London Design Festival 2025 is upon us: the 23rd edition of the city-wide event once again brings together designers, makers and brands to showcase an accessible series of installations and exhibitions that open up design to the city.
'Design is not just about aesthetics. It’s a fundamental driver of innovation, economic growth, and societal progress,' says Festival Director Ben Evans. Alongside the Festival-led installations and activations at leading design institutions including the V&A and the Design Museum, the 10 districts cover the city opening up studios, heritage buildings and galleries to demonstrate the power and energy of the creative force that is London's design community.
'This year's festival demonstrates our commitment to supporting the entire design ecosystem, from emerging talent to established brands, all while showcasing London's unparalleled creative energy.'
London Design Festival 2025 highlights
Material Matters at Space House
Space House
Material Matters returns for a fourth edition, taking over modernist gem Space House in the heart of the city. Richer than ever, this edition will include Mycoworks, presenting a new material cultivated from mycelium and explored through products by the likes of OEO Studio, Cecilie Manz, Maria Bruun and more. Also on display at the material-led fair will be works in pine resin by Jacob Marks and a series of new materials developed by Taiwanese company FILIE Materials, made from recycled PVB film sourced from broken car windscreens.
Space House, 1 Kemble Street, WC2B 4AN
Brompton Design District, curated by Alex Tieghi-Walker
This year, legendary Brompton Design District curator Jane Withers has passed the baton to New York-based gallerist Alex Tieghi-Walker. Building on Withers’ legacy, Tieghi-Walker will invite new voices, softer sensibilities, and unconventional formats. We caught up with him at his New York gallery to learn more about the thinking behind this year’s theme, ‘A Softer World’.
'I’ve invited different curators to take over different spaces, such as the interior design firm Rooms Studio; the designer Charlotte Taylor, who proposed a show called ‘Soft World, Sharp Edges’; and Tione Trice from vintage store Of the Cloth in New York. He works very closely with Solange Knowles and is bringing in artists such as Nigerian-American designer Myles Igwebuike and Darren Appiagyei, who works in wood and is based in Deptford,' he told Wallpaper*. His curation of the district will open up non-traditional exhibition spaces, including Empire House and Dalmeny House, two historic mixed-use buildings.
Read our interview with Alex Tieghi-Walker on his plans for Brompton Design District at London Design Festival 2025
What Nelsons Sees by Paul Cocksedge at Trafalgar Square
This landmark project commission by London Design Festival sees the British designer stage a takeover of iconic Trafalgar Square. With the aim of offering visitors a new point of view to the city, Cocksedge created a sculpture comprising a series of intersecting tubes that act as 'telescopic viewing portals', giving people a view of the London skyline from Admiral Nelson's perspective.
Trafalgar Square, WC2N 5DS
Beacon by Lee Broom
For the Festival, Lee Broom created a site-specific light installation inspired by the Southbank's Brutalist architecture. The installation, reads a note from the designer, 'is made using a special fusing technology developed to upcycle discarded glass fragments, [and it] reinterprets classic street lamps to form the structure collectively resembling a vast sculptural chandelier.'
Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX
Max Radford Gallery x ERCOL
Work in progress by Lewis Kemmenoe
Max Radford Gallery teamed up with Ercol to commission seven London-based designers to create new work in collaboration with the British brand. The roster includes Andu Masebo, EJR Barnes, Eddie Olin, Joe Armitage, Jaclyn Pappalardo, Isabel Alonso and Lewis Kemmenoe, tasked with reimagining traditional wooden furniture. Expect seating made from rejected wooden parts from Ercol's production, a games table, a rocking chair, contemporary explorations of traditional furniture typologies, and more.
The work will be on view at the Clerkenwell Fire Station – a grade II listed building completed in 1917, and one of the oldest surviving fire stations in the city.
Clerkenwell Fire Station, 42-44 Rosebery Ave, London EC1R 4RN
Convergence by the David Collins Foundation
Pinjekan by Savinder Bual
The David Collins Foundation presents Convergence, an exhibition at the Lavery curated by journalist and broadcaster Ellen E. Jones. Founded in 2016, the Foundation celebrates the studio founder's passion and curiosity for the arts, and his enthusiasm for innovation in design and culture.
In partnership with The Arts Foundation, the exhibition brings together work by eleven artists and designers and marks the studio's 40th anniversary, also 'reflecting on the enduring influence of Collins’ creative vision and his commitment to nurturing talent.'
Designed by London-based studio Bibliothèque, the exhibition includes the work of artists Ayo Akingbade and Savinder Bual, designers Jochen Holz, Louise Lenborg Skajem, Aura Murillo, Max Frommeld and TK Hay, poets Ella Frears and Will Harris, and filmmakers Cherish Oteka and Onyeka Igwe.
