Speakers joining the 2025 programme include Manijeh Verghese (CEO of Open City), Lucas Muñoz Muñoz (award-winning Spanish designer), and Adam Markowitz (Australian architect, designer and maker)
Design Mumbai, India’s landmark contemporary design event for architecture and interiors professionals, has announced the key themes and headline speakers for its 2025 talks programme, Design Mumbai Exchange. The announcement was made at an industry preview event at Istituto Marangoni’s Mumbai campus, where the show’s co-founders, Ian Rudge and Piyush Suri, addressed an audience of industry representatives.
Running across three days (27 – 29 November 2025, VIP preview on 26 November), the programme, curated by Caro Communications, brings together a powerful and international lineup of architects, designers and thought leaders, alongside India’s most influential industry voices, to discuss urgent questions of creativity, urbanism, sustainability, and how design impacts global culture.
From re-imagining workplaces and coastlines to exploring modern conceptions of hospitality, Design Mumbai Exchange reflects the breadth and dynamism of the international design community from Jio World Garden in the heart of Mumbai, India’s cultural and creative capital.
Design Mumbai Exchange is named for the importance the design show places on the sharing of ideas, philosophies, and ways of working across the international design community. The programme prioritises cross-cultural dialogue, interrogating what it means to design in the context of today’s global and regional challenges.
Linus Lopez and Felipe Sánchez Luna discuss lighting, the audience poses questions, and Dutch designer Richard Hutten speaking at the 2024 Design Mumbai Exchange
Highlights from Design Mumbai Exchange include:
- A panel discussion on the intersection of manufacturing, craft, and culture, featuring Australian designer Adam Markowitz, Deepak Srinath of Phantom Hands, Roderick Wiles from the American Hardwood Export Council, and Luke Hayward of Syndey and Osakabased Atelier Luke, attending Design Mumbai amongst a broader delegation from the Australian Institute of Architects.
- A series of panels on workplace design curated by Harsha Kotak, founder of Women in Office Design and the Sustainable Design Collective. Kotak’s sessions will cover climateresponsive workplaces and transparency in sustainable workplace design and feature Pinakin Patel, Roshni Karekar of SJK Architects, Joanna Knight, and Johan Lindau of Blå Station. An additional session on how workspaces designed for freelancers, makers, and start-ups are thriving as the world adopts a co-working culture will include Ankit Kamboj of Broadway Malyan, and Malay Doshi of Studio Saransh, alongside other luminaries.
- A keynote address with Vinu Daniel, the Principal Architect of Wallmakers, which specialises in site-specific buildings that respond to unusual conditions, such as the subterranean Chuzhi House built with earth and debris, and the Toy Storey residence, which uses discarded toys for walls. The session will be moderated by Cameron Bruhn, CEO of the Australian Institute of Architects.
- Panel on the powerful emerging trend of new, reimagined minimalism with Ekta Parekh of reD Architects and Kumpal Vaid of Purple Backyard; as well as a showcase and a discussion dedicated to new, sustainable and intelligent materials in association with London-based designer, consultant and lecturer Chris Lefteri.
- Various discussions on hospitality, including a panel talk featuring Lucas Muñoz Muñoz, the award-winning Spanish designer and creator of Design Mumbai’s café in collaboration with THE Park Hotels, on cutting through an experience-saturated world. Muñoz will be joined by leading voices in hospitality, including Priya Paul, Chairperson of Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels and Sunita Kohli of K2India.
- A discussion on reimagining resilient coastlines in cities that are vulnerable to rising sea levels, intense storms and river floods with Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu of London-based practice Tonkin Liu, Mumbai-based Nandini Sampat of Somaya Sampat, and Dhakabased Saiqa Iqbal, director of Studio Morphogenesis Ltd. The panel will be moderated by Dezeen’s editor, Tom Ravenscroft.
- A panel from Open City, the charity committed to making cities more open, equitable, and accessible, led by its CEO, Manijeh Verghese, on quality of life and citizen engagement in the built environment. Verghese will be joined by Ananya Singhal of Studio Saar, Soumitro Ghosh of Mathew & Ghosh, Jennifer Nichols of Australian Institute of Architecture, and Goa-based architect and activist Tallulah d’Silva.
