The Cameroon Design Festival (CDF) was created to celebrate designers from Cameroon, Central Africa and beyond, while laying the foundation for a unified design ecosystem embedded in collaboration, education, and visibility. It is a platform that brings designers together, invites the public into the world of design, and positions design as a propeller of innovation, culture, and economic progress.
Design has been left out of Africa’s growth conversation for so long.
Across the continent, cities are expanding, young people are building businesses, and new ideas are emerging across technology, culture, craft, and industry. Yet for decades, design, the very discipline that molds how societies build, communicate, and innovate, has often remained invisible, undervalued, or misunderstood.
Today, that is beginning to change.
Across Africa, there is a growing reconnection to the power of design and design thinking. Design weeks, festivals, and creative platforms are emerging, signaling a collective realization that design is not decoration, but a strategic tool for development, identity, and economic growth.
Cameroon is Uniquely Positioned to Contribute to This Movement.
Often described as “Africa in Miniature,” Cameroon embodies the continent’s geological, cultural, and ecological diversity. Known also as the “Hinge of Africa,” the country stands between West and Central Africa, bridging regions, histories, and perspectives. This positioning makes Cameroon a natural meeting point for ideas, talent, and creative exchange.
The Cameroon Design Festival offers an experiential and collaborative platform that showcases design across sectors, from graphic and brand design to fashion, architecture, product, and digital design. Through exhibitions, conversations, and immersive experiences, CDF elevates design as an essential driver of economic growth, business innovation, and development.
At its core, CDF is about visibility, connection, and belief. Belief in designers, belief in ideas, and belief that design has a critical role to play in building Cameroon’s future and contributing to Africa’s advancement.
Our mission is to create Cameroon’s leading design platform that:
- Celebrates design as a multi-disciplinary expression of creative thinking and making
- Creates connections
- Jumpstarts collaborations
- Cultivates the next generation of creative leaders
- Boosts the local creative economy
- Increases the public’s knowledge, awareness and appreciation of design, and its role in creating a sustainable, inclusive future
- Generates and collects open source data around the local design sectors for research and growth purposes
