Explore the
2026 Craft + Design Canberra Festival Program
Designing Currency
6 November 2026 | Royal Australian Mint
2026 marks the 60th anniversary of Decimal Currency, designed by Australian industrial designer Stuart Devlin and minted in Canberra at the Royal Australian Mint. To mark the anniversary, the Mint presents an in-conversation event with coin designer Adam Ball and brand designer Mike Jackson.
DESIGN DEVIATION
1 – 28 November 2026 | Designcraft
Design Deviation celebrates the intentional mistake, showcasing furniture by Designcraft employees who have deliberately broken the rules of 'best practice' to discover new aesthetics in unusual materials and unconventional assembly.
Canberra Open Homes | Batten House
13 November 2026 | Curtin
Discover Batten House, a new family home and studio in Curtin that responds beautifully to its parkland setting adjacent to the Yarralumla Creek open space network. Featuring a centralised courtyard with operable screens, reverse brick veneer construction and a rich textural palette of recycled hardwood, honed concrete and timber joinery.
Canberra Open Homes | Secret Garden House
15 November 2026 | Turner
Step inside Secret Garden House, where three pavilions form a ‘house as landscape’, shaped by the quiet authority of an enormous oak tree. An energy positive home that embraces ease of living across generations, with Canberra red bricks, spotted gum timber and colour used as a form of craft.
Canberra Open Homes | Canvas House
8 November 2026 | Deakin
Enter Canvas House, a restrained and beautifully considered home that draws from Scandinavian minimalism and French provincial architecture within Canberra's post war suburban fabric. Organised around a central outdoor living courtyard and achieving a 7.1 star energy rating, this fully electric home is a masterclass in passive solar design and sustainable living.
Canberra Open Homes | F.C.T Alterations
8 November 2026 | Ainslie
Come into this thoughtful addition to a heritage cottage that maximises passive comfort through clever sectional design, recycled Canberra Red bricks and high-level north facing glazing. A considered and layered composition that honours the old while confidently introducing the new.
Canberra Open Homes | Gugan Gulwan
11 November 2026 | Wanniassa
Step inside Gugan Gulwan, a purpose-built facility designed with and for First Nations people. Created through deep community consultation by COX architecture in collaboration with ck architecture, this uplifting space responds to Country and community, embedding First Nations culture into every detail, from its gathering spaces to its significant artwork integration.
Plant Sensibilia
7 November 2026 | Canberra Spinners and Weavers
Join Rebecca Mayo and Canberra Spinners and Weavers for a special collaborative event as part of Living City: People, Plants and Place, supports by artsACT and the Australian National University School of Art and Design. Experience the Plant Sensibilia Machine, a large-scale, hand-operated textile dyeing device that brings the creative process from the studio to the public realm.
Craft Australia Film Screenings
13 November 2026 | National Film and Sound Archive
Join the new Craft Australia for a screening of the classic documentaries on Australian craft by Peter Rushforth and Gillian Armstrong, followed by drinks with the new board.
International Pathways Workshop hosted by Craft Australia
13 November 2026 | Craft + Design Canberra
The International Pathways workshop offers craft practitioners a practical and comprehensive guide to showcasing their work on the world stage. Coordinated by Dr Kevin Murray, editor of Garland magazine, the session maps the full range of international opportunities available to makers, from festivals and craft fairs to funding, prizes and platforms.
Exhibition Opening | POWER: The Future is here
6 November 2026 | Canberra Contemporary
Join Canberra Contemporary for the opening of POWER - The Future is Here. An exhibition resulting from a collaboration between artist Dennis Golding and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students from Alexandria Park Community School, who have designed capes informed by their lived experiences and cultural identity.
Exhibition Opening: Quietly Seething: Fate, Fury and Transmutation
6 November 2026 | Canberra Contemporary
Join Canberra Contemporary for the opening of Quietly Seething: Fate, Fury and Transmutation, a major new solo exhibition by feminist artist and craftivist Dr Tal Fitzpatrick. This exhibition makes space for a conversation about the power and pain of feminine rage using the gentle and familiar textures of cloth.
Very Cross Stitch
11 November 2026 | Canberra Contemporary
Join feminist artist and craftivist Dr Tal Fitzpatrick for a ‘Very Cross Stitching’ workshop as part of her solo exhibition Quietly Seething: Fate, Fury and Transmutation at Canberra Contemporary. Participants will be invited to stitch directly into Tal’s exhibition artwork, while sharing and connecting over what makes them cross.
Canberra Open Homes | CIT Woden
10 + 12 November 2026 | Northbourne Avenue
Step inside one of Canberra's most ambitious buildings, the CIT Woden Campus, home to the largest mass timber building by volume in Australia. Discover a profound Connection to Country narrative woven into every detail, from coloured terracotta bands expressing Valley, Bush, Mountain and Sky Country, to an oculus skylight through which Mullian tracks the sun.
Northbourne Avenue Flats | A Walking Tour with the FixIt Chicks
10 + 12 November 2026 | Northbourne Avenue
Join The Fix It Chicks, architect Jenny Edwards and broadcaster Lish Fejer, for an evening walking tour exploring the retrofit of Canberra’s mid-century public housing on Northbourne Avenue, including access inside one of the retrofitted maisonettes.
Canberra Kinetic Sculpture Race
14 November 2026 | National Carillon
The Canberra Kinetic Sculpture Race is a one-day spectacle of human-powered, amphibious art machines. Teams create imaginative sculptures that travel across land, sand, and water in a whimsical celebration of creativity and dissent. Audiences can explore, watch, and cheer on these inventive, handmade moving artworks.
RELICS: A New World Rises
19 September 2026 – 31 January 2027 | Canberra Museum and Gallery
RELICS: A New World Rises transforms discarded and obsolete objects into intricate miniature civilisations built from LEGO® bricks. Through creativity, design and storytelling, creators Jackson Harvey and Alex Towler challenge assumptions about waste and value, giving forgotten materials new purpose and inviting audiences to reconsider consumption and obsolescence.
Quietly Seething Performances
7 November 2026 – 30 January 2027 | Canberra Contemporary
Quietly Seething is an immersive handcrafted installation inviting visitors to sit within a dazzling embroidered space while listening to the anonymous and deeply personal confessions of 60 female identifying and AFAB (assigned female at birth) people sharing their experiences of feminine rage.
Quietly Seething: Fate, Fury and Transmutation
7 November 2026 – 30 January 2027 | Canberra Contemporary
Quietly Seething is an immersive handcrafted installation inviting visitors to sit within a dazzling embroidered space while listening to the anonymous and deeply personal confessions of 60 female identifying and AFAB (assigned female at birth) people sharing their experiences of feminine rage.
Nightwalks with Teenagers
12, 13 + 14 November 2026 | City
Nightwalks with Teenagers is created with local youth, who plan, design and lead public walks through Canberra at night, exploring the neighbourhood with members of the community. It is focused on the power of walking together, bringing together teens and adults to have a unique social experience in shared spaces.