How to Do Chicago Design Week

A smart, day-by-day guide to navigating NeoCon, Fulton Market, and everything in between
May 19, 2026
4 min read
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Tips for Visitors During Chicago Design Week

  • Start your week at The MART with keynote speeches, design exhibitions, and discussions on innovation, entrepreneurship, and materials technology.
  • Head over to Fulton Market Design Days for its focus on community, experimentation, and emerging designers working at the forefront of materials and process.
  • Throughout the week, explore off-schedule moments like neighborhood pop-ups, hidden showrooms, and spontaneous conversations that capture Chicago’s vibrant design culture.
  • Approach the event with curiosity and intentionality, choosing key moments that resonate with your interests to maximize inspiration and connection.
Courtesy of Chris Force
Paved States x Haworth DesignLab takes over the lobby of The Mart with an edited take on what living looks like now.

Paved States x Haworth DesignLab takes over the lobby of The MART with an edited take on what living looks like now.

Chicago Design Week can feel like a sprint—showrooms, talks, installations, after-parties, all unfolding at once across The MART, Fulton Market, and the city at large. But the best way to approach it isn’t to do everything—it’s to be intentional about what you do. Anchored by NeoCon and Fulton Market Design Days, the week brings together global brands, emerging designers, and a dense lineup of ideas shaping the future of the built environment. It’s a dynamic mix of experiences that reward curiosity as much as planning. Think of this as your Chicago Design Week edit: one key IIDA moment and one can’t-miss stop per day—enough structure to keep you grounded, with room to wander.

Monday—Start at THE MART

Chicago Design Week is brimming with great ideas, and Monday morning sets the tone. Let’s start at the NeoCon Presentation Studio, where entrepreneur Jessica O. Matthews—who invented an energy-generating soccer ball at 19 and went on to build a global infrastructure company—delivers a keynote that reframes innovation as something deeply personal—less about resources and clear-cut methods, more about urgency, lived experience, and conviction.

Courtesy of The Mart
An outside view of The Mart, displaying NeoCon banners.

An outside view of The MART, displaying NeoCon banners.

Stick around for IIDA’s Collective Design LIVE, where designers and futurists unpack what it takes to move a big idea from instinct to impact—exploring entrepreneurship, emerging technologies, and how to build for a rapidly shifting landscape shaped by AI, materials innovation, and cultural change, moderated by Mark Bryan, IIDA’s chief research and strategy officer.

From there, head downstairs to Paved States x Haworth DesignLab, taking over the lobby of The Mart with an edited take on what living looks like now. Jointly curated by Patricia Urquiola and Sixtysix magazine’s Chris Force, the exhibition brings together a cross-section of emerging designers working outside traditional industry lanes, responding to shifting rituals, materials, and ways of life. Anchored by a concept store and gallery, the installation unfolds through objects, books, and experimental activations—posing questions that feel especially resonant right now.

Courtesy of IIDA
A street view of Fulton Market Design Days.

A street view of Fulton Market Design Days.

Tuesday—Beyond the Showroom: Fulton Market

If Monday sparks the ideas, Tuesday lets you move through them—out in the energy of Fulton Market Design Days. Find friends and fellow design lovers at IIDA’s interactive pop-up just east of the MillerKnoll showroom, offering a moment to pause amid the showroom crawl.

Expect community and connection: conversations with fellow design lovers, a chance to regroup, and a refreshingly human scale to an otherwise high-velocity few days—all reflecting IIDA’s theme, Beyond, and a spirit that pushes past the expected. Then step into something more experimental with Less Than a Truckload, an open-call exhibition presented in collaboration with Azure Magazine, spotlighting emerging designers working at the edge of material and process. Think small-scale works, big ideas, and a chance to see what’s next before it hits the mainstream. It’s a reminder that design culture here isn’t just polished—it’s constantly in motion.

Courtesy of HDR
An image from Art on The MART, featuring Love Language from HDR.

An image from Art on The MART, featuring Love Language from HDR.

Wednesday—Less Checklist, More Instinct

By midweek, take it outside. Head to the Chicago Riverwalk for Art on The MART—after dark, the façade of The Mart becomes a nightly canvas. This June, the annual Pride projection returns alongside a new work by HDR, created in dialogue with the building’s Art Deco architecture—an evolving study in light, design, and the built environment. It’s one of the easiest ways to experience Chicago Design Week without a schedule; just show up, look up, and stay awhile—maybe with a drink in hand.

Another idea: Take IIDA EVP and CEO Cheryl Durst’s advice and wander. Remember, Chicago Design Week rewards curiosity: Follow what catches your eye—whether that’s a tucked-away showroom, a pop-up installation, a neighborhood where design spills into the street, or a conversation that pulls you in. If you’re planning ahead, browse the Chicago Design Week schedule—there’s as much happening off the main stages as on them, and often, that’s where the most memorable moments are.

About the Author

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Vasia Rigou for the International Interior Design Association (IIDA)

Writer and Copy Editor

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