There are few weeks in London’s calendar when the city feels quite as alive as it does during London Design Festival. Every September, museums, galleries and streets become the centre of conversation, where architects, designers and makers invite us to look differently at the spaces we move through every day.

The first programme announced for London Design Festival 2026, which returns from 12 to 20 September, looks at both the origins of design and its future direction. This year, both craft and artificial intelligence sit alongside one another as historic techniques are revisited through contemporary collaborations, exploring themes of migration, ecology, and cultural exchange across many confirmed projects.

London Design Festival 2026: programme announced

A bamboo pavilion with a bigger story to tell

Among the first commissions announced is The Pangolin Shield, the festival’s inaugural Landmark Project by the Anglo-Indian studio Studio Saar and structural engineers Atelier One. Installed on the Strand, the pavilion takes its cue from the pangolin, the shy, armour-plated mammal whose overlapping scales serve as the starting point for a structure made of bamboo and woven shields traditionally used by farming communities in north-eastern India.

While the pavilion could easily be appreciated for its impressive engineering, the aim is to encourage visitors to engage with it on a deeper level. It invites reflection on colonial histories, the movement of people and ideas, and the stories that materials carry as they journey across the Indian Ocean. Traditionally, the bamboo canopy serves both as shelter and as a space for contemplation, urging those on London’s busiest streets to slow down and be viewed.

Made looks back to the Barbican

Renowned for its iconic brutalist architecture, the Barbican has profoundly influenced London’s design imagination. Its impact is evident in contemporary interiors, furniture design, and even the conversations surrounding urban living.

This autumn, Made revisits that legacy with a new collection developed by designer Miriam Howitt, drawing on archival research into the estate and its original interiors. Furniture, lighting and textiles draw on the Barbican’s distinctive interiors. To accompany this, an installation at the festival explores how one of Britain’s most recognisable architectural landmarks continues to shape ideas of home decades after it first opened.

The V&A begins with an awakening

The V&A has become the spiritual home of the London Design Festival, and its annual commission often captures the mood of each edition. This year, Awakenings, curated by Carrie Chan and Kristian Volsing, looks at how design can reshape our relationship with the world around us.

Spread throughout the museum, the programme brings together designers including Aziza Kadyri, Eunjo Lee and Henry Svendsen, alongside new commissions exploring sound, identity, artificial intelligence and the natural world. There is a sense of curiosity running through the exhibition, as well as a sense that technology is no longer treated as something separate from craft. Instead, both are becoming part of the same conversation.

The Design Museum turns its attention to people behind the practice

The Design Museum’s programme spans fashion, furniture and contemporary design culture. A major ongoing retrospective celebrates NIGO, charting the Japanese designer’s influence across streetwear and luxury fashion. London-based designer, educator and cultural change-maker, Simone Brewster’s Platform installation continues her exploration of sculptural furniture and material histories, layered with references from 'palaeolithic fertility deities to African diasporic traditions'.

Away from the galleries, conversations take centre stage too. Brewster joins Jasmi Hussein, Emefa Cole and Hettie Judah for a discussion exploring design and motherhood, shifting the focus away from finished work, towards the lives and experiences that shape creative work.

Japanese craft meets contemporary design

This year, Craft x Tech Tokai Project continues its tradition of collaboration between Japanese artisans and international designers. The exhibition highlights the fusion of traditional craftsmanship and contemporary design, featuring media such as ceramics, washi paper, lacquer, textiles, and woodworking.

Featuring designers such as Bethan Laura Wood, David Caon, and Philippe Malouin, who engage with artisans whose techniques have been refined and passed down through generations, showcasing the exciting possibilities born from this rich exchange of ideas.

New conversations between Asia and London

Elsewhere, MixZ continues its exploration of cultural exchange between Asia and the UK through a pair of exhibitions taking place at the V&A and the Old Selfridges Hotel.

One of the exhibitions will highlight the ancient beauty of Dehua porcelain, while the other delves into the future with immersive technologies and artificial intelligence. Throughout both presentations, the focus is on collaboration as community, underscoring the idea that true innovation seldom occurs in a vacuum. Instead, it flourishes through the shared knowledge, materials, and ideas that flow between different cultures.

When the world came to a standstill six years ago during the pandemic, some speculated that it might spell the death knell for the design trade show – and in some ways, perhaps it did. Traditional fairs have struggled to draw the same crowds and have taken time to regroup. Stockholm Furniture Fair announced earlier this year that it will skip 2026, returning as a biennial in 2027, while London Design Fair cancelled all future events indefinitely in 2023. Others are taking steps to move with the times. In Milan, Salone del Mobile continues to grow its busy cultural programme and in 2026 will reinvigorate its offering at Fiera Milano with the introduction of a more intimately scaled collectible design pavilion, created by Formafantasma.

In tandem, smaller, more agile design fairs staged in architecturally compelling locations have surged in popularity, with design platform Alcova and the travelling showcase Nomad leading the way. It turns out that making the design fair experience more pleasurable – less overwhelming, more considered – has its appeal. Who would have thought?

