Opening of the Galerie Nationale du Design

The Galerie Nationale du Design will open its doors in Saint-Étienne on 10 June 2026, in the heart of the Cité du design.

par Noémie Lesquins

This unique venue in France is dedicated to promoting French public design collections. Each year, it will present a major exhibition curated by a guest curator from objects drawn from collections held throughout France.

A joint initiative of the EPCC Cité du design‑Ésad Saint‑Étienne and the Musée d’art moderne et contemporain de Saint‑Étienne Métropole (MAMC+), the Galerie Nationale du Design will offer 1,000 m² of exhibition, mediation and experimentation spaces.

The National Design Gallery is being built in partnership with major cultural institutions, each of which holds a part of the national design heritage:

• the Centre National des Arts Plastiques, a founding partner
• the Centre Pompidou-Musée National d’Art Moderne / Centre de Création Industrielle, as an exceptional partner
• the Musée des Arts Décoratifs et du Design de Bordeaux
• the Frac Grand Large — Hauts-de-France.

Other national design collections will be involved in exhibitions.

The Musée des Arts Décoratifs de Paris, the Mobilier National, the Musée de la Ville de Saint‑Quentin‑en‑Yvelines, the Manufacture de Sèvres, the Musée d’Art et d’Industrie de la Ville de Saint-Étienne will be partners in the first exhibition, Design en main. Du langage à l’objet (Hands-on Design. From Language to Object), curated by Laurence Mauderli, design historian and teacher at Ésad Saint-Étienne. The exhibition will run from 11 June 2026 to 7 March 2027.

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Find out more about the Galerie Nationale du Design

Aurélie Voltz is in charge of the Galerie Nationale du Design, working with the MAMC+ teams to design and produce exhibitions and publications. Event programming and outreach activities are handled by the teams at EPCC Cité du design - Ésad Saint-Étienne, led by designer Éric Jourdan.

The Galerie Nationale du Design is turning the Cité du design into an unmissable cultural destination, a lively quarter where there is something to appeal to everyone, where the city’s industrial past, creative present and imagined future come together in a constant dialogue. Together we are putting across the message that design is a shared culture, and we are placing this discipline, which permeates all areas of society, under the spotlight it deserves.
Éric Jourdan, Director of the EPCC Cité du design–Ésad Saint-Étienne

Éric Jourdan and Aurélie Voltz © Hubert Genouilhac/PhotUpDesign

The opening of the Galerie Nationale du Design marks a decisive step in the recognition of design as a major form of cultural heritage. Along with the teams at MAMC+ and the EPCC Cité du design-Ésad Saint‑Étienne, and in partnership with some great institutions, it is an honour for me to be leading this project, which is the continuation of a story highlighting design that began several decades ago in Saint-Étienne.
Aurélie Voltz, Director of the Galerie Nationale
du Design and of the Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain de Saint-Étienne Métropole

Galerie Nationale du Design, view from the Esplanade Jacques-Bonaval, Saint-Étienne © Saint-Étienne Métropole, Buttrfly Illustrations

Galerie Nationale du Design, Cité du design quarter, Saint-Étienne © Kevin Dolmaire

Pedro Friedeberg, Chair, 1961
FNAC 1954 Centre National des Arts Plastiques collection
© all rights reserved/CNAP
Photo credit: Béatrice Hatala / Les Arts Décoratifs

Bruno Munari, Forchette parlanti, 1958
Purchase made thanks to the Friends of the Centre Pompidou, Groupe d’Acquisition pour le Design, 2016
Centre Pompidou, Paris
Musée National d’Art Moderne - Centre de Création Industrielle
© Bruno Munari. Courtesy Corraini Edizioni
© Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI/Georges Meguerditchian/Dist. GrandPalaisRmn

Richard Sapper, Marco Zanuso, Radio TS 502, 1964
Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain de Saint-Etienne Métropole
© Richard Sapper © Marco Zanuso
Photo: Yves Bresson/MAMC+

L’EPCC Cité du design – Ésad Saint-Étienne

To train tomorrow’s designers and engage with all kinds of audiences to anchor design at the heart of our society: that is the mission of the public institution for cultural cooperation (EPCC) Cité du design-Ésad Saint‑Étienne. Situated at the heart of the Cité du design, it encompasses the training and research activities of the art and design school, Ésad Saint-Étienne, as well as dissemination activities (exhibitions, workshops, publishing, etc.) through La Platine, La Cabane and the Biennale Internationale Design Saint-Étienne. A unique centre for discovering and experimenting with design, it is run jointly by the City of Saint-Étienne and Saint-Étienne Métropole, with the support of the French State and the Auvergne-Rhône‑Alpes Region.

Le Musée d’art moderne et contemporain de Saint-Étienne Métropole (MAMC+)

The Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain de Saint-Étienne Métropole, also known as MAMC+ opened in 1987 and was France’s first regional modern art museum. It has 3,000 sqm of exhibition space where it showcases its collections and organises retrospectives of international figures, major art movements and young creatives. It collection of almost 23,000 works consists mainly of 20th century pieces, but also collections of ancient art and photographs. Its design collection, begun when the museum was founded, is now estimated to include more than 2,000 objects as well as 600 drawings and models.