Children’s creativity becomes the starting point for exploring new ways of designing
IED Kunsthal Bilbao students turn children’s imagination into real design with “Dream Room”
Date
30 March 2026
IED Kunsthal Bilbao has presented “Habitación de Ensueño”, a collaborative project between fourth-year students of the BA (Hons) in Interior Design and first-grade pupils from Colegio Madre de Dios, developed within the CRAFT course.
The project is based on a co-creation process in which children imagined and drew their ideal bedroom, resulting in ideas such as floating beds or invisible lights. Based on these concepts, the students interpreted, designed and produced prototypes, working in the school’s workshops through material experimentation and the construction of full-scale pieces using accessible materials and craft-based processes.
The outcome takes shape in six proposals: “Balloon Bed”, which explores the sensation of floating; “Hideaway Wardrobe”, focused on intimacy; “The Den”, developed through model-making and play; “Star Lamp”, which interprets the invisible; “Little Furniture”, translating children’s drawings into objects; and “Magic Portals”, a system of sensory rugs designed to imagine other worlds.
The project was presented last Thursday at an event that brought together students, teachers and the 32 participating children, along with their teachers and families, all of whom were key to the co-creation process.
Beyond the final outcome, “Habitación de Ensueño” presents design as a shared learning process, where the boundless creativity and imagination of childhood become the starting point. The project invites us to question traditional design approaches and adopt a more open perspective, showing that design can also emerge from unexpected contexts and that children’s imagination is a powerful source of inspiration.
Children from Colegio Madre de Dios play beneath one of the pieces created, “Star Lamp”.
Students and primary school children during the initial co-creation workshop.
Students and primary school children during the initial co-creation workshop.
“Magic Portals”
“Magic Portals”
"The Den”
"The Den”
“Little Furniture”
“Little Furniture”
“Balloon Bed”
“Balloon Bed”
“Hideaway Wardrobe”
“Hideaway Wardrobe”
Students present the project.
Family picture
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