Nairobi Design Week, a retrospective of work by Yayoi Kusama and a tour of Frank Sinatra's Palm Springs estate designed by E Stewart Williams are among the architecture and design events listed in Dezeen Events Guide this April.

Other events this month include an online version of Furisalone and the first-ever Dezeen Club social, which will take place in a virtual rooftop bar.

Nairobi Design Week
3 to 10 April

This year's digital edition of Nairobi Design Week will showcase homegrown Kenyan talent through a series of live-streamed talks and discussions as well as a curated virtual showcase.

The event will kick off with a panel talk, in which more than 30 creatives will share how they got to where they are today and answer questions from the audience, in a bid to champion the current generation of designers while inspiring the next.

Other highlights include a discussion of what it means to be queer in the creative industries as well as a presentation on how designers can rethink the plastic problem and reduce waste.

Dezeen Club metaverse meet-up
7 April

Hosted on a rooftop terrace in the virtual world of Gather, the first-ever Dezeen Club social will bring together 250 invited guests to network in a digital bar tended by Maurizio Stocchetto, owner of the design community's favourite watering hole Bar Basso.

For the main event, guests will enter a virtual lecture theatre to witness a panel discussion on the metaverse – an emerging, parallel universe of virtual worlds and digital-only items such as clothes, artworks and furniture, which can be sold and collected using non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Among the panellists are design duo Space Popular, Instagram-famous rendering artist Andrés Reisinger and Amber Jae Slooten, who founded "the world's first digital fashion house" The Fabricant.

The event is organised by Dezeen Club, a virtual membership club that will launch later this year. If you are interested in joining or would like to attend the event, email [email protected].

Modernism Week 2021
8 to 18 April

Some of Palm Spings' most iconic mid-century buildings will be opened up to the public via a series of guided tours this month, as part of the city's annual Modernism Week.

Among them is Frank Sinatra's Twin Palms estate, designed by E Stewart Williams in 1947, as well as Sunnylands – the sprawling winter residence of American businessman Walter Annenberg, which spans 11 lakes, a golf course and a 25,000-square-foot home.

Visitors will also be able to join a tour of what is considered to be the desert city's first wholly modernist neighbourhood, also called Twin Palms, which will be hosted by a local resident and features buildings designed by William Krisel, Hugh Kaptur, Donald Wexler and more.

Fuorisalone Digital 2021
12 to 18 April

This year's Furisalone will take place in two phases. As is tradition, one part of the Milanese design week will be happening concurrently with Salone del Mobile, which has been moved to September due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

But an early preview of what's in store will also be shared digitally in Salone's usual April timeslot, in a programme spanning everything from product launches and round table discussions to virtual events and webinars.

The theme for 2021 will be Forme dell'Abitare or Forms of Living, with a focus on how the idea of living spaces has taken on a new meaning in lockdown and how it will continue to evolve in the future.

Yayoi Kusama: A Retrospective
23 April to 1 August

Berlin's Gropius Bau is reopening after a pandemic-induced hiatus to host a major retrospective of work by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, spanning more than 300 pieces created over the last 80 years. This includes sculptures, paintings and fashion designs alongside nine different replicas of some of her large-scale, immersive installations.

Among them is a reconstruction of her very first Infinity Mirror Room, presented in New York in 1965, alongside a brand-new addition to the ever-expanding series, which has seen Kusama create more than 20 different mirror cabinets throughout her career.

The historic atrium of the Gropius Bau, designed by the great-uncle of Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius, will be enveloped by a menagerie of inflatable tentacles in a newly-commissioned installation titled A Bouquet of Love I Saw in the Universe.

About Dezeen Events Guide

Dezeen Events Guide is our guide to the best architecture and design events taking place across the world each year.

The guide is updated weekly and includes virtual events, conferences, trade fairs, major exhibitions and design weeks, as well as up-to-date information about what events have been cancelled or postponed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Inclusion in the guide is free for basic listings, with events selected at Dezeen's discretion. Organisers can get enhanced or premium listings for their events, including images, additional text and links, by paying a modest fee.

In addition, events can ensure inclusion by partnering with Dezeen. For more details on inclusion in Dezeen Events Guide and media partnerships with Dezeen, email [email protected].