The '2026 Seoul Design Week' and the 'Seoul Design Award' officially opened with a ceremony held on the 14th at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in Seoul.

Attendees at the opening ceremony included Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, Ko Kwang-min, chairman of the Seoul Metropolitan Council's Urban Planning and Balance Committee, and Cha Kang-hee, CEO of the Seoul Design Foundation, along with other design figures from home and abroad.

■ Mayor Oh Se-hoon: "20 Years Since the Design Seoul Declaration... Youth and Businesses to the World Stage"

In his opening address, Mayor Oh emphasized that this year marks the meaningful 20th anniversary of the 'Design Seoul' declaration.

"Back in 2006, many people thought design was merely about decorating the exteriors of buildings or making products look better," Oh said. "But we paid attention to the potential of design and were convinced that design could elevate the dignity of the city and even transform citizens' lives."

He continued, "Over the past 20 years, Design Seoul has brought many changes across the city. Streets people want to walk and spaces people want to linger in have increased, and Seoul has now grown into a global design city that commands worldwide attention."

In particular, Oh said, "At Seoul Design Week, I viewed various works combining young designers' ideas with companies' experience and technology. The city of Seoul will continue to actively support our young designers and businesses so they can take on challenges freely and advance onto the world stage."

"Seoul will now build on the achievements of the past 20 years to open a new future for Design Seoul," Oh said. "We will complete 'Seoul, a Special City of Quality of Life,' where citizens' lives improve through design, and leap forward as a city that leads global design trends."

■ Chairman Ko Kwang-min and CEO Cha Kang-hee: "Design That Changes Daily Life... A Venue for Exchange"

Ko Kwang-min, chairman of the Seoul Metropolitan Council's Urban Planning and Balance Committee, said in his congratulatory remarks, "Design goes beyond making the cityscape beautiful; it has the power to make citizens' daily lives more convenient and abundant and to transform a city's potential into new value."

"For Seoul to emerge as a world-class city, we must improve not only its outward growth but also the quality of its spaces and the quality of life citizens actually feel," Ko said. "Seoul Design Week is a venue for exchange where designers, businesses, and citizens from home and abroad gather to share new trends and ideas and connect creativity and technology across different fields." He added, "The Seoul Design Award is also a meaningful occasion that discovers designs that creatively solve everyday problems while considering people, society, and the environment, and shares that value with the world."

Cha Kang-hee, CEO of the Seoul Design Foundation, reported in her progress briefing that this year's Seoul Design Week will run for 12 days from October 14 to 25.

■ Beyond DDP to All of Seoul... 150 Design Roads Linked Across 5 Districts

Seoul Design Week, which attracted about 630,000 visitors last year, has expanded this year beyond DDP to cover all of Seoul. Centered on five districts—Dongdaemun, Seongsu, Yeonhui, Seochon, and Apgujeong—150 design roads have been connected so citizens can encounter design spaces and creative sites throughout the city.

This year's event features an exhibition introducing the working processes of world-renowned designers from the United States, Japan, France, Italy, and elsewhere, as well as new design fields such as food design. The DDP Design Fair includes collaborative booths where lifestyle design brands, university student designers, and small and medium-sized enterprises participate together, offering plenty to see. A conference involving famous domestic and international designers, businesses, and schools will also be held over five days.

■ Seoul Design Award at Record Scale... 1,200 Projects from 91 Countries

The concurrent Seoul Design Award drew a record 1,200 projects from 91 countries worldwide this year. A wide range of projects—from designs considering environment and society to creative ideas presenting new possibilities—will compete.

This year, a special prize in the design category and an ESG Design Impact Award were newly established to spotlight outstanding design projects from diverse perspectives. The final grand prize was decided through an evaluation by the finals jury, an online vote by global citizens, and assessments by a citizen panel of about 300 participants on-site, based on the top 10 projects selected by 36 judges from 21 countries.

Meanwhile, the '2026 Seoul Design Week' will take place across Seoul until the 25th, and the Seoul Design Award will run as a global design platform introducing sustainable design projects from around the world and showcasing Seoul's design capabilities to the world.