Lisbon may not be the largest city in Europe, but during Lisbon Design Week, it proved that size is not what defines impact. What truly counts is the ability to connect, to create and to listen. The design routes opened up to the general public, offering an experience that went beyond aesthetic appreciation—becoming instead an invitation to explore the city’s vibrant creative soul.

A Week That Values Time and People

The theme Time is our value echoed powerfully throughout Lisbon Design Week. It reflected not only the time devoted to craftsmanship, but also the time required to build authentic communities, establish meaningful roots and nurture genuine connections. This wasn't a week about commercial gain—it was about sharing, reflecting, and creating a space for people to grow together.

This edition was shaped by a strong sense of independence, community and purpose, powered by volunteers and guided by the idea that design can also be a form of giving back.

Among those who embodied this spirit was one of the main supporters of Lisbon Design Week: Luis De Oliveira, co-founder of De La Espada. Throughout the week, he shared his passion for design, craft and integrity—values that mirror the philosophy behind his company. Just as he created De La Espada with his partner Fatima De La Espada, a deep respect for tradition and creation was reflected in a personal commitment to building something lasting, thoughtful and human at the festival.

Independence & The Art of Choosing

Lisbon Design Week is a completely independent initiative. And in the current saturated panorama of corporate-sponsored design events, this independence is not only an advantage, but it is essential. It allows the organizers to remain faithful to their values, to carefully choose their collaborators and avoid being reduced to "puppets" of commercial mechanisms that dilute the essence of what design should represent.

"This project is above all a community building project. I feel that in order to strengthen the sector, many voices have to be heard. The talents are here but we need to give them more means to express themselves, be successful and recognized internationally."

Michèle Fajtmann

Whether it is the designers, artists, locations or programming, choosing carefully is not optional, but is the basis that carries forward the entire process. It is not about drawing up a list of appointments just to fill the design days: it's a meticulous work of careful and studied choice among many proposals, where the main objective is to find a mirror of the values ​​that they then want to convey to visitors. Every choice, no matter how small, is important for the final result, or rather what people can perceive. Here a fundamental contribution was made by Armando Ribeiro, founding partner and CEO of O Apartmento, and his team. Thanks to their knowledge of the design landscape in Lisbon, they were able to provide a very curated selection of galleries, hotels and showrooms that were selected for the  stories they are able to tell.

Independence is a value that many events have lost in order to survive, to the point of becoming dependent on economic and political mechanisms that not always embrace the true essence ​​of design. But that value remains, which gives the freedom to choose with awareness: not to be dependent on others and not to be destroyed by their rules, not to be forced to give up one's own way of doing things and lose sight of the true goal of the festival.