RMB Latitudes Art Fair 2026 Expands Design Showcase | Latitudes

As the boundaries between art, design, fashion, and craft continue to dissolve, Latitudes highlights how African creative platforms are increasingly presenting design as part of a broader cultural conversation rather than a separate discipline. Returning for its second edition this May, the Design Showcase at RMB Latitudes Art Fair 2026 builds on this shift through an expanded collaboration with Design Week South Africa, bringing together more than 25 brands from across the continent within four dedicated design spaces at Shepstone Gardens.

Running from 22 to 24 May 2026, the showcase unfolds as an immersive environment where collectable furniture, fashion, lighting, jewellery, fragrance, and material experimentation coexist within a carefully layered spatial narrative. Rather than functioning purely as retail or exhibition, the presentation positions contemporary African design as an evolving ecosystem shaped by collaboration, material culture, and cross-disciplinary exchange.

Among the featured participants are Pichulik in collaboration with Cape Cobra Leathercraft, alongside immersive retail environments by The Herd and Duck Duck Goose. Additional brands span furniture, ceramics, fashion, fragrance, and accessories, including Weylandts, Fieldbar, Bumba Souled Ceramics, The Joinery, and Très Nagual.

In dialogue with the fair’s Nigeria Focus for 2026, Alara and footwear label Kkerele introduce an additional perspective on contemporary African craft, fashion, and collectable design.

Framing the entire showcase is this year’s theme, Oasis, conceived as a sensory pause within the broader fair environment. Visitors enter through Heart of Oasis, a sculptural lighting installation by David Garra, while botanical interventions by floral artists Botanicus, Emely van Heesch, and Loulou d. activate the space through scent, texture, and organic form.

Together, the showcase reflects a broader evolution within African design itself — one increasingly defined by atmosphere, cultural exchange, and a more expansive understanding of how design is experienced and valued. As noted by Latitudes, the showcase continues to position African design within a wider contemporary cultural dialogue.