Manila, Philippines — The Design Center of the Philippines, under the DTI, announced Design Week Philippines’ return. The national design and creativity festival runs from 11–18 October 2025. It features 136 partner organizations, creative hubs, and MSMEs across 29 cities and municipalities in 15 regions.

With the theme “Towards Ginhawa,” this year’s edition positions design as a strategic lever for transformation, moving beyond aesthetics and utility to shape systems that enable multidimensional well- being, inclusive growth, and shared prosperity. The festival opened on 11 October at the Power Mac Center Spotlight Blackbox Theater, Ayala Malls Circuit, Makati City, with a full day of talks and folio reviews featuring designers, entrepreneurs, and changemakers.

The week-long design festival kicked off with “The State of Philippine Design.” The event set the tone by exploring design’s role in driving the transformation economy. It emphasized creating value not just through products and services but through experiences, innovation, and resilient ecosystems.

DTI Secretary Cristina Roque encouraged designers to design with intention and compassion for the “ginhawa” of communities.

“When your work is made with empathy and purpose, it makes a lasting impact,” said Roque.

Design as a force for Ginhawa

At the heart of this year’s theme is ginhawa, a uniquely Filipino compass for designing the good life. It encompasses physical ease, emotional relief, social harmony, and spiritual balance, and is rooted in hawa (“to breathe”), evoking vitality, connection, and the shared conditions that sustain both self and society. These dimensions resonate with B. Joseph Pine II’s Human Flourishing framework, which defines transformation through health and well-being, purpose and meaning, wealth and prosperity, and wisdom and understanding. Ginhawa reflects these aspirations in culturally rooted ways unique to the Filipino experience. It goes beyond comfort to include dignity, meaning, relationships, and inclusive prosperity. In this light, design acts as a force for humanity-centered innovation. It shapes lives, communities, and futures that grow and flourish together.

The Filipino Dream Study (Boston Consulting Group, 2024) affirms this collective mindset. It found that 76% of Filipinos dream beyond themselves, including family and community. This cultural strength aligns with global views shared at the 2025 International Design Conference (IDC). There, Pine emphasized value creation through life-transforming change—a vision rooted in the ethos of ginhawa.

“Design is a force that shapes how we live, connect, and thrive,” said Rhea Matute, Executive Director of the DTI-Design Center. “In a world marked by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity, and fragmentation, ginhawa offers a distinctly Filipino compass for designing the good life, where innovation is measured not just by output, but by impact.”

A Nationwide Festival of Design and Innovation

Design Week Philippines remains the only design festival national in scope. The program includes talks, workshops, exhibitions, tours, and creative experiences that reflect the diversity and dynamism of Filipino design, from heritage crafts and circular systems to digital platforms and urban futures.

The festival culminates on 18 October 2025 at Ayala Triangle Gardens, Makati City. It transforms the landmark into a vibrant hub of creativity and design. The closing day features film screenings, performances, workshops, and the all-day Design Sari-Sari. Local makers showcase everyday design, bringing ginhawa to the public through craft, culture, and community experiences.

For program updates, visit https://www.designcenter.gov.ph/design-week-philippines.

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