The result is a seemingly ever-expanding fair calendar. It’s no exaggeration to say that, if time, money and inclination allow, you could now spend almost every week of the year at a design fair somewhere in the world. But where to begin? Seasoned design tourists have their fixtures – spring in Milan, summer in Copenhagen, winter in Miami – yet there’s something especially appealing about seeking out the less expected. We reached out to friends and insiders for their steer on the most interesting design fairs in the year ahead, and were pleased to find a healthy mix of new arrivals alongside trusted favourites. Here’s what they recommended.

January

Paris Déco Off / Maison & Objet, Paris, France

In January, décor enthusiasts head to Paris for the biannual design fair Maison & Objet, held at the city’s Parc des Expositions from 15–19 January. Running in parallel, Déco Off ,14–17 January, sees more than 150 textile houses unveil their latest collections across showrooms in the city’s Marais and Madeleine districts. Together, the two events serve as a barometer for the design trends set to shape the year ahead, drawing buyers, decorators and the design press alike.

At this year’s Maison & Objet, the theme is ‘Past Reveals Future’, a celebration of furniture rooted in craftsmanship. The fair’s designer of the year, Harry Nuriev, will also present a dedicated installation and unveil a new collection of home objects created exclusively for Baccarat.

14 to 17 January 2026
paris-deco-off.com

15 to 19 January 2026
Parc des Expositions Paris Nord Villepinte 82, avenue des Nations 93420 Villepinte, France
maison-objet.com

NEW for 2026: Shoppe Object Paris, Paris, France

Further bolstering the appeal of Paris in January is the launch of Shoppe Object Paris. The New York–founded trade fair will make its European debut from 17–19 January within fashion and lifestyle trade show Who’s Next at Porte de Versailles. Located in Hall 7.2 and conceived as a ‘showroom within a showroom’, it promises to bring a tightly curated international edit spanning tableware, furniture, gifts and lifestyle, with a focus on materials, craftsmanship and contemporary retail culture.

The showcase, developed in collaboration with WSN, the group behind the recently launched and hugely popular Matter and Shape, is designed to act as a strategic bridge between European and North American brands and buyers.

17 to 19 January 2026
Paris Expo Porte de Versailles is 1 Place de la Porte de Versailles, 75015 Paris, France

The New York editions of Shoppe Object take place 1 to 3 February 2026 and 2 to 4 August 2026
Starrett-Lehigh Building 601 West 26th Street, New York, NY 10001, USA
shoppeobject.com

NEW for 2026: Der Pavilion, St. Moritz, Switzerland

Curator Giorgio Pace, who co-founded the collectible design fair Nomad in 2017 before departing last year, has announced his next venture: Der Pavilion. The four-week-long constellation of exhibitions, performances and experiences will open in St. Moritz on 29 January, overlapping with Nomad St. Moritz, which takes place from 12–15 February.

Described by Pace as a ‘natural evolution’ of what he has been building over the past fifteen years, Der Pavilion is conceived as a residency-style exhibition model. It is designed to foster a slower, more reflective cultural experience during the St. Moritz winter season, offering visitors deeper engagement, greater visibility and sustained access to collectors.

The inaugural edition will unfold within the former Hotel Eden, currently slated for redevelopment. Looking ahead, Pace says the project will evolve into a permanent architectural structure, serving as a year-round home for exhibitions, performances and gatherings.

From 29 January 2026
Hotel Eden, Via Veglia 12, 7500 St. Moritz, Switzerland
giorgiopaceprojects.com

DesignTO Festival, Toronto, Canada

Launched in 2010, DesignTO is a ten-day, city-wide festival that evolved alongside Toronto’s annual Interior Design Show, emerging as a platform for independent design studios to host off-site events. Championing the local design community, this year’s programme spans workshops, talks, exhibitions and window installations.

The talks cover a wide range of topics and don’t shy away from important issues, from the climate crisis and social justice to decolonisation. The workshops, meanwhile, sound refreshingly playful – try bacon embroidery at the Drake Hotel with textile artist Laura Carwardine, or join a life drawing class on vintage furniture from In Corso, hosted by design Substack For Scale at the Ace Hotel.

23 January to 1 February 2026
designto.org

February

Zsonamaco and Unique Design X, Mexico City, Mexico

It won’t take much persuasion for those in the northern hemisphere to book flights to Mexico City in the bleakest of months, but if you need an excuse, Mexico Art Week – and its headline event, Zona Maco – is it. The largest art fair in Latin America, the action unfolds across the city and at the Citibanamex Centre, where visitors will find contemporary art, design, photography and antiquities.

For its 22nd edition, the fair welcomes British designer Lee Broom for a creative residency at a historic villa in Polanco, owned by lighting brand Diez Company. Here, Broom will present more than 50 works, spanning new editions and collaborations with Calico Wallpaper, Lladró and a selection of Mexican artists chosen in collaboration with Diez.

For the past three years, the festivities have also included nomadic design fair Unique Design X, which brings together international galleries such as Carpenters Workshop and Marion Friedmann, alongside local talents such as Esteban Tamayo and Atra Form.

