London Design Festival 2009: Part three

Close up view of a metal and wood workbench with gold elements and three hand tools on top
(Image credit: TBC)

Our third foray into the London Design Festival saw us take in the main two umbrella events, 100% Design at Earls Court and Tent London on the other side of town in the Truman Brewery. Both were significantly smaller this year (100% took up just one of the two halls it usually occupies). Tent felt a bit thin on the ground, but 100% benefitted from being smaller - the edit seemed more considered and the layout made more sense.

The same could be said for the festival as a whole. Things either felt a little disparate and thrown together or carefully curated to make sense of what's happening in design at the moment on a wider scale. Strict organisation around just two 'hubs', one in the east and one in the west, would be our advice to improve the coordination next year.

Close up view of a green panel with a cut out design of a hand with one finger touching a circle and square shape above

(Image credit: TBC)

These are the things that caught our eye

100% Design

Tent London

Craft Work

Part Two

Halfway through the London Design Festival and, blessed with good weather, spirits are high. The second instalment saw us take in Tom Dixon's 'The Dock' and much of the Brompton Design district in the west of the city. Dixon created another 'hub' around his new premises at Portobello Dock and, though there were one or two notable highlights, we came away feeling it could have been a fifth of the size. Around the V&A things are curated a little better - Libby Sellers' showing of Dick Van Hoff's work in an old car park is exceptional and Nina Tolstrup's Pallet invasion of Jacqueline Rabun's showroom is ethereal, imaginative and well worth the wander to Hyde Park Corner...

Brompton Cross

Gallery Fumi

The Pallet Project at Jacqueline Rabun

Elements by Dick Van Hoff at Libby Sellers

Mint

The Trellick Tower

Tom Dixon

The Dock

Vessel

Part One

Much as we love design and London, the London Design Festival has in the past left us a little cold. Not through lack of effort, more by dint of the city’s scale and lack of coordination between events.

This year promised much though, according to Ben Evans, festival director, who answered our quibbles back in May. And after a gentle amble around town on the opening weekend, it does seem like things might be different this year – more coherent as a citywide event, more things of more substance, and above all, more things open at the start of the week so more time to cover it. These are our highlights thus far….

The Wallpaper* Chair Arch

Designers in Residence at the Design Museum

Kiosk pop-up shop at SCP

Max Lamb at Johnson Trading Gallery

Young Creative Poland

Size + Matter installations by Shigeru Ban and Marc Newson

The Tournament by Jaime Hayon, Trafalgar Square

Sori Yanagi tableware at Labour & Wait

Rosa Bertoli was born in Udine, Italy, and now lives in London. Since 2014, she has been the Design Editor of Wallpaper*, where she oversees design content for the print and online editions, as well as special editorial projects. Through her role at Wallpaper*, she has written extensively about all areas of design. Rosa has been speaker and moderator for various design talks and conferences including London Craft Week, Maison & Objet, The Italian Cultural Institute (London), Clippings, Zaha Hadid Design, Kartell and Frieze Art Fair. Rosa has been on judging panels for the Chart Architecture Award, the Dutch Design Awards and the DesignGuild Marks. She has written for numerous English and Italian language publications, and worked as a content and communication consultant for fashion and design brands.