the Mother Nature collective exhibition speaks about the Earth and design as a tool for change to create a more sustainable, inhabitable world. “Mother Nature is a love story that our designers have interpreted through the four elements: earth, fire, air, and water.” Explains curator Teresa Herrero. On-show works by y Lucas Muñoz, Ícaro Maiterena, Ana Illueca, Amarist, Omayra Maymó, Mut Design, Barbara Long, and Ovidi Benet, among others. [Until April 9, and closed on Monday – Map].

Sevilla Sombra Iluminada exhibition.

Seville is the guest city of the Madrid Design Festival 2023. A unique exhibition at the Fernán Gomez Cultural Centre offers a journey through Sevillian design, from the city’s most traditional languages to avant-garde design. Curator Macarena Navarro-Reverter selected over 100 works of local professionals that reflect this fusion between the past and the present by blending the city’s unique artisan heritage and premium contemporary design techniques. [Until April 9, and closed on Monday – Map].

Sevilla Sombra Iluminada exhibition.

Promoted by the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC), the Slow Furniture for Fast Change exhibition brings together the work of 17 Spanish students from nine design schools. The young designers were tasked to create innovative pieces around the concept of slow design. “Red oak, maple, cherry, and tulipwood are used very little in Spain, even if they’re 50 percent of all our trees. We must think of a much broader and clever use of it.” AHEC told Archipanic. [Fernán Gomez cultural centre – Until April 9, and closed on Monday – Map].

Slow Furniture for Fast Change exhibition.

At Matadero, Madrid’s former slaughterhouse now turned into a vibrant cultural venue, the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) invited three designers to work with wood to celebrate the power of togetherness and conviviality. Inma Bermúdez/Moritz Krefter, Jorge Penedés, and Álvaro Catalán de Ocón created three playful pieces dialoguing with the surrounding industrial architecture. Each of the three furniture pieces was designed to encourage interaction with wood – one acting as a bench, the other a climbing frame, and the third a hanging light installation. [Map].

Studio Inma Bermúdez bench @ Matadero Madrid – Photo by Uxio da Vila.

At the Fiesta Design group exhibition at the ILE – Institutción Libre de Esperanza [Map], Amazon teamed up with Martín Azúa to create a ‘nutty’ installation that seeks to celebrate and encourage a conversation on design. Visitors walk into a multisensorial space where they can nibble, smell and enjoy monkey nuts. ILE also hosts an exhibition by Bombay Sapphire gin and product design and installations by some of Madrid’s emerging studios, including Carmen Baselga y Hectore Serrano, Ricardo Morcilli–LuxStudio y Plutarco Design, and Naranja Azul.

Martín Azúa exhibition @ ILE Fiesta Design event.

At the Herzog & de Meuron-designed Caixa Forum Madrid, the PRINT3D – Reprinting reality exhibition explores the impact of 3D printing on our society. More than 200 pieces printed with this collaborative technology make up the display, from furniture to fashion, customized pharmacology, surgery, tech crafts, and even musical instrument production. The exhibition unveils a proactive approach to technology while updating the state of the art of 3D-printing innovation. [Until May 21, Map].

PRINT3D exhibition – Photo by Caixa Forum Madrid.