11 things that caught our eye at Clerkenwell Design Week 2025

There was a buzz in the air at the launch of the 2025 Clerkenwell Design Week (20-22 May) in London. The sunshine drew crowds across the neighbourhood’s showrooms and venues – including three atmospheric new additions: the 14th-century Charterhouse, a new event space in Smithfield Market, and the medieval St Bartholomew’s Church, which has been dubbed ‘Church of Design’ for the occasion. More manageable than the city-wide London Design Festival, and lasting only three days, despite its name, this annual event has a knack for turning the often dry world of commercial design into an enticing showcase – and this year is no exception. Here we select 11 things that caught our attention as we explored Clerkenwell Design Week’s pink routes.

Wallpaper's highlights from Clerkenwell Design Week 2025

‘A Week at the Knees’ by Alex Chinneck

The event’s headline installation is artist Alex Chinneck’s ‘A Week at the Knees’, a slumped brick arch made from 7,000 bricks. Mimicking the Georgian façades that surround it on Charterhouse Square – but bending theatrically across a path – it invites visitors to walk through its surreal curve. ‘I wanted to create something that transcends the rigidity of the material,’ Chinneck told the gathered crowd at its launch. Although the event finishes on Thursday 22 May, this installation remains on show until early July.

alexchinneck.com

‘Harmonic Tides’ by Arthur Mamou-Mani

Further along, visitors can take the opportunity to pause within two sweeping 3D-printed walls lined with bench seating. Designed by Arthur Mamou-Mani to evoke the movement of water, ‘Harmonic Tides’ is the result of Dezeen’s 'Shaping Water' competition. The undulating walls, made from a sugar-based bioplastic (PLA), are animated with LED lighting and a tranquil soundtrack to create a calming effect.

mamou-mani.com

‘Brick from a Stone: Arch Revival’ by Hawkins\Brown and Webb Yates for Albion Stone

Unveiled on Clerkenwell Green, ‘Brick from a Stone: Arch Revival’ is a soaring double-arched pavilion made from British stone bricks, designed by Hawkins\Brown and Webb Yates for Albion Stone and Hutton Stone. ‘We wanted to reveal the strength inherent in stone by creating incredibly thin, load-bearing arches – it’s a testament to both ancient techniques and 21st-century engineering,’ says architect Roger Hawkins.

hawkinsbrown.com

'Beasley’s Biscuit Bar' by Sons of Beasley

Nearby, at Hawkins\Brown’s Clerkenwell Road studio, the practice hosts 'Beasley’s Biscuit Bar' – a joyful installation by Sons of Beasley, the design duo of Carl Clerkin and Alex Hellum. The project reimagines a lost piece of local lore: London’s first ‘biscuit bar’, once attached to Basil and Beasley’s shopfitter’s workshop at this very address before its demolition in 1956. In a nod to that history, a retrofitted servery has been installed in the Hawkins\Brown canteen, where visitors can pause for Yorkshire Tea and homemade Beasley biscuits, rest on colourful furniture made from Plykea offcuts, and watch live making unfold in the window.

scp.co.uk

Wall lamps by Hand & Eye

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In the British Collection – an excellent curation of homegrown brands nestled in the crypt just off Clerkenwell Green – you'll find Hand & Eye's tactile range of slip-cast terracotta, stoneware and porcelain wall lights – all hand made at it's Devon workshop.

handandeyestudio.co.uk

‘Caston’ by David Irwin for Origin Furniture

Also showing as part of the ‘British Collection’, we admired David Irwin’s ‘Caston’ chair for Origin Furniture not only for its elegant form but its circular credentials. Made in the UK, it pairs a simple tubular steel frame with zero-waste 3D-knitted upholstery by Camira and is fully recyclable at end-of-life.

originfurniture.com

'Archer' chair by Magnus Long for SCP

British brand SCP debuts the 'Archer' chair by Magnus Long – a cantilever chair made from tubular metal with a plywood seat and enveloping backrest. The design – on show in the Church of Design – nods to the tubular steel chairs of the 20th century while bringing the typology up to date for today.

scp.co.uk

Mirage x AMDL Circle

At Charterhouse, tile brand Mirage presents ‘Terrae’, a poetic ceramic surface collection created with Michele De Lucchi’s AMDL Circle. The range explores the emotional connection between ceramics, light and space, across three distinctive lines – ‘Atmo’, ‘Idro’ and ‘Lito’ – that blur boundaries between indoors and out.

mirage.it

‘Carnival’ by Curiousa

Hanging jewel-like in the underground space at House of Detention – a former Victorian prison – British lighting studio Curiousa introduces ‘Carnival’. This joyful, sculptural collection blends hand-blown glass, porcelain and wood in playful, Harlequin-inspired forms. ‘There’s an intriguing balance between the geometric forms and organic curves – each piece has its own personality, much like a performer on stage,’ says founder Esther Patterson.

curiousa.co.uk

'Fin' by Daniel Schofield for NaughtOne

At its new Northburgh Street showroom, contract furniture brand NaughtOne seizes the moment to launch ‘Fin’, a new lounge chair by Copenhagen-based British designer Daniel Schofield. Inspired by 1960s space-age design and developed through folding two pieces of paper, its fully upholstered form sits atop a simple plywood construction – the lowest embodied carbon of any lounge chair in the NaughtOne portfolio.

naughtone.com

‘Milo’ bed by Bolzan

Inside Old Sessions House, Italian brand Bolzan presents ‘Milo’, a cocooning new bed with a soft, foldable wings that contrasts beautifully with the building’s historic setting. Also on show are two headboards from the brand's 'Woven Dreams' collection that we admired in Milan last month – 'Fiocco', a folding timber design by Martino Gamper and 'Rosary', a colourful ceramic design by India Mahdavi.

bolzan.com

Clerkenwell Design Week 2025 runs until 22 May clerkenwelldesignweek.com