Seven designers rethinking wood at London Design Festival

Wood is a material rooted in craftsmanship and tradition but one that also offers endless possibility. At this year’s London Design Festival, we've discovered a variety of projects pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved with this everyday material, whether by working with discarded offcuts, combining it with other materials to alter its appearance, extracting its resin or finding new ways to manipulate it with tools and techniques.

‘We talk about wood being a very traditional material but also about it being a perfect material for the future,' says designer Brogan Cox, who runs furniture brand Sebastian Cox with her husband and who is showcasing her 'Tides’ collection – created with artist Nat Maks – as part of the group show 'The Objects We Live By'. 'Not least because of its environmental credentials but also because of the myriad ways in which it can be worked.'

This year, many of those experimenting with wood come from a younger generation eager to redefine what the material can be. Among them is London-based, Minneapolis-born designer Blake Carlson-Joshua of studio B.C. Joshua, also showing work at 'The Objects We Live By', who has recently expanded his practice from paper pulp to hardwood. ‘Working with wood has made it much easier to translate my ideas from paper to object,’ he says of the development. ‘Shaping materials with newer systems such as CNC and laser cutting has opened up new doors to creative ideation.’

As well as the individual pieces showcased below, during the festival, design enthusiasts can marvel at entire showcases dedicated to the material. For instance, 'Grain Pile', a show at Clerkenwell Fire Station, sees Max Radford Gallery join forces with British furniture maker Ercol. Six London-based designers – including Andu Masebo, Eddie Olin, Joe Armitage, Jaclyn Pappalardo, Isabel Alonso, and Lewis Kemmenoe (whose work is highlighted below) – have delved into the Ercol archives to reimagine its wooden furniture for today, producing new stools, tables, benches, chairs, cabinets, and a rocking chair in collaboration with Ercol's workshops.

Just a mile south-west in Holborn, at Material Matters at Space House on Kingsway, the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) is spotlighting emerging talents including Andu Masebo, Daniel Schofield, and Anna Maria Øfstedal Eng, who have crafted furniture from No.1 Timber – an underused hardwood grade known for its knotty character – in collaboration with Benchmark’s workshops. Originally shown during 3 Days of Design in Copenhagen, the work champions a more sustainable approach to material selection, using what nature provides rather than demanding perfection.

Also at Material Matters, the Wood Awards – a competition dedicated to architecture and design in wood – is exhibiting its 2025 shortlist, from small-scale furniture pieces to Feilden Fowles’ timber pavilions for London’s Natural History Museum gardens.

Together, these initiatives show that, when it comes to wood, tradition and innovation aren’t opposites but partners – and that a material humans have worked with for millennia still has plenty of surprises left to give.

Seven projects reimagining wood

Brogan Cox and Nat Maks explore marbled timber surfaces

The tides of their local beach in Margate inspired designer Brogan Cox and artist Nat Maks to see what happens when timber meets marbling inks. The results are two English-grown sycamore pieces – the 'Low Tide' coffee table and 'High Tide' side table – CNC-machined, hand-finished in Cox’s Kent workshop, and dipped into swirling shades of pink, blue, yellow, green, and white ink.

'The Objects We Live By', Atelier Seventy-Six, 76 Sussex Square, London W2 2SS

B.C. Joshua celebrates Black American history through inlay

Made from CNC-cut British ash with hand-painted aluminium inlays, the 'Dogtrot II' stool by Blake Carlson-Joshua draws on the architecture of the southern US dogtrot house and the cultural spirit of the Harlem Renaissance – the 1910s–1930s movement that redefined artistic expression and ideas of identity in America. Created during a design residency with Colony in New York, the piece is part of a wider 'Harlem cabin' collection that nods to Joshua’s grandfather, who migrated to Harlem in the 1920s, and features painted motifs of Black cowboys as symbols of freedom and self-determination. It's on show at 'The Objects We Live By', curated by Emma Louise Payne at Atelier Seventy-Six, alongside his 'Topo Lamp', a suspended light from his ongoing series of sculpted pulp works.

'The Objects We Live By', Atelier Seventy-Six, 76 Sussex Square, London W2 2SS

Lewis Kemmenoe crafts patchwork timber furniture

London designer Lewis Kemmenoe wowed us with his collection for Fendi at Design Miami last year, and this week we have been equally captivated by his 'Patchwork Rocking Chair' for the Max Radford Gallery x Ercol collaboration. Crafted in ash and oak, including waste from Ercol’s factory floor, the piece combines a spindle back with solid, panelled sides, its angular geometry and Kemmenoe's signature patchwork detailing – where different woods are pieced together to form subtle patterning – transforming familiar forms into something entirely new. The design continues Kemmenoe’s exploration of functional objects with a quietly subversive character, drawing on influences from architecture, fashion, and design.

'Grain Pile', Clerkenwell Fire Station, 42-44 Rosebery Ave, London EC1R 4RN

Jacob Marks revives pine resin for contemporary design

A tree has more than just wood to offer. Designer Jacob Marks has been exploring the untapped potential of pine resin, a material once widely used before being displaced by petroleum-based alternatives. On show at Material Matters, his exhibition 'Explorations in Pine Resin' brings together years of experiments, from handles, lights, and mirrors to small-scale furniture and a recent collaboration with Sanne Visser's Hair Cycle, creating a sustainable composite material. By combining contemporary techniques with the resin’s rich history, Marks makes a case for its revival.

Material Matters at Space House, Kingsway, London WC2B 4AN

Darren Appiagyei presents vessels exploring texture, growth, and imperfection

At an exhibition called 'Mirroring Dialogue', curated by New York-based curator Tione Trice and London-based fashion designer Ronan Mckenzie, woodworker Darren Appiagyei is showcasing vessels made throughout his career that demonstrate how he has developed from a woodturner into a wood artist. Pieces include his 'Ignatius' vessels, one of which is pictured here, created from cherry and horse chestnut wood. Named after Appiagyei's father, whom he describes as 'a strong fiery man', the 'Ignatius' collection is made using a pyrographic machine to create the intricate finish.

'Mirroring Dialogue' (South Kensington), 36 Thurloe Place, South Kensington, London SW7 2HW

Tabitha Isobel and Dom Callaghan craft furniture from felled London Plane

For her debut furniture collection, launched this month during London Design Festival, interior designer Tabitha Isobel (formerly of Conran + Partners and Tatjana von Stein) teamed with maker Dom Callaghan to create 'Ferro' – a side table, mirror, and wall light using brushed steel and London Plane timber sourced from felled city trees by Fallen & Felled. With its clean lines and warmth of material, the standout is the mirror composed of alternating London Plane tones in a checkerboard pattern.

Launched online at tabithaisobel.co.uk

Shintaro Oku showcases zero-waste camphor-wood designs

Returning for its third edition at LDF, 'Kagoshima: Stories in Craft from South Japan' takes over wagumi at London’s Oxo Tower Wharf, spotlighting Japanese woodworker Shintaro Oku, who works under the brand KOPPA. Known for transforming camphor wood off-cuts into smooth, textural forms and using even the smallest fragments, Oku brings a zero-waste approach.

'Kagoshima: Stories in Craft from South Japan', wagumi, Oxo Tower Wharf, Unit 1.09, Oxo Tower Wharf, Bargehouse Street, South Bank, London SE1 9PH

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