4 to 8 February 2026
Zsonamaco, Citibanamex Centre, Avenue del Conscripto 311, Lomas de Sotelo, Miguel Hidalgo, 11610 Mexico City, Mexico
zsonamaco.com

5 to 8 February 2026
Av. Morelos 67 Juárez, Cuauhtémoc, 06600 Mexico City, Mexico
uniquedesignxgroup.com

India Art Fair, New Delhi, India

We’re told that this year’s India Art Fair is set to expand its collectible design offering, spotlighting the work of 12 design studios and two design galleries. Among them is Mumbai-based Æquō, which has teamed up with the French Institute’s residency programme, inviting French designer Marie Gastini to explore a cross-cultural dialogue between traditional Indian textile techniques and contemporary scenography.

A new design talks programme, curated by multidisciplinary media agency Border & Fall, will further explore design practices across South Asia and beyond. Elsewhere in the city – at Sunder Nursery – conservation scientist and creative director Tara Lal, in collaboration with architectural studio T__M.space, has created the Aranyani Pavilion, a spiral-shaped structure that explores sacred ecologies, invasive species, Indigenous knowledge systems, and decolonial approaches to restoration in South Asia.

5 to 8 February 2026
NSIC Exhibition Grounds, Okhla, New Delhi, Delhi, 110020, India
indiaartfair.in

Object Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands

For those in Europe, Object Rotterdam kicks off February. Long praised for its considered curation and easy-going scale, the fair is particularly strong on championing a diverse mix of voices, bringing emerging talent into dialogue with more established names across disciplines. Last year, it moved from its usual home in the HAKA building to the centrally located AIR Offices; this year, to the delight of architecture fans, it remains in the heart of the city, relocating to the 1980s Central Library on Hoogstraat – reason enough to visit in itself. Currently awaiting large-scale renovation, the former library offers visitors the rare chance to wander its stacks one last time, transformed into a temporary showcase for contemporary design.

6 to 8 February 2026
Central Library, Librijesteeg 4, 3011 HN Rotterdam, Netherlands
objectrotterdam.com

NEW for 2026: FUTUREOBJEKT at Melbourne Art Fair, Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne Art Fair is also upping its design offer with the launch of a new collectible design salon, FUTUREOBJEKT. Described as a ‘fair-within-a-fair’, the showcase brings together 20 Antipodean design studios, including several Wallpaper favourites. Among them are Melbourne-based Volker Haug Studio, which will debut a series of Murano glass lamps, and Don Cameron, presenting a selection of rare vintage design pieces alongside new works of his own.

Also launching in 2026 is the fair’s first-ever design commission, presented in partnership with the National Gallery of Victoria. Melbourne-based artist and designer Anna Varendorff of ACV Studio, known for her distinctive curved brass sculptures, will create an ambitious installation for the VIP lounge.

19 to 22 February 2026
Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Exhibition Door 1, 1 Convention Centre Pl, South Wharf VIC 3006, Australia
melbourneartfair.com.au

March

Matter and Shape, Paris, France

Returning for its third edition, Matter and Shape has quickly become a firm favourite among design aficionados. Launched in 2024 and held during Paris Fashion Week in a temporary show space at the Jardin des Tuileries, the salon highlights the increasingly porous boundary between fashion and design, drawing collectors, buyers and creatives into the same orbit. As the show's artistic director, Dan Thawley, noted last year '...design has never been more fashionable than now.’

Conceived as a tightly curated platform for both established and emerging voices, Matter and Shape pulls together objects and interiors that sit at the intersections of ‘design, industry and craft, creativity and commerce’. This year look out for Irish glassware brand J Hill's Standard, which is launching Irish fashion designer Richard Malone's first products.

6 to 9 March 2026
Jardin des Tuileries, 75001 Paris, France
matterandshape.com

Collectible, Brussels, Belgium

Last year during Brussels design fair Collectible we discovered a lively design scene as the city continues to emerge as one of Europe’s most compelling places for creatives to live, work and sell. Needless to say, we’ll be returning this year to see how that energy has evolved. Now in its ninth edition, Collectible Brussels takes place at the Vanderborght Building, once again positioning itself as a key platform for the discovery of contemporary collectible design.

12 to 15 March 2026
Vanderborght Building, Rue de l'Ecuyer 50, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium
collectible.design

April

Milan Design Week, Milan, Italy

Every year, there is plenty of chatter about which trade show is the ‘new Milan’, alongside much lamenting over the way fashion and tech brands have infiltrated the design ranks. Yet despite it all, Milan remains undefeated as the most important event on the design calendar. At its heart, it is an unrelenting but thrilling, negroni-fuelled networking marathon, played out across wisteria-strewn courtyards and palazzi – and, for all its intensity, a lot of fun.

As well as annual favourite Alcova, which announced its 2026 locations earlier this month, this year, don’t miss Salone Raritas at Salone del Mobile: a new collectible design pavilion conceived by Formafantasma, which promises to tempt even the most weary design cognoscenti into making the pilgrimage out to Rho.

