The annual Design History Society Conference is a prestigious, international event, which offers a platform for an interdisciplinary approach to research and critical debate in design history. Each year the conference is hosted by a different convening institution that works closely with the Society to organise the conference on a theme chosen by the convenor. The annual conference aims to bring together and offer a forum for emerging and established scholars, museum professionals and design practitioners who engage with debates on cultures of design from both contemporary and historical perspectives. It is the particular aim of the conference to further global dialogues on design and its histories.

Past conferences have been hosted at Delft (2006), Falmouth (2008), Hertfordshire (2009), Barcelona (2011), Brighton (2012), Ahmedabad (2013), Oxford (2014), San Francisco (2015), Middlesex (2016), Oslo (2017), New York City (2018), Northumbria (2019), Basel (2021) and Izmir (2022). The 2023 conference will be held in Matosinhos, Portugal. Please see below.

In addition to bringing your institution to the attention of the design history community, this exciting event can also offer an opportunity for delegates to visit local collections and sites significant for the study of design history.

Border Control: Excursion, Incursion and Exclusion

University for the Creative Arts, Canterbury, UK

5 September 2024

Displaying Design: History, Criticism, and Curatorial Discourses
Displaying Design: History, Criticism, and Curatorial Discourses

ESAD College of Art and Design, Matosinhos, Portugal

7 September 2023

Design and Transience
Design and Transience

Izmir Institute of Technology, Izmir, Turkey

8 September 2022

Memory full? Reimagining the relations between design and history.
Memory full? Reimagining the relations between design and history.

FHNW Academy of Art and Design, Basel, Switzerland

2 September 2021

DHS 2019: The Cost of Design
DHS 2019: The Cost of Design

Northumbria University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

5 September 2019

DHS 2018: Design and Displacement

Parsons School of Design, New York

6 September 2018

DHS 2017: Making and Unmaking the Environment

University of Oslo, Norway

7 September 2017

Design and Time (updated)
Design and Time (updated)

School of Art & Design, Middlesex University, London

8 September 2016

"How we live, and How we might live": Design and the Spirit of Critical Utopianism
"How we live, and How we might live": Design and the Spirit of Critical Utopianism

California College of the Arts, San Francisco, California

11 September 2015