Cairo Design Week Returns With 3rd Edition This November

From November 20th to 29th, 2025, Cairo will once again swap traffic horns for conversations about material textures, architectural lines, and the role of design in everyday life. Visitors can plot a full-day trail across the map or simply drop into whatever sparks their curiosity along the way.

Cairo Design Week (CDW) is where Egypt’s creative pulse goes public. Once a year, the city’s streets, villas, courtyards, and historic landmarks are taken over by design. It’s about sparking conversations, inspiring the next generation, and proving that design can shape how we live, think, and connect.

Since launching in 2022, CDW has evolved from a daring neighbourhood experiment in Heliopolis to one of the region’s most talked-about cultural events — and now, a proud member of the World Design Weeks network. It has put Egypt’s design scene on the international map, created opportunities for emerging talents to stand alongside established names, and drawn thousands of visitors who might never have stepped inside a gallery before. Along the way, it has helped shift perceptions of design from a niche profession to a civic and cultural force.

The first edition transformed Heliopolis into an open-air design district. The second built on that momentum, stretching across Downtown Cairo’s Belle Époque landmarks and the historic Citadel, while sending ripples through Maadi and Zamalek. Both years proved what the organisers suspected from the start: Cairo Design Week isn’t just for designers – it’s for everyone. Families strolled through heritage villas, students sketched installations on café napkins, and curious passersby found themselves in deep discussions about the curve of a chair leg or the way a colour changes in natural light. As Founder Hisham Mahdy puts it, “We want people to have conversations about what it means to be a designer. Design is in everything around us, whether it’s a building or a bag – we design to spread happiness.”

Whether you’re an established studio, an emerging creative, a curious visitor, or a brand looking to align with Egypt’s biggest design moment, participation is open via the “Be Part” section on the official Cairo Design Week website. Many events are open to the public; others require pre-registration – but all are designed to spark interaction, conversation, and that wonderful feeling of seeing (and being seen) through design.

Cairo Design Week 2025 is an ongoing dialogue between a city and its creators. Come for the installations. Stay for the conversations. Leave seeing the city – and yourself – a little differently.