Prague’s Designblok 2025 celebrates courage in design with guest of honour Mary McCartney
The latest edition of Designblok, Central Europe’s biggest celebration of design and fashion, kicks off in Prague on Tuesday. Over the next six days, the festival will showcase the work of more than 200 carefully selected designers, studios, and brands. I spoke with Jana Zielinski, Head of Designblok, just before the festival started, to hear what’s new and what visitors shouldn’t miss this year.
We are standing here in Queen Anne's Summer Palace in the Royal Gardens of Prague Castle, which is one of the festival's venues. And if I'm not mistaken, you are returning here after a break of 20 years. Why have you decided to come back?
"Well, we stopped cooperating with Prague Castle when President Zeman was in office because there was no cultural programme at the castle. But when President Pavel was elected, we decided to renew this cooperation.
"We were very happy that Prague Castle was eager to work with us again. So now, we are here for the third year in a row. The first year, it was Míčovna, the ballroom, which is an amazing place as well. Last year, it was the riding school, another beautiful space. And this year, it’s the Summer Palace.
"This is the venue for our main exhibition, High Craft, which is our profile exhibition mapping the connection between traditional Czech craftsmanship and contemporary design."
The main festival venue is located at Prague's Výstaviště or Exhibition Grounds in Holešovice, where Designblok has also been held before. What makes that location so special? And what can visitors see there?
"Designblok, in terms of size, is the biggest festival in Central Europe, so we need a lot of space to host it. The exhibition grounds are, of course, very convenient— they were built for this purpose, so naturally, it is the best venue.
"We are very happy that the Křižík Pavilion has been renovated and that we can return there with Designblok. We also have a large outdoor exhibition area, and the New Spirála theatre, where we will host conferences and fashion shows.
"There will be a rich festival programme with exhibitors, from designers and schools, to companies. In addition, there is one pavilion called Designblok for Kids, which is dedicated to design created for children.
"That will be the heart of the whole Designblok and there will be a full programme with lectures, workshops, company presentations, and a large exhibition scale."
The main theme of the 27th Designblok is Courage. Why did you choose this topic?
"I think these times we live in require courage. I also wanted to highlight the importance of women in design and architecture because, until recently, these fields were still dominated by men. So I think it’s very important to hear the stories of contemporary Czech designers and female architects.
"We have devoted the main exhibition, Odvaha (Courage), to these women. We have selected 20 women and their stories, from Eva Jiřičná, a world-famous architect and designer, who turned 86 this year, to the youngest, who has just turned 30.
"We believe these stories are very important. They are truly unique and come from many different design fields — not only product design but also graphic, fashion, and art design. We are very happy that the Museum of Applied Arts, our third venue, is hosting this exhibition called Courage.
"It will continue until the end of October, not only during Designblok. The topic of courage is also about going beyond safe boundaries and finding new paths. This is something we wanted to express our support for, and I think it runs through the whole festival."
And speaking of women, we must mention this year's guest of honour — the English photographer Mary McCartney. Can you tell us a bit more about her?
"Yes, Mary is a very well-known English photographer. She’s not famous only because she’s the daughter of the Beatles’ Paul McCartney, but because she’s a great photographer focused on portrait work.
"She often portrays fascinating women. For the Prague exhibition, we have selected a collection of her female portraits. Visitors will see Kate Moss, Salma Hayek, and many others. And there is one man — and of course, you can guess who that will be. It’s Paul McCartney.
"That portrait is very special because you don’t see his face; instead, you see above his head a large bouquet of flowers that he’s bringing to his late wife, who was also a photographer.
"This exhibition will open in Gallerie Rudolfinum and will remain there long after Designblok ends, so people will have opportunity to see it even afterward."
And finally, is there anything else among the many highlights on the programme that you are particularly excited about?
"I’m very excited about the exhibition of Zdeněk Vacek, a Czech jewellery designer who has been active for 25 years and who started his career at Designblok 25 years ago. So this is a very special moment for us.
"Professor Jiří Pelcl is celebrating his 75th birthday with the exhibition Design is Religion to Me, which will take place at the Museum of Applied Art.
"I would also like to highlight one more woman — Patricia Urquiola, who is probably the most famous female designer in the world today. She’s coming to accept the lifetime achievement award in design, and her exhibition will be at the Prague Fairground.
"So I’m very happy that together with Konsepti, we managed to bring this outstanding designer to Prague."
Designblok begins on Tuesday with a Professionals’ Day dedicated to industry experts and opens to the public on Wednesday.
Main exhibition venues:
- Prague Castle – Royal Summer Palace, Mariánské hradby 1, Prague 1
- Výstaviště Praha – Křižík Pavilions and Nová Spirála, Areál Výstaviště 67, Prague 7
- Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, 17. listopadu 2, Prague 1
- Galerie Rudolfinum, Alšovo nábřeží 12, Prague 1
