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.
These are the things that caught our eye
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...
The Pallet Project at Jacqueline Rabun
Elements by Dick Van Hoff at Libby Sellers
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….
Designers in Residence at the Design Museum
Max Lamb at Johnson Trading Gallery
Size + Matter installations by Shigeru Ban and Marc Newson
The Tournament by Jaime Hayon, Trafalgar Square
Sori Yanagi tableware at Labour & Wait
-
Takashi Murakami’s flower-adorned footwear brand Ohana Hatake has arrived in LondonThe Japanese artist’s colourful sliders appear as part of a summer pop-up at The Corner Shop, Selfridges, which opens today (4 August 2025)
-
This is rubbish: how Potato Head and Max Lamb turned trash into a design brandWasted is a new design brand by Potato Head, with a series of objects designed by Max Lamb made entirely from the hotel and beach club’s waste streams
-
Slide into blissful EV anonymity with the Vauxhall Grandland Electric GSAs Vauxhall gears up to launch a performance sub-brand, we chronicle the rather more modest achievements of its mid-priced, middle market Grandland SUV
-
‘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
-
‘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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
One tree, ten designers: SCP presents The One Tree Project at London Design FestivalLondon Design Festival 2022: SCP enlisted ten British designers to create furniture and objects from a felled ash tree from founder Sheridan Coakley's Hampshire garden
-
London Design Medals 2022London Design Medals 2022 are awarded to costume designer Sandy Powell, architect Indy Johar, researcher Joycelyn Longdon and photographer Sir Don McCullin
