NYCxDESIGN Festival May 2025

SoHo Broadway Partner: Join NYCxDESIGN for a week of innovation, creativity, and global design

The highly anticipated NYCxDESIGN Festival returns in 2025, bringing together thousands of global design leaders, innovators, and enthusiasts for a week-long celebration of creativity, community, and inspiration. Taking place May 15-21, New York City will be transformed into a vibrant hub of design, featuring a dynamic lineup of exciting events, talks, exhibits, and gatherings. This year’s unifying theme ‘Design is for Everyone’ exemplifies NYCxDESIGN’s commitment to inclusivity and the power of design to create a positive impact for all.

The NYCxDESIGN Festival is an annual, citywide celebration that highlights hundreds of events—from exhibits and trade shows to talks and tours—drawing design enthusiasts from around the globe. As the city’s most influential design event, the festival provides a dynamic platform for diverse voices in design.

With an exciting schedule of programming across all five boroughs, including over 20 events in SoHo, NYCxDESIGN will showcase and amplify the city’s creative energy. The full program will be easily accessible and navigable in the new dynamic NYCxDESIGN app available in the App Store and Google play. Key events, at a glance, include:

• May 10-19 – Lexus Design Pavilion at Hudson Yards’ Public Square and Gardens
• May 15 – NYCxDESIGN Festival Opening Night Party at The Refinery at Domino
• May 15-21 – NYCxDESIGN xSouvenir Exhibition partnered with Cool Hunting, sponsored by Kikkerland Design, and exhibit designed by Boym Partners
• May 15 – NYCxDESIGN Keynote presented by Coca-Cola
• May 16 – NYCxDESIGN Keynote presented by IBM
• May 20 – NYCxDESIGN Keynote on Wellness x Design with wellness pioneer Life Time
• May 17-19 – Shelter by Afternoon Light at the Starrett-Lehigh Building
• May 18-20 – International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) and WANTED at The Javits Convention Center
• May 19 – NYCxDESIGN Awards Ceremony presented by Interior Design at Penn One
• May 21 – Dumbo Festival Closing Party

Design Pavilion: May 10-19
For the first time in years, Design Pavilion, New York’s premier public design exhibition, will coincide with NYCxDESIGN, presenting an immersive, interactive experience in partnership with luxury automotive brand Lexus. “Lexus Ambiance” will offer visitors a glimpse into the future of design and interactivity, allowing them to create their own personalized environments using light as their medium and their presence in the space as their muse. Design Pavilion will be at Hudson Yards Public Square and Garden, May 10-19.

NYCxDESIGN is a not-for-profit organization committed to empowering and promoting the city’s diverse creative community. NYCxDESIGN started as a City-led initiative in 2013 and through grassroots efforts evolved into an influential entit, unifying New York’s creative capital under one umbrella and drawing significant exposure and opportunities to the City’s design disciplines, people, events, and related industries. NYCxDESIGN organizes exceptional year-round activations, including its annual international festival. Diversity, purpose, cultural placemaking, economic opportunity, and creativity are core to the not-for-profit’s values.