Seattle Design Festival 2023 @ Lake Union Park + More Locations

📅 Saturday, August 19th – Thursday, August 24th
🎟 Free – $25

Find the whole line-up and closing night party info at our round-up.

It doesn’t feel like summer to me until the Seattle Design Festival (SDF) activates Seattle. For the 2023 edition of the festival, SDF has invited local designers to create work around the theme of “curiosity.” Namely, curiosity about what Seattle could look like in the future. “How can design help our communities thrive?” they ask. “What if we see the city from different perspectives?” 

The fest is sprawling, made up of IRL parties and virtual talks. You can check out different designers’ answers to that curiosity question at SDF’s free two-day block party at Lake Union Park. This party is what most people think of when they hear “Seattle Design Festival,” and more than 60 installations make up this year’s fest. Among them: LMN Architects, Coughlin Porter Lundeen, and Berger Partnership have teamed up to create “Giggle Prism,” a mirrored, fractal sculpture that changes as you move around it. “Unfold” is a “pavillion installation” presented by Perkins&Will and GLY Construction that takes inspiration from sailboats around Lake Union with an undulating ceiling installation. And you can figure out how your lungs work with Yasir Al-Tameemi’s large-scale sculpture, “What is in my LUNGS?” Pop-ups will also be scattered throughout the park, from a Vera Project music stage to a screen printing station. 

After the two-day block party, SDF is hosting three days of mixers at Pratt Fine Arts Center (Monday, August 21st), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center (Tuesday, August 22nd), and Seattle Architecture Foundation (Wednesday, August 23rd). Each is from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. The mixers are free, but reservations are required. The festival also hosts a virtual mainstage on its YouTube channel, featuring video shorts and talks centered around curiosity.