For two weeks in October, Cape Town turns into a meeting point for designers from across the continent. Pan Afrikan Design Week makes its debut in the city from 21 to 24 October 2026, built around one question: "How do we design to thrive?"

Convened by the Pan Afrikan Design Institute, with Open Design Afrika as local host, the main conference runs for three days at Workshop17 in the V&A Waterfront, with a livestream of the sessions. The line-up counts 21 speakers, among them Zimbabwean design scholar Saki Mafundikwa, author of Afrikan Alphabets, Afrikan futurist Dr Njeri Mwagiru and Learn Biomimicry founder Jess Berliner.

The programme leans towards design as social infrastructure. One case study looks at Book Dash, a South African non-profit that makes children's books in a single day with volunteers and has given away more than four million free copies. Three afternoon workshops imagine what a thriving Africa could look like, and a community tour on 24 October visits Cape Town projects linked to the Waste to Wonder campaign.

The week overlaps with Design Week South Africa, a festival founded in 2024 by Margot Molyneux and themed "The Shape of Us" this year. After a Johannesburg leg from 8 to 11 October, it moves to Cape Town from 22 to 25 October, across the inner city, District Six, Woodstock, Salt River and Green Point.

Highlights there include SAOTA's exhibition marking 40 years of architectural practice, Cameron Platter's Interior Design at A4 Arts Foundation, and UNBUILT, presented with Mission for Inner City Cape Town. Open Studios Cape Town had already opened architecture and design studios to the public on the evenings of 14 and 15 October.