Design Democracy 2025, which took place from 5 to 7 September at the HITEX Exhibition Centre, transformed Hyderabad into a living canvas of ideas, innovation, and imagination. The third edition of India’s newest design festival went beyond exhibitions, offering conversations, experiences, and provocations that marked the city’s definitive arrival on the global design map.
At the heart of the festival were four special curations that redefined the boundaries of contemporary Indian design. Stone and Shade (Museum of Telangana), curated by Supraja Rao, reimagined shelter as an ecological embrace, blurring the lines between home and landscape. Farah Ahmed Mathias’ Precious Objects turned rarity into resonance, proving that design can be both personal and poetic. The Gallery of Sustainability, co-curated by Abin Chaudhuri and Snehashri Nandi, advanced the dialogue on culture and ecology, while Nuru Karim’s sculptural walkway, FLOW, transformed a transitional corridor into an architectural rhythm of light and shadow.
Each installation moved beyond spectacle with thought-provoking questions: What makes an object precious? Can sustainability be cultural? Can a passage become a story of connection?
Hyderabad’s own culinary and cultural legacies were infused in the festival. Concept kitchens, craft bars, and experiential cafés invited visitors to “taste design”, turning gastronomy into storytelling. The result was a festival that was not only seen and heard, but felt, savoured, and remembered.
Beyond its exhibitions, the festival became a meeting ground where designers, brands, students, and global voices engaged in a dialogue that bridged heritage and the future, and local and international perspectives. DD Talks, the two-day summit powered by the knowledge partnership of Alekhya Homes, brought together diverse voices and fresh perspectives on interior design, urbanism, sustainability, and design innovation, with visionaries like Madhav Raman, Sussanne Khan, Chitra Vishwanath, Swanzal Kak Kapoor, Samuel Barclay, and Akshat Bhatt adding urgency and depth.
Complementing this, DD Focus featured intimate, on-the-floor conversations in exhibitor spaces, where India’s design vanguard shared authentic insights into studio cultures, processes, and material explorations. Booths turned into platforms for exchange with voices such as Gowri Adappa, Kalyani Chawla, Ali Baldiwala, and Sona Reddy, bridging practice and philosophy.
“This edition has proven that design in India is not just about products but about ideas, connections, and futures,” said Arjun Rathi, co-founder & curator. “Hyderabad has emerged as a city where these conversations find both resonance and reach.”
Pallika Sreewastav, co-founder, added, “Design Democracy was born from instinct, not strategy—a feeling that design should belong to everyone. What I’ve found in Hyderabad is a city willing to dream with us.”
For Shailja Patwari, co-founder, the city offered more than just a stage. “Hyderabad has a remarkable way of making space for people from all backgrounds. My own upbringing was not in this city, yet my roots now feel strongly connected to Hyderabad.”
Design Democracy 2025 was made possible by its collaborators, bringing vision and vitality to the festival. Title Sponsor, The Charcoal Project, brought bold interpretations of living, joined by Beautiful Homes by Asian Paints as Platinum Sponsor, which shaped immersive storytelling environments. ANCA and Bondtite come on board as Gold Sponsors, with Bondtite also contributing through its Innovation Gallery—curated by Compartment S4 under the theme “Shifting Urbanisms”—serving as a dynamic space for dialogue on urban adaptation, featuring experimental furniture and sculptures by designers like Abin Design Studio and Andblack Design Studio that innovatively incorporate Bondtite adhesives to explore materiality, repair, and improvisation in cityscapes. Associate sponsors FIMA, Osum, Dimore, Tabu Veneers, MCI, and West Elm turned pavilions into spaces of collaboration.
What defined this edition was its ability to blur boundaries—between commerce and culture, product and idea, aspiration and accessibility. For India’s design fraternity, it was a place of connection; for international visitors, a site of discovery; for Hyderabad, a declaration of its new role as India’s creative capital.
Though the installations have faded, Design Democracy has evolved into a meaningful movement—one that places Indian design on the global stage while remaining deeply rooted in craft, culture, and community.
Photo credit: YNotUs