21-26 April 2026
Rho Fiera, Strada Statale Sempione 28, 20017 Rho, Milan
salonemilano.it

May

DesignMarch, Reykjavík, Iceland

Despite its small size and remote location, Iceland is home to a vibrant, energetic design community as evidenced each year at Design March in Reykjavík, the country's annual festival of design, architecture and craft. The five-day event unfolds as a citywide programme of exhibitions, talks, open studios and installations, bringing together local and international practitioners while placing a particular emphasis on Icelandic design culture and local materials – expect plenty of wool, algae and lava stone. Spread across galleries, institutions and unexpected venues across the city, DesignMarch offers a focused snapshot of contemporary practice, from product and furniture design to architecture, fashion and graphic design.

6 to 10 May 2026
honnunarmidstod.is

NYCxDesign and ICFF, New York, USA

New York Design Week(NYCxDesign) is the city’s annual, city-wide celebration of design, spanning exhibitions, talks and trade fairs across Manhattan and beyond. Among its highlights in 2026 is the second edition of Afternoon Light, the design fair founded by Minya Quirk and Deirdre Maloney, who first launched the project as an online collectible design marketplace. Last year, the fair debuted under the name Shelter by Afternoon Light; in 2026, it returns simply as Afternoon Light and relocates to downtown venue WSA.

As before, the fair will feature an invitation-only exhibitor list and a tightly edited curation. Widely regarded within New York’s design community as a welcome counterpoint to ICFF – the mega trade show at the Javits Center around which Design Week originally coalesced – Afternoon Light brings a fresh, considered perspective.

14 – 20 May 2026
nycxdesign.org

17 to 19 May 2026
ICFF, Javits Convention Center 429 11th Avenue, New York, NY 10001
icff.com

Afternoon Light, WSA, 161 Water Street, NYC 10038
afternoonlight.com

June

3 Days of Design, Copenhagen, Denmark

True to its name, the festival unfolds over three days each June, animating historic buildings, showrooms and temporary venues across the Danish capital. Copenhagen is ideally scaled for a city-wide event of this kind: if not entirely walkable, then effortlessly cyclable. June in Copenhagen only adds to the appeal, with the city’s relaxed, assured hospitality lending the festival a warm, celebratory atmosphere, helping to explain its runaway success.

That popularity has inevitably driven rapid growth. While the 2026 programme has yet to be announced, last year saw more than 400 brands take part across eight districts. The challenge now will be ensuring the event retains its lightness of touch as it continues to expand.

10 to 12 June 2026
3daysofdesign.dk

NEW for 2026: Nomad The Hamptons, Long Island, USA

As longtime admirers of theatre director Robert Wilson and his Water Mill Center – the experimental arts foundation and campus he established on the East End of Long Island in the early 1990s – we were pleased to learn that it will host Nomad's US debut. A long-standing hub for cross-disciplinary exchange, the Watermill Center was chosen, Nomad says, because it aligns naturally with the fair's interest in dialogue across art, design and architecture. Set to take place in summer 2026, the Hamptons edition marks a significant moment for the fair, situating its collectible design programme within one of the world’s most concentrated collector communities.

25 to 28 June 2026
Robert M. Wilson, Water Mill, 39 Watermill Towd Road, Water Mill, NY 11976, USA
nomad-circle.com

July

Work/Shop Nantucket, Nantucket, USA

Nantucket, the rarefied Massachusetts island, isn’t an obvious choice for a design fair, but its strong culture of craft, tradition and collecting suggests otherwise. Founded by design communications agency Alpha Kilo, Work/Shop Nantucket is a year-round, residency-based platform that transforms a historic property in the heart of town into a rotating showcase for craft, design and cultural exchange. Structured around four seasonal chapters – Culinary (May–June), Design (July–August), Sustainability (September–October) and Entertaining (November–December) – the programme brings together artisans, designers and heritage brands through workshops, demonstrations, salons and retail-led installations. Timed to coincide with Nantucket’s high season and events such as Nantucket by Design (hosted by the local historical association), Work/Shop, now in its second year, positions itself as an intimate, narrative-driven alternative to the traditional trade fair.

The design residency runs 10 July to 9 August 2026
alphakilo.com/workshop

August

Setmana d'Arquitectura i Disseny Club Pollença, Mallorca, Spain

Mallorca has become a veritable haven for creatives, with plenty happening in the island’s capital, Palma, alongside architectural pilgrimages such as Jørn Utzon’s Can Lis near Portopetro, Fundació Miró Mallorca, and artist-run hotels like Corazón in the Tramuntana mountains. But for one week in mid-August, head north-east from the capital to Pollença, where a mini architecture and design conference takes over the town. Over its 12-year history, guests have included Sabine Marcelis, Kersten Geers, Rafael Moneo, Jacob van Rijs, Alfredo Häberli, Daniel Libeskind, Boltshauser, Carme Pinós and Stephen Bates.

