The Open
Brief
We are looking for designers with a problem worth solving. Not a finished product. A clear idea about something that could work better, and a considered answer to it.
NZ Design Week runs from Monday 1 to Tuesday 9 March 2027 under the theme Restore + Reimagine, anchored at The Design Depot, Shed 10 on Queen's Wharf. The Open Brief is where the theme stops being a conversation and becomes something you can walk around. It shows across the closing days of the festival, alongside the Design Conference.
The brief
One line. Find something that could be restored or reimagined better than it currently is, and show us what you would do about it.
The problem is yours to nominate. A city block of empty shopfronts nobody has found a use for. An enrolment process that strips people of their dignity at the moment they can least afford it. An object that has outlived its first purpose and deserves a second. A material, a service, a system, a room, a habit. If you can see it clearly and you believe design can answer it, it qualifies.
Four strands, the same four the Design Conference runs on:
→ Branding, storytelling, digital and identity
→ Built environment, infrastructure and materials
→ Industrial design, making and supply chains
→ The business of design
What we are asking for
A resolved concept, not a finished product. Drawings, a model, an object, a screen. Enough that somebody standing in front of it understands the problem and believes in the answer.
Work already underway is welcome. If something is sitting in your studio that answers this brief, bring it. It cannot have been publicly exhibited or commercially released.
What makes a submission work
Two questions decide most of it, and they are the first two on the form.
→ Describe the problem, and who it affects. Be specific. Waste is a category, not a problem.
→ Describe what you would make in response, and what is different if it exists.
What you get
Accepted submissions earn a space at Shed 10 from 7 to 9 March 2027, across the closing weekend and both days of the Design Conference. NZDW covers the production of your display and markets it to the festival audience. The work itself is yours to develop.
The jury walks the floor and judges the work in person. A winner and runners-up take home an NZ Design Awards trophy, which is a commission rather than a certificate.
If you need help making it
A budget is available for prototyping, assessed case by case and reimbursed against invoices and receipts. Tell us the amount and what it pays for inside your submission. Requests are read only after the jury has scored every concept on its merits, so asking for nothing does not advantage you and asking for something does not count against you.
Dates
Submissions close 11 October 2026. Accepted work is confirmed through early November and announced in the week of 16 November. Final display specifications are due 5 February 2027. Work is installed at Shed 10 on Friday 6 March, and shows from 7 to 9 March 2027.
Open to everyone working in design across the motu. Students, graduates, sole practitioners, studios of eighty. There is no entry fee.
