Jia CURATED 2026

Most design fairs ask you to spend your day under convention-center fluorescents. Jia CURATED asks you to spend five of them on a beach in Sanur. From August 13 to 17, 2026, Pengembak Beach becomes the stage for Bali’s homegrown celebration of craft, design, and culture — 150+ exhibitors, a maquette show curated by Charmaine Chan featuring names like Kengo Kuma and Bill Bensley, daily design talks, and live music every sundown. If you needed an excuse to route an August trip through Bali, this is a good one.

From a Kiosk Experiment to a 12,000-Visitor Weekend

Jia CURATED didn’t start out this big. It launched in 2022 as Jia CURATED Kiosks, a smaller-scale format, before evolving into its full form in 2025. The name comes from “Jia,” meaning home in Chinese, and the whole event runs on Gotong Royong — the Indonesian spirit of communal collaboration that shapes how projects and partnerships form here, well beyond the five event days.

The growth curve tells its own story. The 2024 edition at Bali Festival Park drew 6,000 visitors and over 100 participating brands. In 2025, that jumped to 12,000+ visitors and 200+ brands. For 2026, the team — led by Budiman Ong, Rudi Winata, and Yang Yang Hartono — has moved the whole thing to Pengembak Beach and scaled up again: more than 150 local and international exhibitors and over 250 brands spanning architecture, product design, materials, textiles, landscape, and construction.

This Year’s Theme: Nature Weave

Every edition of Jia CURATED explores a new theme, and 2026’s is Nature Weave — a look at the interwoven relationship between people and the natural world. The framing leans heavily on biophilia: the idea that when nature is thoughtfully integrated into our environments, it does more than look good. It calms, anchors, and nurtures well-being. The organizers push it one step further, arguing that design isn’t solely for people but for landscapes, ecosystems, and other species — that our role is participant, not owner.

Fun Fact

This year’s key visual was created by Sares, an Argentinian digital artist who fused Balinese cultural motifs with AI and generative art. His goal, in his words, was to show how tradition and technology can weave together like threads in nature.

Architecture in Scale: The Maquette Show Worth the Flight

For architecture readers, this is the headline act. Architecture in Scale gathers physical maquettes from 25 studios across Indonesia and wider Asia, curated by acclaimed design journalist and writer Charmaine Chan. The premise is refreshingly analog: real models of ongoing and completed projects, offering insight into architecture beyond concepts and renderings.

The lineup is genuinely stacked. Kengo Kuma is showing alongside Bill Bensley, whose story-driven hospitality work needs no introduction. Indonesian heavyweights include Andra Matin, Elora Hardy of bamboo pioneers IBUKU, Bali-based tropical modernist Alexis Dornier, research-driven practice SHAU, and Yolodi+Maria Architects — the duo behind the Gelora Bung Karno stadium renovation for the Asian Games. There’s a guided tour of the maquette area scheduled for the afternoon of August 15 if you want the curator-level walkthrough.

Talks by Afternoon, Music by Sundown

The 360° Design Dialogues return this year, curated by Design Anthology, and the daily schedule is built for lingering. Afternoon sessions on the Main Stage cover textile innovation, the alchemy of waste, and the dissolving boundary between art and architecture, with headline conversations featuring British designer Bethan Laura Wood, Australian architect Peter Stutchbury, interior designer Fiona Lynch, and Tomoyuki Hasegawa.

Then, every evening at sundown, the programme shifts gears into live music and cultural performances — from Jasmine Okubo collaborating with Kadapat on opening night to Balinese and contemporary acts closing out each day. Elsewhere on the grounds, the Waste to Wonder initiative repositions discarded materials as tools for craftsmanship, with contributions from Andra Matin, Millimeter ManifestO, and CushCush, while partner Lamitak is building a dedicated pavilion with DDAP Architect that turns surface and material research into a walk-through spatial experience.

Project Benih Plants Its First Seed

New for 2026 is Project Benih — “benih” means seed in Indonesian — a multiphase platform for cross-cultural collaboration between artisans and designers across Indonesia, Japan, and Taiwan. The participating designer list includes Alvin Tjitrowirjo and Budiman Ong from Indonesia, Jin Kuramoto and Sae Honda from Japan, and Shikai Tseng from Taiwan, working alongside artisan and manufacturer candidates like Du Anyam, Bamboo Pure, and Threadapeutic. The international groundwork actually started months ago: Road to Jia CURATED, a Tokyo prelude exhibition featuring nine Indonesian studios, ran in Shibuya this past April to introduce Japanese audiences to Indonesian design practice.

It’s this layer — the long-game partnerships, not just the five-day showcase — that makes Jia CURATED feel less like a trade show and more like an ecosystem. If you’re a designer, artisan, or brand in the Asia Pacific working in craft-based disciplines, applications to exhibit are handled through the email listed at the top of this article, with a portfolio, a short statement, and a simple concept note.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much do tickets cost?

Early bird pricing runs from June 12 to August 12, 2026: Rp 150,000 for a 1-Day Pass or Rp 410,000 for a 5-Day Pass. Buy at the venue during the event and you’ll pay the regular rate of Rp 205,000 and Rp 565,000 respectively — so booking ahead through the official site link at the top of this article saves you real money. Gates are open 12:00 to 22:00 daily.

Is it family- and pet-friendly?

Very much so. Children under 12 enter free, and well-behaved pets are welcome — which, for a design event of this caliber, is delightfully rare.

Can I still apply to exhibit?

Applications are open to emerging and established designers, artisans, and brands from the Asia Pacific who work in craft-based disciplines and present original, handmade or partially handmade pieces. Send a portfolio or product catalogue, a short statement about your practice, and a concept note for your proposed presentation to the organizers via the email listed above.