Explore the
2026 Craft + Design Canberra Festival Program
2026 Craft + Design Canberra Open Studios + Organisations Open Day Program
7 + 8 November 2026 | Various Locations
Step inside the studios of Canberra’s makers and discover the creative practices of local craftspeople, designers, artists and arts organisations. Proudly supported by home.by.holly.
2026 Craft + Design Canberra Undercurrent Design Market
13 - 15 November 2026 | Ainslie Arts Centre
The Undercurrent Design Market brings together over 50 accomplished makers from across Australia, showcasing contemporary work in jewellery, glass, ceramics, textiles and diverse creative mediums.
Bespoke Utopia
23 October – 15 November 2026 | M16 Artspace
Bespoke Utopia presents Canberra artists whose practices embrace the principles of slow design that is grounded in care, material knowledge and long-term thinking. Linking global conversations around sustainable design with Canberra’s rich craft history, the exhibition invites audiences to consider how design shapes everyday life and how thoughtful creative practices can challenge fast, disposable production models.
Celebrating Raw and Refined
12 November 2026 | Canberra Airport
Join acclaimed contemporary jeweller Phoebe Porter and craft writer and curator Kevin Murray for an in conversation event at Canberra Airport, surrounded by Phoebe's new exhibition Raw and Refined.
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 here in Canberra at the Royal Australian Mint. To mark the year, the Mint presents an in-conversation event with coin designers Neve Foxcroft and Lydia Ashe.
National Robert Foster Metal Prize
5 November – 12 December 2026 | Craft + Design Canberra
The National Robert Foster Metal Prize exhibition celebrates 15 finalists from across Australia who are questioning, reinterpreting and evolving the possibilities of metal as a contemporary practice.
National Robert Foster Metal Prize TALK
7 November 2026 | Craft + Design Canberra
Explore the 2026 Robert Foster Metal Prize with Craft + Design Canberra’s Exhibition Coordinator Stacy Jewell for an exhibition talk reflecting on the ideas, materials and making practices behind this year’s finalists.
NEST | Design for a Displaced Future
5 November – 6 December 2026 | Civic Square
NEST | Design for the Displaced Future is a major public art commission for the 2026 Craft + Design Canberra Festival, responding to the theme of Dissent. Located in Civic Square, the temporary public art installation brings together sculptural works exploring the universal instinct to nest and belong in a changing world.
NEST | Design for a Displaced Future TALK
12 November 2026 | Civic Square
Explore NEST | Design for the Displaced Future, featuring site-responsive installations that reflect on gathering, belonging and place.
Raw and Refined
5 – 22 November 2026 | Canberra Airport
Raw and Refined is an exhibition of new work by established contemporary jeweller Phoebe Porter exploring the dualities of raw and worked, natural and cultural, and material and meaning. The project explores refinement both as an artistic act, distilling ideas and forms to their essence, and as a material process in which raw elements are transformed to become workable.
Robert Foster 10 Year Memorial Exhibition
7 – 15 November 2026 | Grainger Gallery
In celebration of a maker whose vision continues to resonate as an enduring act of creative dissent, Robert Foster 10 Year Memorial Exhibition brings together 10 of Robert's most significant original works alongside new collaborative pieces by 10 artists whose practices were deeply shaped by his influence.