A unique place
Inaugurated on June 10, 2026 in the heart of the Cité du Design in Saint-Étienne, the Galerie nationale du design is a new place in France, entirely dedicated to the development of public design collections. Each year, it offers the public a large exhibition entrusted to a guest curator, bringing together works from collections preserved throughout France and offering plural views on design, a discipline with multiple forms and challenges.
Design collections finally have a dedicated place!
Deployed over more than 1,000 m², it combines exhibition, mediation, experimentation and meetings spaces, and affirms design as a major cultural, heritage and societal field, accessible to all audiences.
Co-supported by the EPCC Cité du Design – Ésad Saint-Étienne and the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Saint-Étienne Métropole (MAMC+), the National Design Gallery is based on an original model, without permanent collection, based on the circulation of works and a broad partnership with major French heritage institutions.
Design accompanies every gesture of contemporary life and testifies to the social, technical and aesthetic changes of society. The important public design collections preserved in France reflect this richness and diversity, from industrial origins to the most contemporary forms.
By bringing these collections together in the same place, the National Design Gallery reveals for the first time the scale and coherence of this heritage. It makes it possible to meet the eyes, to confront the stories and to propose renewed readings of the design, fully affirming its place in French cultural history and in contemporary issues.
A plural museum approach
Showing design today cannot be reduced to exposure of objects. The National Design Gallery affirms a plural approach, attentive to the diversity of practices and stories. She chooses a design that can be explained, told, struggled, shared and practiced. Around each annual exhibition, mediation, event programming and catalog deploy other ways of approaching the theme and extend the visit experience in different forms, spaces and temporalities. They broaden the subject to other design practices, less tangible than objects. Direct or digital mediation, educational devices, meeting times, workshops, debates are aimed at diverse audiences – curious, amateurs, professionals – and make design accessible through experience as much as through knowledge.
“The National Design Gallery marks a major step in the recognition of public design collections in France, rich and diverse heritage, carried by many institutions. The result of a collective reflection, it offers a new way of showing and bringing these collections into dialogue beyond the usual frameworks. Inscribed in the industrial and creative history of Saint-Étienne and in the continuity of the MMC+, the gallery embodies a museum of the 21st century: lively, collaborative and open, where design becomes a common good, accessible to all.
Aurélie Voltz, Director of the National Gallery of Design and MMC+
Mediation at the heart of the project
At the National Design Gallery, mediation is designed to offer a flexible experience where everyone – whatever their age and knowledge of design – can decide their journey, between individual discovery and group dynamics. Before, during and after the exhibition, devices are planned to make you want, accompany and allow to deepen the purpose of the exhibition.
The entrance to the National Design Gallery, called Le Seuil, is a welcome space to continue the visit.
Within the exhibition, free flash visits, led by a pool of mediators made up of students from the École Supérieure d’Art et Design in Saint-Étienne, offer a friendly and informal first approach. These proposals of approximately 30 to 40 minutes are supplemented by audio and digital devices, accessible independently : QR codes giving access to enriched content, nomadic cartels for in-depth reading, And ‘ Hello Hector ? », a fun and narrative listening device dedicated to children and families.
In addition, once a month, a thematic guided tour will be organized in the presence of an expert (architect, curator, curator, etc.). The only paid mediation device, this visit will cover all the exhibitions in the district (National Design Gallery and Platinum).
“ The National Design Gallery places mediation at the heart of reflections. This attention paid to uses and to the public makes it possible to develop tools and devices designed to address everyone, in the diversity of ages, courses and visit experiences. »
Sylvie Sauvignet, Responsible for welcoming audiences and mediation EPCC Cité du Design – Ésad Saint-Étienne
Event programming
Since the fall of 2025, the Critical Research Institute Civic City, founded by Ruedi and Vera Baur, has been leading a three-year residence at the Cité du Design. Conceived as a cultural and social laboratory, this residence accompanies the National Design Gallery with committed, transdisciplinary and international programming. It is built in resonance with the first three exhibitions and close to the students of the Saint-Étienne School of Art and Design.
March 2026 © Louis Chevalier
‘Design is a political force that produces power, norms and stories. With Civic City, we make it a critical debate tool, open to the conflicts of the present, accessible to all citizens. Thanks to this residence at the Cité du Design, the National Design Gallery becomes a place to experiment and debate collectively, but also to question and unlearn. »
Ruedi Baur, designer and co-founder of Civic City
Civic City is an autonomous institute of critical design research, founded in 2011 by designer Ruedi Baur and sociologist and anthropologist Vera Baur. Together, they work with an international and transdisciplinary network to imagine a better world. The projects focus on the uses of public space in fragile urban contexts, as well as on actions and initiatives inspired by a social and civic vision of design.
A flagship project in the heart of the Cité du Design in Saint-Étienne
Choosing Saint-Étienne to set up the Galerie nationale du design is neither a coincidence nor a symbol: it is obvious. industrial city since the 19thand century, Saint-Étienne made dialogue between art, industry and innovation a lasting marker of its identity. The only representative in France of Creative Cities of UNESCO Design, it offers a unique ecosystem to host a national place dedicated to public design collections.
A link between heritage and creation, the Cité du Design is in full mutation, under the impetus of Saint-Étienne Métropole, to become the first design district in France. In this environment thought of as a living laboratory, where inhabitants, students, researchers, designers, entrepreneurs meet, the National Design Gallery finds a framework conducive to its ambition. It complements and enriches a coherent and complementary offer, making the Cité du Design a cultural destination in its own right, in the heart of the creative district of Saint-Étienne.
Come and discover the National Design Gallery, a unique venue dedicated to showcasing public design collections, situated in the heart of the Cité du Design district in Saint-Étienne.
Opening hours
Tuesday to Sunday
From 10.00 to 12.30 and from 13.30 to 18.00
Address
14 esplanade Jacques Bonnaval
42000 Saint-Étienne
Prices
- Full price: 2 euros
- Guided tour option: 5 euros
- Free on the first Sunday of every month