The Lavery, 4 Cromwell Place, London, SW7 2JE
Beyond Foam by EcoLattice at Aram
CorpusForma Multifunctional sofa by Maria Bravo
Despite foam being extremely common in our everyday objects (think sofas, trainers, and cars just to name a few), it is incredibly difficult to recycle. The Aram Gallery and EcoLattice offer a creative alternative to the issue: using the start-up's 3D-printed lattice made from recyclable elastomers like TPU, they commissioned eight London-based designers to reinterpret foam-filled furniture.
The exhibition runs from 11 September – 1 November
Aram, 110 Drury Ln, London WC2B 5SG
A Seat at the Table
Design Everything (a platform dedicated to supporting emerging creatives) stages 'A Seat at the Table' (17–21 September), a furniture exhibition which will travel around London in the back of a Luton van – a vehicle traditionally associated with moving furniture. At each stop, a curated set of seats will become both the subject and the support for community-oriented events such as workshops, discussions, supper clubs, and more. The seats are designed by emerging UK designers including Jesse Butterfield, Jacob Marks, Yasmin Lennon-Chong and Sofia Matheou.
The Objects we Live By by Emma Louise Payne
Ceramicist Emma Louise Payne fills a west London townhouse (which is actually her parents' house and her childhood home) with crafted design pieces for the exhibition 'The Objects we Live By' (13–21 September). Each room of the home presents a single new work, placed deliberately yet gently among the rhythms of daily life. Participating designers include BC Joshua, Gather Glass and Nat Maks x Brogan Cox.
Seventy Six, 76 Sussex Square, London, W2 2SS
Design London Shoreditch
You can sit with us - The green carnation by 2LG at Design London Shoreditch
New multi-venue design fair Design London (16-18 September) debuts with three exhibitions covering workplace design, sustainability and interiors trends. Expect Wallpaper* favourites such as Six Dots Design and 2LG Studio, as well as classics from Thonet to Moleskine to Ultrafabrics
Design Culture, Kachette, 347 Old St, Shoreditch, London, EC1V 9LP
Design At Work, Protein Studios, 31 New Inn Yard, Shoreditch, London, EC2A 3EY
Design Icon, Shoreditch Town Hall, 380 Old St, London, EC1V 9LT
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For Indian landscape architect Varna Shashidhar, nature taught her ‘more than any lecture ever could’Varna Shashidhar of Bangalore studio VSLA tells us of her journey to becoming a landscape architect, guided by observation, intuition, and a profound respect for place
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Gangsters were cinema’s first immigrants but Aronofsky’s Caught Stealing forgets why'Caught Stealing' pays homage to the immigrant gangster genre but can’t compete with its greats
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Make Dior Maison’s porcelainware yours with a new personalisation serviceChoose from a range of 35 colours to personalise Dior Maison’s legendary Limoges porcelain tableware
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Lee Broom’s brutalist-inspired ‘Beacon’ will light up London as Big Ben strikes the hourSet to pulse through London Design Festival 2025 (13-22 September) and beyond, the British industrial designer’s sculptural light installation on the South Bank draws on its surroundings
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Alex Tieghi-Walker unveils his plans for Brompton Design District 2025Ahead of London Design Festival 2025, we catch up with New York gallerist Alex Tieghi-Walker about his appointment as curator of the Brompton Design District programme
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‘R for Repair’ at London Design Festival displays broken objects, re-formedIn the second half of a two-part exhibition and as part of London Design Festival 2022, ‘R for Repair’ at the V&A displays broken objects, re-formed
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‘Finding quality through the act of making’: Pearson Lloyd celebrates 25 years of designPearson Lloyd’s show ‘Change Making’ reflects on past designs from its archives, showcasing the influences on and evolution of the studio, from furniture design to the NHS
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Tom Dixon marks his studio's 20 years with a show of design experimentsMushroom, cork, steel coral and more: Tom Dixon showcases an overview of his design experiments as he celebrates his practice's 20 years
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Porro unveils new London showroom at Coal OfficeLondon Design Festival 2022: industrial architecture meets pure geometries in the new Porro showroom, taking over a space within Tom Dixon’s Coal Office to showcase the brand’s systems and furniture
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Vitra unveils new London home in the Tramshed, ShoreditchLondon Design Festival 2022: after a year-long renovation, Vitra opens the door to its new showroom in the heart of Shoreditch
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Mudlarking beside the River Thames inspires The New Craftsmen’s makersLondon Design Festival 2022: The New Craftsmen’s new collection, ‘Claylarks’, features work from a group of creatives inspired by a River Thames mudlarking expedition
