Six design museums around Europe

Design Museum, London
The Design Museum in London - an institution with a strong educational vocation - was founded in 1989 by Sir Terence Conran and since 2016 has been located in a spectacular building in the Kensington area. The space was designed by John Pawson and OMA and has received several awards - including the European Museum of the Year 2018.
This summer there are many exhibitions to visit: Barbie®: The Exhibition, Enzo Mari, Changing Spaces: 60 Years of Design with Habitat, Future Observatory, Design Researchers in Residence: Solar display - in addition to the permanent Designer Maker User and the rich program schedule of events and workshops.
www.designmuseum.org





Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein
The Vitra Campus is a magical place for all design enthusiasts: in a green space between forests and meadows just outside Basel it hosts many buildings imagined by the most famous architects in the world, gardens and open air installations. Some of these spaces are used as a museum, hosting the historical archive, the research area and temporary exhibitions. The main nucleus of the Vitra Design Museum consists of a building designed by Frank Gehry, while smaller exhibitions take place in parallel in the Vitra Design Museum Gallery, a neighboring exhibition space, or in the Schaudepot.
This summer's main exhibition is titled Transform! Designing the Future of Energy, while at the Gallery an installation of the collection imagined together with designer Andres Reisinger entitled Science Fiction Design is on show. From Space Age to Metaverse.
www.design-museum.de





Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam
Nieuwe Instituut and Sonneveld House in Rotterdam together constitute the Netherland national museum for architecture, design and digital culture. An institution that dates back to 1933, the Nieuwe Instituut today carries out many parallel projects, including research and conservation programs, focusing above all on the main developments and changes in society, such as the housing crisis, the climate crisis and the emergency of artificial intelligence.
In addition to the historic functionalist villa of the Sonneveld family, six exhibitions can be visited at the museum this summer: IABR 2024: Nature of Hope; Dutch, More or Less: Contemporary Architecture, Design and Digital Culture; How Do We Remember?; Archives at Risk: Carlien Macnack; Forms of (ex-)Change; Portals.
www.nieuweinstituut.nl





MAK, Vienna
The MAK – Museum of Applied Arts is one of the most fascinating institutions in the Austrian capital. Here among the rooms there is a succession of Art Nouveau furnishings, oriental ceramics and speculative and very contemporary design investigations, giving shape to a fruitful combination of past and future, which can be experienced across the board through a very rich ecosystem of objects and ideas. In addition to the extensive permanent collection, this summer nine exhibitions enrich the program in a multimedia and carefully multidisciplinary way.
www.mak.at





Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung
It is a museum with, let's say, a monographic character: here you can discover projects, anecdotes and insights into the history of the Bauhaus, hosting the largest collection in the world of the most important school of architecture, design and art of the 20th century. Currently, the iconic Walter Gropius-designed building on Klingelhöferstraße is being reconstructed and expanded with a new building, but the temporary Bauhaus Archive Berlin-Charlottenburg is open to visitors.
www.museumsportal-berlin.de





Design Museum Danmark, Copenhagen
On this list, the oldest design museum is certainly the Danish one, founded in 1890 by the confederation of Danish Industries and the Ny Carlsberg Museumslegat. The museum's mission is to display objects designed to showcase Danish industrial products and to serve as a source of inspiration for people working in industry. It also aims to make contemporary consumers more critical and quality-oriented. On display this summer: Danish Modern, In Love & War, Irma - A Design Story, Proud, Akut #5 Care & Repair, The Future is Present.
www.designmuseum.dk