2026 dates TBC
instagram.com/setarqcpollenca

September

London Design Festival, London, UK

At London Design Festival 2025, Duncan Riches, creative director of the Shoreditch Design Triangle, told us that he sensed ‘a renaissance in the UK design sector’ – a view we were inclined to share after encountering a confident new generation of design talent across the city. In Brompton, Alex Tieghi-Walker made his debut as district curator (and is tipped to return in 2026), foregrounding a fresh mix of emerging voices, while Shoreditch buzzed with renewed energy, from House of Icon to Slancha Gallery’s pop-up on Brick Lane. The 2026 programme has yet to be announced, but if last year is any indication, it promises to be one of the most energised editions yet.

12 to 20 September 2026
londondesignfestival.com

Lake Como Design Festival, Como, Italy

There is a clear move towards slower, more reflective alternatives to the big trade shows, and Lake Como Design Festival is no exception. Set against one of Italy’s most compelling landscapes – and less than an hour from Milan – the fair returns for its eighth edition in 2026. This year's theme is 'Confine', which invites designers to explore borders not only as lines of division, but as sites of encounter, exchange and transformation. Over nine days, a programme of exhibitions, installations and talks will unfold across venues around Lake Como, inviting designers and audiences alike to consider how geographical, cultural and conceptual boundaries continue to shape both creative practice and contemporary life.

12 to 20 September 2026
lakecomodesignfestival.com

Vienna Design Week, Vienna, Austria

2026 marks the 20th anniversary of Vienna Design Week, a small but firm favourite within design circles. Moving beyond a narrow focus on product, the festival’s talks programme is known for tackling more searching questions – from the role of designers today to the future of design education – while in 2025 platforms such as the Feminist Welding Club kept things lively and accessible. Organised by an independent association, and retaining an agreeably offbeat spirit, the festival spans around 200 events across the city and welcomes some 40,000 visitors each year.

25 September to 4 October 2026
viennadesignweek.at

October

We Design Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon

We're already marking our calendars for the next edition of We Design Beirut – a five-day design experience that brings architecture, craft, exhibitions and workshops to life across historic sites in the Lebanese capital. The 2025 edition expanded significantly from its 2024 debut, activating landmarks from Roman Baths to Villa Audi and Burj El Murr with curated projects that explore legacy, resilience and continuity.

2026 dates TBC
wedesignbeirut.com

Edit Napoli, Naples, Italy

More than a few designers we’ve spoken to cite Edit Napoli as their favourite fair, and it’s easy to see why. The place to go for designer-makers, independent producers and craftsmen pushing back against the conventions of the mainstream design industry, the three-day fair was founded by design historian and independent curator Domitilla Dardi and engineer-turned-gallerist Emilia Petruccelli.

It takes place at La Santissima, the city’s former military hospital. Alongside the main exhibition, Edit Napoli runs its own awards programme, recognising the best unreleased product, as well as Edit Cult, a satellite initiative that sees selected brands present special projects in some of Naples’ most significant cultural sites.

‘In the context of a big design week, you don’t always have the attention to listen to the stories behind the work,’ Dardi told Wallpaper in 2019. ‘This kind of design deserves time.’

9 to 11 October 2026
La Santissima, Vico Trinità delle Monache, 80134 Naples, Italy
editnapoli.com

November

ART X Lagos, Nigeria, West Africa

Lagos, Nigeria is widely recognised as Africa’s creative and design capital, anchored by major events including Design Week Lagos, Lagos Photo Festival, Lagos Fashion Week and ART X Lagos. Of these, ART X Lagos remains the city’s most established and buzziest cultural moment. The 2025 edition had plenty of art–design crossover, with highlights including Nifemi Marcus-Bello’s Material Affirmations – Okírì Acts I–III at Tiwani Contemporary, and Portraits of Modernity, a live installation inspired by photographer J.D. Okhai Ojeikere, featuring the 'Pàtẹ́wọ̀' chair by Wallpaper* Future Icons Salù Wadi Studio. This year’s programme is yet to be announced, but as the fair marks its tenth anniversary, expectations are high.

Dubai Design Week, Dubai, UAE

The Middle East’s largest creative festival celebrates design in all its forms, bringing together installations, new commissions, exhibitions, talks and workshops across the purpose-built Dubai Design District (d3) and beyond. What began as a festival dominated by international brands has since evolved to include a strong presence of exhibitors from across the MENA region, bringing their own distinct design languages to the world stage.

2026 dates TBC
dubaidesignweek.ae

Cairo Design Week, Cairo, Egypt

Now in its fourth edition, Cairo Design Week has established itself as a significant new hub for design in the MENA region, broadening a landscape long centred on Dubai. The event is set to return in November 2026 for its fourth edition, building on its 2025 programme that transformed the Egyptian capital into a sprawling design playground with installations, exhibitions, workshops and talks across three districts: Heliopolis, Zamalek and Downtown. A meeting ground for regional creativity and innovation, the festival highlights both heritage and contemporary design in one of the Middle East’s most lively cities.

2026 dates TBC
cairodesignweek.net

Design Mumbai, Mumbai, India

The shifting design landscape in India is one we’ve been watching closely at Wallpaper*, and one of the reasons we eagerly anticipate the third edition of Design Mumbai in 2026. As with many international trade shows, global names and headline activations tend to dominate the programme – 2025's edition included a packed talks schedule and Design Mumbai Exchange, a series of installations by international designers – yet it is the local studios and brands that most pique our interest in this rapidly evolving market.

