About Time: The 6th Edition of TALENTS Shines a Light on Emerging Design Power in Design Shanghai

From 19 to 22 March 2026, the 13th edition of Design Shanghai triumphantly returns to its historic home – the Shanghai Exhibition Centre – after a five-year hiatus. As a flagship platform for emerging design talent curated by Design Shanghai, TALENTS makes its highly anticipated 6th debut, marking six years since its inception in 2020. Since its launch, TALENTS has leveraged Design Shanghai’s profound industry heritage and premium resources, with a core mission to unearth emerging design forces, connect the design industry ecosystem, and build a professional bridge between the new generation of designers and the industrial market, continuously infusing youthful vitality into the design sector.

For this edition, TALENTS once again appoints renowned designer Frank Chou , Founder of Frank Chou Studio, as its curator. Centered on the annual theme About Time, the exhibition explores the profound connections between time, era and creative practice. Through inquisitive exploration and creative expressions of "Time", it unlocks new possibilities for the future of design and captures brilliant moments in the industry through in-depth design dialogues.

"This year we present the theme About Time, and intentionally refrain from assigning it a fixed Chinese translation. In the English context, 'Time' refers not only to the passage of time, but also to the era we live in, while encompassing both personal experience and macro narrative. We aim to treat 'time' as an important yet often overlooked material in design – it is about how design records the era, and the meaning and value that design carries across the dimension of time." — Curator Frank Chou

Under the core of the About Time theme, design transcends the mere shaping of objects. It has evolved into a creative process where young designers, through their professional expertise, infuse their personal imprints and era narratives into their works: turning fleeting inspiration into eternal design expressions, letting contemporary reflections respond to the propositions of the times, making design a temporal link connecting the past and the future, the individual and the era, and rendering each work a symbiotic carrier of time and creation.

Since its founding, TALENTS has steadfastly upheld its core mission: Letting Design Grow. Rooted in the design industry ecosystem, it has been dedicated to unearthing emerging design talent and promoting design innovation and exchange. 2026 marks a pivotal moment as Design Shanghai returns to its origin, and TALENTS has further upgraded its selection mechanism with more rigorous evaluation criteria. Works are screened through multiple dimensions including originality, forward-thinking and craftsmanship quality, striving to present the most promising and influential emerging designers and their representative works to the world.

This initiative not only demonstrates TALENTS’ uncompromising pursuit of design quality, but also provides a high-value showcase platform for truly talented young designers. A total of 11 outstanding designers/teams have stood out in this edition, including 1 international creator and 2 returning talents from previous editions. The selected creators boast diverse backgrounds and unique creative perspectives: some are emerging forces specializing in industrial structural design, others are practitioners dedicated to the contemporary innovation of traditional crafts, and more are explorers committed to integrating biotechnology with design. All works revolve around the annual theme About Time, exploring the connections between time, era and creation through diverse expressions, allowing audiences to witness the infinite possibilities of the future of design through different design languages.

To further empower young designers, TALENTS continues its widely acclaimed mentor program, assembling a distinguished panel of six permanent mentors and one visiting mentor. The permanent mentors include Aldo Cibic, Chi Wing Lo, Shen Baohong, Zhu Hui, as well as Tan Zhuo, Director of Design Shanghai, and Frank Chou, Curator of TALENTS. The visiting mentor is Lina Kanafani, Director of Mint Gallery London. With decades of experience in the emerging design field, Lina Kanafani founded Mint Gallery London in 1998, which has now become a vital global platform for emerging designers to showcase their creativity and a key pillar for their professional growth. The mentor panel will provide one-on-one professional guidance and industry experience sharing for TALENTS designers, safeguarding the growth of emerging design forces with the wisdom and experience of senior industry practitioners.

During the exhibition, the TALENTS TALK series of forums will be held simultaneously, hosted by senior media professionals Ms. Wang Xu and Ms. Mimi Yan. Joining forces with mentor panel members and renowned designers Zhang Lei and Ran Xiangfei, the forums will conduct in-depth dialogues and exchanges around the annual theme About Time and hot topics in the design industry. They will share cutting-edge design concepts, discuss industry development trends, and present the on-site audience with a series of high-caliber feasts of design thought.

In addition, the highly anticipated 6th TALENTS Awards will be announced as scheduled. Following a rigorous selection process by a professional jury, awards will be presented in four categories:  Best Theme Design, Best Commercial Product Design, Best Experimental Product Design, and Best Art Product Design. Meanwhile, dozens of professional media representatives will vote on-site to select the Media’s Favorite Award. The establishment of these five awards aims to deeply explore designers’ creative potential and development prospects through their works, broaden the industry development path for outstanding emerging designers, and help them connect with high-quality industrial resources.

2026 TALENTS AWARD WINNERS (announced on 20 March 2026)
2026 TALENTS Best Theme Design: N/A
2026 TALENTS Best Commercial Product Design: Air Sketch

 

2026 TALENTS Best Experimental Product Design: Friedrich Gerlach

 

2026 TALENTS Best Artistic Product Design: Hong Zhangliang

 

2026 TALENTS Media’s Favorite Award: Trigram

 

In addition to the above five awards, the jury also highlights AOBUTUHUE\YILU STUDIO with Jury’s Special Mention for their exceptional creative ideas and distinctive design expressions.

This edition of TALENTS is proud to welcome its title sponsor – Steinway & Sons. Founded in 1853, Steinway & Sons has consistently crafted piano masterpieces with top-tier handcraftsmanship and extremely stringent manufacturing standards. Driven by an uncompromising pursuit of aesthetics and a spirit of continuous innovation, Steinway & Sons has become the choice of more than 97% of the world’s top pianists. This collaboration between Steinway & Sons and Design Shanghai TALENTS unites century-old craftsmanship with the growth of emerging design forces, fusing classic craftsmanship with youthful creativity. Together, they embark on a journey of craftsmanship centered on time, skill and creation, and jointly promote the innovative development of the design industry.