100% Design Africa returns to Decorex Joburg from 30 July to 2 August 2026, taking over its own floor of the Sandton Convention Centre with an expansive view of contemporary design across the continent.
For more than two decades, Decorex Africa’s 100% Design platform has championed the growth of Africa’s design scene, presenting countless firsts alongside now-iconic presentations and work by thousands of the continent’s makers. In 2026, that commitment goes even deeper, with curated features, partner spaces, restaurants, bars and events that cement not only its place in the local industry, but the urgency of African design’s role in the global design conversation.
Across the floor, visitors will find celebrated designer-makers including Vetsak, African Jacquard, Iron Bannister, and Dwela, formerly The Daily Store, alongside a celebration of iconic design from the past 100 years in The Collector’s Room by Russell Kaplan Auctioneers. Part exhibition, part shoppable interior, the space brings together significant furniture, art and objects to consider how design acquires history, memory and value over time.
Visitors are also invited to meet some of the next big names on the scene, with presentations by Meetlo Studios and Klay, the debut of the completed prototypes by the five finalists of the Ventures Foundation by Sanlam Private Wealth programme, as well as an all-new edition of 100% Fresh, where students and emerging practices are given space to test ideas before they become part of the canon. This year, 100% Fresh brings together Tshwane University of Technology and Greenside Design Centre in a shared response to The Soft Life. Greenside Design Centre also introduces Plotville, a new project exploring emerging creative practice in Johannesburg and the communities and environments from which it grows.
Alongside these individual showcases are 100% Design Africa’s unique curated presentations. At the centre of the floor is 100% Local, the platform’s annual survey of South African furniture, lighting, objects and material-led design. The Joburg edition brings together Louw Roets, Stripped Collective, uMugqa Studio, Woodbender, Rialheim and others. Moving between furniture, surfaces, ceramics and objects, the installation asks what makes something feel distinctly local without reducing South African design to a single aesthetic.
That focus on authorship continues in 100% Iconic, dedicated this year to Decorex Africa’s Designer of the Year, LRNCE. Founded in Marrakech in 2013 by Belgian designer Laurence Leenaert and Morocco-born Ayoub Boualam, LRNCE has developed a distinctive creative world spanning hand-painted ceramics, textiles, furniture, artworks, tiles and interiors, produced through the studio’s close relationship with makers in and around Marrakech.
In an effort to present a bird’s-eye view of the spirit of design in South Africa right now (and a shopping list of must-have pieces for the home), Ten x Ten turns the focus from the complete interior to the individual object. The exhibition brings together 100 standout designs across ten
categories, moving from local to international, from luxury to everyday goods, floor to ceiling fabrics, wall coverings, seating, glassware, heritage craft, ceramics, basketry, tiles, lamps and pendants.
The new FloodLight feature shifts the conversation from what fills a room to how that room is felt. Developed with spatial lighting designer One to One by Martin Döller, the showcase brings together lighting by South African designers and studios including Mash.T, TheUrbanative, MOS Lighting, Joe Paine, Dark, and Luminaire d’Afrique, in an environment shaped by shadow, glow, reflection and atmosphere.
Design is also something to eat, drink and spend time inside at 100% Design Africa this year, with two gathering spaces forming the heart of the design floor. The Good Table is a collaboration between Studio Botanicus, Food, I Love You, Lounge by Marble & Mauve and Wolkberg. More than a restaurant, it is conceived as an experiential interior where atmosphere, flavour, materiality and gathering are treated with equal importance. Nearby, The Social Library by Wolkberg Casting Studio and Nnaw Dining reimagines the show bar as a cultural destination, bringing a culinary approach informed by classical French technique, Japanese fermentation, Taiwanese flavour balance and the food cultures of Southeast Asia.
The floor also extends the conversation beyond South Africa. Design Week Lagos presents a dedicated stand at 100% Design Africa, bringing new work and perspectives from one of the continent’s most dynamic design cities into direct conversation with the South African industry. The winning work from this year’s AIDA Awards will also come to 100% Design Africa in a dedicated Joburg presentation. Selected projects from architecture, interiors, product, lighting, fashion and visual design offer a cross-disciplinary view of the creative practices shaping the continent today.
The presentations are accompanied by panel discussions and keynote sessions in Future Talks brought to you by Oggie, exploring how collaboration across disciplines is creating a more connected and future-facing African design landscape. This year’s talks programme, a highlight of the annual design calendar, continues the stories found across the floor, with designers, curators, educators and makers discussing the ideas and processes behind the work. Five dedicated sessions take place every day, with each talk CPD-accredited, to allow industry professionals to make the most of their growth and development at the show.
Together, the exhibitions, studios, restaurants, objects and gathering spaces make 100% Design Africa a place to spend time, rather than simply pass through. It’s a floor shaped by the many ways design enters everyday life: through the chair we sit on, the light over a table, the glass in our hand, the objects we keep and the spaces in which we meet.
100% Design Africa at Decorex Joburg
30 July to 2 August 2026
Sandton Convention Centre
