Ever wanted to see inside Freo’s studios, heritage buildings, and shopfronts? This is the week for it. Fremantle Design Week runs from 16 to 25 October with more than 60 exhibitions, conversations, tours, workshops and open studios across Fremantle / Walyalup.
Presented by DesignFreo, the festival began in 2022 as Western Australia’s first Design Week. This third edition’s theme, “Imagine“, asks how design can help build a healthier, more equitable and more optimistic future. Local architects, interior designers, artists and makers share the program with leading designers from around Australia.
DesignFreo Creative Director Pippa Hurst says the aim is to take design conversations beyond the profession. “It’s about finding inspiration for everyday life, while also exploring bigger questions about how design can help shape a healthy, equitable and optimistic future,” she said. She points to a growing shift towards regenerative design and a closer look at the life cycle of everyday objects.
Fremantle Design Week: Two big exhibitions
Imagine: Material Stories at the PS Art Space, the festival hub, shows how bio-based, circular and waste materials become fashion and furniture. It features emerging designers and Western Australian industries and runs all week.
Reverie at the historic Naval Store brings together work by more than 80 local and national designers, makers and artists. Curator Jessica Rayment is a rising name in interior design. She built the show around colour, pattern, and texture as a backdrop for original furniture, objects, and art. It also runs all week.
Talks, walks, and hands-on sessions
The Conversation Series returns to the PS Art Space on 17, 18, 24 and 25 October. Twelve discussions run across four streams (Home, Life, Planet and Visionaries), covering topics from housing and funerals to biodiversity and natural farming.
On 23 October, the Designing Cities Symposium looks at public space, and a PechaKucha-style night puts 10 guests on stage for fast-paced stories and opinions on “Imagine”. Both take place at the PS Art Space.
Beyond the headline events, the program gets more playful and practical:
- Cakemantle is an exhibition of edible cityscapes at UDLA on 18 October.
- From Lawn to Living is a native verge walking tour with Valley Verges, starting at Sullivan Hall on 17 October. It shows how residents are turning suburban verges into native ecosystems.
- Dr Brad Pettitt’s “Lessons Learnt” walking tour follows on 23 October, looking at the Fremantle alternative.
- Treechitecture – Form and Function with Sita Bresnihan explores architecture through trees at Ode to Sirens on 20 October.
- The Mending Machine by Care To Rewear on 18 October features a bicycle-powered sewing machine.
There are also ceramics wheel workshops with Hound Ceramics (17, 21 and 24 October), sketching sessions hosted by UDLA, zine making at PIAZZA Fremantle, colour design workshops at WFAC, and open studios at King William Street Studios on 24 October.
Other venues include Ode to Sirens, Luna on SX, which hosts the Makers’ Film Festival 2026 on 21 October, and Victoria Quay, where Fremantle Ports leads design and architecture walks on 16, 17, 20 and 21 October.
Plan your visit
Because most events are within walking distance of one another, you can walk between exhibitions, talks and workshops, stopping at independent cafes, bars and shops along the way. Check the full program on the Fremantle Design Week festival website for dates, venues and any updates, including the to-be-confirmed details of the Bukeshla workshop.