25 to 28 November 2026
Jio World Garden, Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai 400051, India
designmumbai.com

December

Design Miami, Miami, USA

The final major design event of the year, Design Miami will open its 22nd edition in 2026. What started as a modest gathering in 2005 during Art Basel Miami Beach has grown into a leading global fair with annual editions in Miami, Basel, Paris and Los Angeles with a new edition launching in Dubai in 2027.

The Miami iteration has helped to revitalise the city’s design district and continues to attract designers, collectors, and curators from around the world, all in search of high design with a side of winter sun.

1 to 6 December 2026
designmiami.com

DesignTide Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

After a 12-year hiatus, DesignTide Tokyo returned in 2024, reviving a platform that originally ran from 2005 to 2012 and was widely admired for prioritising creative experimentation over commercial trade. The 2025 edition, currently underway as we write, builds on that legacy with an expanded, more considered format shaped by an international board of directors and curators, including Hirofumi Akimoto of furniture label E&Y, Disegno editor-in-chief Oli Stratford, London-based sound artist Yuri Suzuki, and Sight Unseen co-founders Monica Khemsurov and Jill Singer.

Designers are selected through an open call and rigorous review process, with the programme unfolding across a Main Exhibition, student showcase, market and extension venues. Details of the 2026 edition are yet to be announced, but the fair’s renewed ambition is clear.

2026 dates TBC
1F Forest Hills West, 4-18-16 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo
designtide.tokyo

This year's London Design Festival offered some great moments of discovery, with emerging designers and independent studios taking over the city, opening their spaces and offering new approaches to creation and making. Along the way, we discovered some new lighting designs that caught our attention for their mix of ingenuity, functionality and beauty. From brands such as Tala, a regular fixture of London Design Festival who this year aimed to tackle an ongoing problem of our generation with a new lighting device to Raw Edges' lighting venture returning for a second year, from emerging design ideas by the likes of Six Dots and Yoonjeong Lee, illumination was central to our week.

Here, we bring you six lighting designs that caught our attention at London Design Festival 2026

Raw Edges for LightMass^

After launching the brand last year, Raw Edges and LightMass^ return with a new series of pendant lights that explore the design possibilities of the brand's experiments in additive technology and bio-based filaments. Featuring the same distinctive mesh shade of the launch collection, these sculptural, imposing pieces are an effortless decorative presence in a space. 'We wanted to achieve something sculptural and impressive that will be a pillar in space,' Alkalay told us when the company launched. 'At the same time we wanted it to be light in weight - almost like a mobile that can react to any little movement of air - and with a low carbon footprint through the light usage of material.'

'Wake' by Thomas Heatherwick for Tala

Launched at Tala’s Rivington Street store, this new lamp is three years in the making: ‘Wake’ is Heatherwick Studio’s response to our dependance on screens in the bedroom. Part bedside lamp, part circadian-aware sleep aid, it pairs hand-glazed ceramic and pressed glass with programmable light and sound sequences designed to help users wind down at night and wake gently in the morning – no harsh blue-light-emitting screens required. Ali Morris

Plug by Dean Edmonds

British designer Dean Edmonds' practice is rooted in ultra-functionalism and a no-nonsense approach to making. There is a sense of DIY in his work, often featuring raw metals and visible welding in a graceful way that adds sophistication and curiosity to the process. For Das Programm at System Studios: DP: CDRA, an exhibition of contemporary designs rooted in functionality, Edmonds created a wall lamp that very simply plugs into a socket, is connected to a bulb, and shaded by a perforated, curved piece of metal. It is everything an industrial design object should be: essential, functional and honest.

Six Dots

At Wallpaper*, we have admired the work of Joe Ellwood of Six Dots for a few years, and it's always exciting to see new pieces come from his experimental, hands-on studio. Among new welded pieces on show in Shoreditch this year, was this table lamp. 'This little drop of work has really been about trying to make things that feel intensely precious,' Ellwood explained. 'We bought a forge to cast our own aluminium a few months ago and immediately the objects that came out of the sand felt organic, otherworldly and precious.

‘Abiogenesis: Vol . 1’ by Abid Javed

For his London Design Festival showcase, designer Abid Javed has drawn on his training as a molecular scientist and his knowledge of structural and mitochondrial biology. The result is a series of otherworldly lamps that appear as if they are grown rather than made by hand, echoing the early stages of biogenesis. Javed makes the modular pieces in a variety of clay bodies, pairing ceramic bases with detachable shades, which can be interchanged. The collection, called ‘Abiogenesis: Vol . 1’, blurs the line between art, design and science. Ali Morris

Yoonjeong Lee

The highlights at the Charlotte Taylor-curated space at The Lavery, part of the Alex Tieghi-Walker-curated 'A Softer World' showcase, were too many to name. Set up as a small apartment full of life, treasure and curiosities, it looked like its inhabitants had just momentarily stepped out and you were allowed in for a peek. We particularly admired this desk lamp, made by Korean designer Yoonjeong Lee and featuring a pencil holding the shade in place. It is a highly symbolic tool for the designer: 'When writing, a pencil is a form of thought, when writing a letter, it is a bridge that connects emotions between people, when used as a tool of study, the pencil is an agent that gains knowledge and opens new possibilities,' she explains.

