17 years of ideas, people and projects. Invest in what comes next.

For 17 years, DesignTO has brought people together to design a better future.

As a registered charitable arts organization, we curate exhibitions, presentations, and educational programming that increase the public’s knowledge and appreciation of design and its role in creating a sustainable, just, and joyful world. Through our programming, we want to embolden people to participate in designing a future where people and the planet are thriving again.

That starts by making design accessible.

Every January, the DesignTO Festival transforms Toronto into a city-wide celebration of creativity, with more than 100 free exhibitions, installations, talks, tours, and other experiences. Throughout the rest of the year, DesignTO Talks, Tours, Youth, Members events, and other programming, create more opportunities to experience design, exchange ideas, and connect with Toronto’s creative community.

This October, we’re asking that community to help us ‘Expand What’s Possible’.

Our goal is to raise $15,000 to support the people, projects, and ideas moving design forward.

17 Years of Making Space for Design

Since 2011, DesignTO has grown from a grassroots festival into Canada’s largest celebration of design, forming Toronto’s design week.

In that time, we’ve welcomed more than 1.2 million Festival attendees and showcased more than 7,500 artists and designers. At the 2026 DesignTO Festival alone, more than 500 artists and designers presented their work to over 250,000 visitors, with free public programming happening in over 20 Toronto neighbourhoods.

But the numbers tell only part of the story.

DesignTO creates a platform where artists and designers can experiment, reach new audiences, form relationships, and develop their practices, while the public can increase their knowledge and appreciation of design.

For Toronto design studio ODAMI, participating in the DesignTO Festival became an important part of establishing their practice in a city where neither co-founder had many connections.

“Participating in DesignTO gave us not only a platform to showcase our work, but also an opportunity to connect with other creatives, design enthusiasts, and business owners,” says Arancha González Bernardo and Michael Fohring.

That early encouragement pushed ODAMI to continue experimenting with objects, furniture, and materials, a body of work that has since become an important part of the studio’s practice.

For designer and past exhibitor Laura Carwardine, Festival projects became part of a portfolio that helped open doors to further opportunities, including an artist residency at the Art Gallery of Ontario in 2025.

These are the possibilities that can begin when someone is given the space to share an idea.

Your support helps us keep creating that space.