Garden Futures at V&A Dundee traces the past and future of garden design.

There's still a month to catch Garden Futures: Designing with Nature at V&A Dundee.

Running until 25 January 2026, Garden Futures examines how gardens - from domestic plots to global landscapes - shape the way we live, design and connect with nature.

Developed by the Vitra Design Museum, the Wüstenrot Foundation and the Nieuwe Instituut, and further expanded by V&A Dundee, Garden Futures presents garden design as both a cultural force and a testing ground for ideas around sustainability, wellbeing and biodiversity.

In this exhibition, gardens are uncovered as reflections of the political and social climate, as well as a product of the geographical landscape. More than 400 objects are brought together in an immersive and deeply sensory exhibition that plays on light, sound, texture and scent, with fragrances including rose, jasmine and narcissus woven through the galleries.

Spanning both centuries and continents, from Persian garden traditions to contemporary urban farming, visitors can explore spectacles such as vertical gardens in Milan and seaweed-based growing systems in Oban. Historic works of craft figures such as William Morris' wallpapers are displayed alongside digital tools, video games and experimental biomaterials.

Sustainability focused product design features throughout, including origami-inspired self-watering plant pots made from marine waste by Glasgow-based POTR. Our highlights include Zena Holloway’s wheatgrass-root biomaterial, Rootfull, 'Non-human viewpoints' by Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, and the 'Chia Chair' - a research project by Alice Hultqvist, Emelie Sjöberg and Linnea Nilsson at the University of Gothenburg.

Scottish stories sit alongside world-wide examples, with contributions including Maxwell Community Garden in Dundee, and early plans for Eden Project Scotland. Community gardens, allotments and healing landscapes are explored as spaces of refuge, resistance and collective action, particularly during periods of social and political upheaval.

Curated for V&A Dundee by Francesca Bibby and James Wylie, Garden Futures: Designing with Nature presents the garden as paradise, workplace, sanctuary and social space - revealing how designed landscapes reflect changing values and offer models for a greener, more equitable future.

Garden Futures: Designing with Nature runs until 25 January 2026 at V&A Dundee, click here to book your tickets.