At Tala’s Rivington Street showroom during London Design Festival, visitors were asked a series of personal – some might say impertinent – questions, the first being: What do you usually do before going to sleep? Below the words, four glass beakers invited a response. The container marked 'I spend time on my phone or screens' quickly filled with red marbles.

The poll captured the problem neatly. Our phones, it turns out, make excellent alarm clocks – and terrible sleep companions. 'They are the first and last thing you see in the day,’ says Thomas Heatherwick, founder of Heatherwick Studio. 'Even when you don’t pick them up, if they’re in sight, your brain is still spending time on them. Sleep is a fragile thing – we need to treat it as a precious commodity.'

Heatherwick is here at Tala’s Rivington Street store for the launch of the studio’s latest product. Three years in the making, ‘Wake’ is Heatherwick Studio’s response: part bedside lamp, part circadian-aware sleep aid, created with British lighting brand Tala. It pairs hand-glazed ceramic and pressed glass with programmable light and sound sequences designed to help users wind down at night and wake gently in the morning – no harsh blue-light-emitting screens required.

Thomas Heatherwick x Tala: from idea to object

‘We all know what it feels like to have a bad night's sleep,’ says Stuart Wood, Executive Partner at Heatherwick Studio, who led the project alongside Heatherwick. ‘A poor night's sleep, of course, affects your mood… it's now proven scientifically that a repeated poor sleep really harms your ability to recover, for your body to repair itself, to replenish, renew… the better your sleep… everything feels better – every question, every thought, every movement, just feels better.’

Yet, he points out, the current offering of sunrise alarm clocks is lacking. ‘If you go to a store and say, show me your sleep lights, they’re very plasticky, feel very temporary and very techy. We wanted to get rid of the visual noise so that it actually meets the objective.’

Heatherwick agrees: ‘It was about trying to make something that felt more like it belonged in your home, rather than something that looks like a micro spaceship that’s landed ready to go in a landfill site tomorrow.’

Tala, founded in 2015 by Josh Ward, Max Wood and William Symington, has built its reputation on championing the emotional quality of light. With ‘Wake’, the brand wanted to move beyond the bulb to create its first full smart lighting product, aiming squarely at the rapidly growing $600 billion global sleep market. The brief to Heatherwick Studio was deceptively simple: design something tactile and beautiful that helps people reclaim bedtime from their phones. The result took three years to develop and is the most technically ambitious object Tala has made to date.

Touch, light, and sound

The final design feels simple but hides a surprising amount of engineering. A weighted ceramic base, hand-glazed so each one is subtly different, is topped with a softly rippled glass ‘sun’. Rotate the base to adjust brightness; press once to start a wind-down or wake-up sequence. The display hides behind the glass, glowing only when needed.

‘We were absolutely set on zero buttons,’ Wood explains. ’Rotating and pressing felt intuitive. The hard part was making the screen bright, legible and affordable while keeping it hidden.’

At night, the light fades gradually to warm tones as the room darkens; in the morning, it brightens slowly like dawn. Users set preferences in the Tala app once, then leave the phone out of the room entirely. 'The rhythms in our body are controlled by light,’ says Heatherwick, demonstrating a slow 'wind down' cycle designed to promote melatonin release. 'The idea that we can have a more gentle progression into sleep is quite important.'

Sound soon became part of the story, too. ‘For a number of people, actually, myself included, audio and sound complement light. And actually, those two go together,’ Wood says. ‘Some people prefer naturalistic sounds, whether that be rainfall or birdsong, but others actually do prefer versions of white noise… that help your brain sort of disconnect from the noise inside your brain.’

Material intelligence

Material choice was as much about feeling as function. Heatherwick talks about wanting to ‘not touch plastic’, about creating something ‘earthy, rooted, calming’ that carries weight and won’t skid off a bedside table. The grooves of the lamp’s ceramic base recal a sunset over water but are also a natural fit for fingertips to run over surface.

That thinking draws partly on the studio’s architectural work, including a vast new district in Xi’an, China, where extruded ceramic was used across façades to introduce warmth and imperfection at urban scale. ‘Ceramic has the imperfect qualities that give you the necessary visual complexity that our eyes and brains need,’ Heatherwick says. ‘Actually, if our environment is too clinically perfect, our cortisol actually rises.’

The same principles shaped Wake. Wood explains that while the team was drawn to ceramics and glass for their warmth and tactility, working with natural materials on a product of this complexity proved challenging. 'It's a very hard thing to mass manufacture, because those are imprecise materials with tolerances that can't be controlled, like plastic.' In the end, the studio decided to celebrate these imperfections and differences between each ceramic base. 'I really like the fact that it's this sort of technology and science delivered through the lens of something that feels natural and calm and a bit varied, because we couldn't control everything – I think that was an important part of the project.'

