The wider video installation presents images of the 10 designers’ portfolios together with footage of them reading a poem they wrote, imagining they could speak out to the world - especially to fellow designers - with a wake-up call, a call to action.

Their message had to be bold or poetic, gentle or fierce. But above all, authentic.

The second video installation introduces the 10 designers’ projects (one item for each collection), and includes the ITS Contest 2026 concept video, which embodies this year’s contest: a call for designers to "Rise and Shine", to turn their talent into creative action - each spark being able to ignite another. To stay open to different perspectives and all possibilities, to move forward together, not letting fear hold us back.

Rise—
not in anger,
but in wonder.
Shine—
not to blind,
but to warm.
The time is not ticking out—
it’s ticking open.
A pulse,
a beat,
a breath between
what was
and what could be.
No manifesto.
No instruction manual.
Just this:
Your hands
know how to build
what your heart dreams.
So rise.
And shine.
Like you were meant
to wake up the world.