Hella Jongerius: Whispering Things
Hella Jongerius: Whispering Things
14.03.2026 – 06.09.2026
Hella Jongerius is among the most influential designers of the past decades. Since the start of her career in the 1990s, she has created groundbreaking works in many different disciplines, including textiles, ceramics, furniture, lighting, and sculpture. Jongerius’ research-driven approach has been a defining influence for an entire generation of young contemporary designers. The exhibition is the first retrospective of Jongerius’ oeuvre and will explore all phases of her work, including her famed collaborations with Maharam, KLM, Camper and Vitra. It is based on Jongerius’ studio archive, acquired by the Vitra Design Museum in 2024. The centre stage, though, goes to the methods of JongeriusLab – layering ideas, drawing connections, emphasising materiality, exposing process, and researching deeply, with a dedication to craft, colour, and cosmic thinking. The exhibition is accompanied by a major publication, including a documentation of the Jongerius archive at the Vitra Design Museum.
The exhibition is supported by Global Sponsor Maharam, Sponsor Camper, and the IKEA Stiftung.
Image: Hella Jongerius in her studio, 2023 © Vitra Design Museum, photo: Roel van Tour
Geoffrey Bawa: Architecture for the Senses
Geoffrey Bawa: Architecture for the Senses
26.09.2026 – 28.02.2027
With a career spanning five decades and over 200 projects, Geoffrey Bawa (1919-2003) counts as one of the most influential 20th-century architects in Asia. His work blends the principles of Modernism with vernacular and traditional elements to form a distinctive architectural language that responds sensitively to context, to local materials cultural identities. Bawa’s remarkable oeuvre shaped the architecture of postcolonial Sri Lanka, and includes hotels, private residences, schools, universities, factories, office buildings, and the country’s parliament. Today, his approach is being rediscovered worldwide as a guiding inspiration for socially and ecologically sustainable building practice.
In 2026, the Vitra Design Museum and M+ Hong Kong in collaboration with the Geoffrey Bawa Trust, will present the first major retrospective on Bawa in two decades. The exhibition foregrounds recurring themes in his work from interdisciplinary collaboration and ecological, social and cultural engagement to the formal qualities that define his architecture. Through an unprecedented wealth of drawings, models, furniture, photographs, and films, it brings to life the captivating, sensory quality of Bawa’s enduring legacy.
An exhibition by the Vitra Design Museum and M+ in collaboration with the Geoffrey Bawa Trust
Image: Geoffrey Bawa, Kandalama Hotel, Dambulla, 1992 © Sebastian Posingis
