Irish Design Week 2026: Welcome To The Table – Late Night Art Showcase
As part of Irish Design Week 2026
Welcome to the Table is a participatory visual project and exhibition exploring belonging, third culture identity and cultural exchange through the lens of food, table settings, and shared meal rituals. You are invited to co-create table environments inspired by different cultures and ways of living, with each table becoming a visual expression of heritage, cultural traditions, rituals as well as contemporary habits.
The project is rooted in the idea that identity is not only shaped by nationality but by lived experience, creativity, migration and memory and that it continues to evolve. Through designed tableware, surfaces, vessels and place settings, audiences are invited to experience different cultures.
From creating centrepieces with natural materials to exploring zines and Tunisian cuisine, our workshops during Irish Design Week 2026 will turn ideas into objects and shared experiences, with the resulting tables and stories displayed at Belfast Central Library and Second Nature Hotel.
Join us and develop ideas through making and exchange with contributions from designers, artists, researchers and food practitioners.
What’s on:
- Hands-on design and making workshops exploring table settings, objects and natural materials
- Conversations about food, culture, creative health and who gathers around the table
- Food and Gathering focused sessions with BIA! Zine, Larder East and Carthago including a Tunisian tasting tray
- An exhibition of student product design, workshop creations and food stories
- Evening showcases for Late Night Art and Design After Dark
Late Night Art Showcase
In our Late Night Art Showcase ahead of Irish Design Week 2026, Belfast School of Art’s Foundation (Product Design) students have explored the eating experience through designing tableware in an exercise of reimagining traditional eating tools that enhance the users’ sensory involvement with food
Accessibility information:
Belfast Central Library and Second Nature – The exhibition space is on the ground floor with easy access through the main entrance. Please be aware of building works in the area which may affect pavement access outside.
If you have any specific accessibility queries, please reach out to info@belfastdesignweek.com
