A festival
that leaves room

Matsuyama Design Festival started in 2020 as an online gathering of designers on Shikoku who were tired of travelling to Tokyo for everything. It has grown into a four-day festival of talks, workshops and open studios, held each year in a converted port warehouse at Mitsuhama.

Each edition takes a single Japanese word as its theme. In 2026 it was Yohaku, 余白: the deliberate empty space in a composition, and the idea that what is left out is part of the design. The programme, the identity and the venue were all built around that idea.

The festival is run by the Matsuyama Design Festival Executive Committee, an independent non-profit, with a small year-round team and around sixty volunteers during the festival week.

Team

Haruka Ochi, Director · Sōta Kagawa, Programme · Mina Ebihara, Partnerships · Rin Ōtani, Production · Daichi Nomura, Identity and web

Code of conduct

The festival is for everyone. Harassment of any kind is not tolerated. Reports go to conduct@matsuyama-design.org or to any staff member in an orange lanyard.