Exhibition exploring the design and production of LAIKA’s new Wildwood stop-motion film to open at the Design Museum
LAIKA presents WILDWOOD: The Exhibition
September 18, 2026
the Design Museum | Helene and Johannes Huth Gallery and Mezzanine
18 September 2026
LONDON – The Design Museum today announces LAIKA presents WILDWOOD: The Exhibition, a new exhibition made in collaboration with Portland based stop-motion animation studio LAIKA, exploring the design and making of their forthcoming film Wildwood.
Opening on 15 October 2026, the exhibition will coincide with the international release of LAIKA’s latest stop motion adventure, Wildwood, directed by Travis Knight, offering visitors a rare opportunity to discover the film’s creative journey as it arrives on screen. After 20 years of masterminding animated cinematic classics, including the likes of Coraline (2009) and Kubo and the Two Strings (2016), the film encompasses two decades of the studio’s groundbreaking approach to stop-motion filmmaking.
The exhibition will offer visitors a behind-the-scenes look at the creative and technical processes involved in building a stop-motion world. It brings together original creative material, production objects, costumes, film-making tools, audiovisual content and interactive installations, and will reveal the work of the visual development artists, model makers, scenic painters, and more.
Focusing on Wildwood, the exhibition will trace the development of the film from early ideas and visual research through to character and environmental design, costume, puppet fabrication, rapid prototyping, miniature set construction, animation and cinematography.
LAIKA’s films are created by stop motion, the cinematic practice of photographing real, three-dimensional objects in constructed environments, with puppets moved incrementally between frames. The exhibition will examine how handcraft and technology work together across this process, from intricate costumes and mechanical armatures to miniature sets, animation rigs, lighting and camera techniques.
It will also present stop-motion as a multidisciplinary design practice, demonstrating how storytelling emerges through collaboration across design, engineering, making and technology. By revealing the breadth of careers involved in bringing a stop-motion feature to life, the exhibition also aims to inspire future generations to see animation not only as an artform, but as a viable and rewarding creative career path.
Wildwood will be released by Black Bear in UK and Irish cinemas on October 23.
LAIKA’s exhibition will start with a free-to-visit introduction on the museum’s mezzanine, situating Wildwood within LAIKA’s wider history, exploring the relationship between handcraft and technological innovation across two decades of filmmaking. This display will include objects from LAIKA's earlier BAFTA and Academy Award® nominated films, behind-the-scenes photography and early concept art.
On entering the main exhibition space, visitors can experience a captivating large-scale installation inspired by the Impassable Wilderness of Wildwood as seen in the film, creating a transition from the museum into the Wildwood cinematic universe.
The exhibition will take visitors behind-the-scenes of each stage of production revealing the creative journey from early ideas and experimentation through to finished puppets, environments and sets as they appear on-screen. Visitors will explore techniques, materials and processes from LAIKA's dedicated teams, including Puppet Fabrication, Animation, Stop Motion Rigging, Lighting, Camera and Visual Effects. Early visual development sketches, concept paintings and development material will reveal how the visual world of Wildwood took shape, drawing on the landscapes surrounding Portland, Oregon. Further displays will explore how characters, animals, costumes, architecture and environments were developed as parts of a coherent fictional ecosystem.
The exhibition will then move into the processes of physical production, and present examples of the techniques and materials used to transform designs into objects capable of frame-by-frame performance. Visitors will encounter elements including puppet armatures, costumes, sets and production tools, before exploring how animation, lighting and cinematography bring these components together on screen.
Integrated audiovisual installations will feature artist interviews and behind-the-scenes studio material, while cinematic elements will give visitors further insight into the precision and decision-making involved in stop-motion production.
David Burke, Chief Marketing and Operations Officer, LAIKA, said: “Wildwood represents everything LAIKA believes animation can be: emotionally resonant, visually ambitious and made by artists, craftspeople and technical innovators working at the highest level. This exhibition gives audiences a rare opportunity to see the extraordinary artistry and ingenuity behind the film, from its puppets and costumes to its sets and environments and to understand how thousands of individual creative decisions come together to build a cinematic world. We are thrilled to partner with the Design Museum to bring that process, and the world of Wildwood, to London.”
Tim Marlow, Director and CEO of the Design Museum, said: “We are delighted that LAIKA has chosen the Design Museum to host this exhibition, following in the footsteps of our previous exhibitions on the craft of film-making dedicated to Stanley Kubrick, Tim Burton and Wes Anderson. Wildwood is a compelling case study in contemporary design, demonstrating how creative vision, craft, engineering and technology come together through a highly collaborative process.”
LAIKA presents WILDWOOD: The Exhibition opens at the Design Museum on 15 October 2026 and runs until 10 January 2026. Tickets go on sale today and are available via the Design Museum website.
ENDS
Notes to Editors
Exhibition: LAIKA presents WILDWOOD: The Exhibition
Dates: 15 October 2026 – 10 January 2026
Location: Design Museum, London
Tickets: available here
Founded in 2005 and based in Oregon, LAIKA is an award-winning animation studio and Certified B Corporation driven to tell bold, original stories that stand the test of time. Renowned for its distinctive artistry, innovative filmmaking and pioneering use of technology, LAIKA has redefined the possibilities of stop-motion animation.
The studio’s five films — Coraline, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls, Kubo and the Two Strings and Missing Link — were each nominated for the Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature. LAIKA’s next animated feature, Wildwood, premieres October 23, 2026. The studio has also expanded its storytelling into live action and television.
About the Design Museum
The Design Museum is a multifaceted museum, an ever-changing space for the public, industry and education to come together and explore new ideas. A registered charity, the museum's innovative exhibitions, partnerships, research and learning programmes evidence how design can enable this planet and its inhabitants to thrive. Our landmark building in Kensington is the centre of our national network and a global hub for the transformative potential of design.
www.designmuseum.org
For further information, please contact:
Christine Samuelian | Gabi Martorana
Friends & Co
christine@friendsandco.co.uk | 07957 203 037
gabi@friendsandco.co.uk | 07935 755 263