Villa Albertine’s Oui Design! Festival Returns to Celebrate French Craft and Design during NYCxDESIGN Week

New York, March 23, 2026 – French excellence in craft and design takes center stage during Villa Albertine’s Oui Design! Festival, which returns for its fourth year, and presents an expanded program that celebrates the rich heritage of French creation and its lasting influence upon New York City’s design landscape. Taking place from May 14-20 and coinciding with the NYCxDESIGN Festival, Oui Design! 2026 will offer an array of programming, including open studios, panel discussions, and immersive encounters across the city. 

Among the festival highlights is a week-long exhibition at Villa Albertine’s Payne Whitney Mansion featuring the work of jury-selected grantees and Villa Albertine residents. Many of these master artisans and designers, whose exemplary creations represent the future of craft in France, will be showing their work in the United States for the first time. Scenography for the Oui Design! exhibition is created by Harry Nuriev of Crosby Studios, who is known globally for fashioning evocative spaces. 

“We are excited to launch this year’s Oui Design! program, which has grown significantly in engagement and scope,” explained Mohamed Bouabdallah, Cultural Counselor of France in the United States and Director of Villa Albertine. “Through the visionary support of our partners, the Fondation Bettencourt Schueller and Manufactures Nationales, we are able to offer increased opportunity for enthusiasts and the public to experience the creativity, rigor, and elegance of French craftsmanship during a time when attention is highly focused on the sector.”  

The jury that selected the 2026 grantees represents leading institutions and professionals from the world of craft and design. They included:   

• Edgar Jayet, Interior Architect and Mentor of Oui Design! 2026  
• Isabelle Dubern, Co-founder of The Invisible Collection  
• Manon Leriche, representing program partner Manufactures Nationales – Sèvres & Mobilier National  
• Laura Gonzalez, Interior Architect  
• Katharine Suarez, Director of Communications, Exhibitions, and Artist Relations at Todd Merrill Studio  

A Spotlight on Artisans and Designers   

This year’s festival will bring together recognized talents in the field, including:  

• Lily Alcaraz and Léa Berlier – Textile designers working with materials including paper, leather, and wood, which are transformed into woven fabrics. They are recipients of the Grand Prix de la Création de la Ville de Paris (Arts and Crafts category) in 2021.   

• Atelier Monier – Louis Monier works with precision in chairmaking to create ultra-modern productions, as well as creations inspired by the great masters of the 18th Century. His workshop earned the prestigious Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant label in 2021.   

• Yassine Ben Abdallah - An artist and designer with a background in social sciences whose practice interrogates the cultural and political legacies embedded in objects. His work is part of several public collections, including the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and the FRAC in La Réunion. He is the recipient of the Grand Prix of Design Parade.   

• Nicolas Pinon - A contemporary lacquer artist who bridges tradition and innovation. Trained in Kanahitsu dry lacquer techniques in Japan, he is a recipient of Fondation Bettencourt Schueller’s Prix Intelligence de la Main and the Grand Prix de la Creation de la Ville de Paris in 2020.  

• Céline Salomon - A ceramic designer first trained as an architect; she holds a core aspiration to unite architecture and nature. Co-crafted in ceramics and glass, wood, paper, or leather, the objects she creates will reflect the ties between the animate and inanimate world.

• Sophia Taillet  – A designer exploring materials as a trigger for the imagination. Working in steel, glass, as well as in other media, her work is guided by intuition and enriched by personal experience. In 2018, her Helik light, made of flexible steel, was exhibited at the Venice Biennale of Architecture.   

• Juliette Tellier – Transdisciplinary designer working between industrial design, anthropology, and craftsmanship. She has realized projects across a variety of domains, from exhibition scenography to object design, including experimental archaeology.   

• Frantz Wehrlé - Expert in decorative painting who is a descendant of a lineage of artisans dating back to the 18th century. Blending traditional techniques with modern elements, his work has been exhibited at the Château de Versailles, among other prestigious locations.

• Xolo Cuintle – Valentin Vie Binet and Romy Texier – A duo working primarily with concrete to create functional objects that serve as sculptural, narrative forms. Residents at the Manufacture des Gobelins from 2019-2020, they received a citizen-led commission from the Société des Nouveaux Commanditaires.

Supporting the Essence of French Design in New York

Oui Design! is a highly anticipated festival that is now anchored within New York City’s calendar of events. Since its launch in 2023, programming has grown to include increased participation from galleries and panel discussions held during the NYCxDESIGN Festival. This year’s festival further strengthens collaborations between the French and American design communities, with participating galleries including Amélie du Chalard Gallery, Ateliers Pinton, Crina Arghirescu Architecture, ETĒLINE, Galerie Gabriel, ICFF & Capsule Business France, The Invisible Collection, Maison Gérard, Par Excellence, Prelle/Verrier, Royère Gallery, Todd Merrill Studio, and Véronique Cotrel Interior Designer, among many others hosting exhibitions or special events for the occasion. 

Vital Partnerships, Lasting Contributions

Villa Albertine has cultivated lasting partnerships with organizations that contribute to a vibrant assemblage of programs in the sector. Through the development of professional exchanges between France and the US, Villa Albertine has worked in conjunction with Manufactures Nationales and the Fondation Bettencourt Schueller to create opportunities that benefit craftspeople and, in turn, the broader public, including professional networking opportunities and tailored residency programs. 

Oui Design! is made possible through the exclusive support of the Fondation Bettencourt Schueller and the continued partnership of Manufactures Nationales – Sèvres & Mobilier National, whose leadership in craft and design strengthens the festival’s impact and affirms its role as a key moment for French creative excellence in New York. Championing a range of initiatives in the sphere of craft and design, the Fondation provides vital support to Villa Albertine and other villas with flagship craft and design programs in Japan and Italy. The Fondation Bettencourt Schueller also awards the Prix Liliane Bettencourt pour l’Intelligence de la Main^®, bestowed annually since 1999. 

A Celebration: Five Years of Villa Albertine Residencies

Each year, Villa Albertine supports sixty exploratory Artist Residencies, lasting from one to three months, across the entire United States. Since 2021, over 370 artists and thinkers have engaged in research projects across a range of disciplines, including craft and design. Residents are selected by a prestigious jury of more than 50 American arts experts; the residency program receives approximately 900 applications annually.  

Representing a diversity of work and perspectives, Villa Albertine’s residencies have been offered to artists and curators aged 21 to 70. This year marks an important anniversary, celebrated by highlighting the work of its residents and alumni, including those working in craft and design. 

Fondation Bettencourt Schueller is the major sponsor of Oui Design!