In Saint-Étienne, a National Design Gallery Opens to Showcase Collections from Across France

The Galerie nationale du design opens in Saint-Étienne on June 11, 2026, housed in the rehabilitated buildings of the former Manufacture d'armes within the Cité du design. Lacking a permanent collection, the 1,000-square-meter institution will draw on over 30,000 design pieces from the Centre Pompidou, the Centre national des arts plastiques (Cnap), the Manufactures nationales de Sèvres, and the Mobilier national, presenting rotating exhibitions that showcase France's public design collections. Its inaugural show, "Design en main. Du langage à l'objet," runs until March 7, 2027, featuring nearly 400 works including the Moulinex robot Marie and the screen "The Handshake" (2014) by the collective Åbäke.

This opening solidifies Saint-Étienne's status as France's design capital, a city already home to the Biennale internationale du design (since 1998) and the Cité du design (since 2009), and the only French city in the UNESCO Creative Cities network for design. The project, a joint effort of the MAMC+ and the Cité du design, required €8.8 million in state and local funding. By creating a national showcase for public design holdings scattered across France, the gallery addresses a longstanding gap in the country's cultural infrastructure, making design heritage more accessible and fostering dialogue between collections.