For Wood, this cross-pollination between projects is key to Heatherwick Studio’s work. ‘For me, the connection is thinking about functionality at the same time as joy, delight and emotion. It's all design. Designing an airport, in a way, is the same process as designing a sleep light. It's just bigger and there's more of it.’

Heatherwick links Wake to a broader shift in society’s interest towards health, human experience and rediscovering our basic, but often overlooked, needs. As general director of the Seoul Architecture Biennale, opening this week on 26 September, he is leading a city-wide conversation about the impact of buildings on wellbeing. ‘We’re talking about sleep health,’ he says, ‘but also looking at the impact of buildings from a health perspective on society more broadly… it's so obvious that buildings affect your health, and yet there’s no training at all on their wider impact on society. It’s been treated as though [architecture is] not part of our public health. So I think there’s a sort of spectrum on which these things relate.’

Available in the UK (£255), US ($295) and EU (€305) through tala.co.uk and John Lewis, Wake is the studio’s most accessible product to date which is a prospect that fills the team with excitement. ‘The idea that this could be in hundreds of thousands of homes, helping people have a nicer day,' Wood says, ‘that gives me real pleasure.'

tala.co.uk

For the uninitiated, polyurethane foam, long the default in upholstered furniture, actually carries a heavy environmental toll, from its petrochemical origins to landfill persistence. Increasingly, designers and manufacturers are questioning its ubiquity, recognising both ecological costs and creative limitations.

Thankfully, a new generation of makers is embracing responsible alternatives that align sustainability with design excellence. At London Design Festival (and until 1 November 2025) Aram Gallery presents ‘Beyond Foam', an exhibition curated by Yash Shah’s research start-up EcoLattice. Showcasing EcoLattice’s pioneering 3D-printed lattice foam replacement, the presentation invites eight UK-based designers to experiment with the material, illustrating how easily this innovation can be embraced by the industry.

Beyond Foam: EcoLattice's innovation at Aram Gallery

The origins of EcoLattice are as compelling as its innovation. While studying at Central Saint Martins, Shah sought to confront the global pollution crisis, identifying the widespread use of polyurethane foam in sofas, cars and trainers – a toxic, near-unrecyclable material entrenched in everyday life.

Thus he conceived EcoLattice as a university project: a 3D-printed alternative crafted from elastomers, including those found in TPU phone cases and automotive waste. Beyond its design versatility, the material stands out for its recyclability, scalability and affordability, all qualities that position it as a viable replacement for one of design’s most damaging staples.

For the exhibition, Shah invited eight emerging product designers – Arianna Kilachand, Harinad PM, Maria Bravo, Richard Price, Rupert Warries, Shivangi Vasudeva, Tom Howell-Jones and Tomas Thorsson, to experiment with EcoLattice.

'The breakthrough of EcoLattice’s 3D-printed lattice foam replacement comes from working hand-in-hand with designers and manufacturers,' says Shah. 'Designers push our material to its creative and technical limits, showing us applications we’d never have imagined on our own. Manufacturing and scaling those ideas into real-world products and proving they can be produced responsibly at volume.'

The highlights include: ‘Eco Fidget’, a cluster of chairs that transforms the once-frowned-upon act of fidgeting into a tool for stress relief; ‘Évoque’, a sleek lounger designed for effortless repose; ‘CorpusForma’, a spine-inspired seat that adapts to multiple modes of sitting; and EcoLattice’s reinterpretation of the classic ‘Bibendum’ chair by Eileen Gray (Aram holds the global head licence for Gray’s designs), and more.

Adding an immersive layer to the showcase, exhibition designer and co-curator Nina Zenhäusern has conceived a dedicated 'Material Playground', inviting visitors to touch, test, and experience EcoLattice’s foam replacement firsthand.

'Modern furniture foam has several environmental drawbacks, including poor biodegradability leading to greater landfill, as well as chemical emissions while in use,' says Daniel Aram, managing director of Aram. 'Alternatives have been developed over recent years, and EcoLattice’s solution is the latest in these developments. I feel that showcasing this new design technology from young, innovative designers is at the heart of what Aram’s gallery should be doing, and hopefully this will lend a helping hand on the long road in persuading manufacturers to experiment in moving away from today’s polyurethane foams to a more sustainable alternative.'

Beyond Foam is on view at Aram Gallery until 11 November 2025, aram.co.uk

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 hardwoods, combining them with hand-painted aluminium inlay. ‘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 Carlson-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

londondesignfestival.com

London-based designer Oliver Spencer started with a stall in Portobello Market, which sparked his love of cloth and craftsmanship. Now, five stores (Soho, Shoreditch, two in Bloomsbury on Lamb’s Conduit Street, and the latest addition in Marylebone ) and two decades later, he is known for his contemporary take on classic British menswear silhouettes.

Taking place this week – and for the second year running – Oliver Spencer is using his Shoreditch address on Calvert Avenue as a platform to encourage and celebrate creativity and innovative design during London Design Festival 2025, a reflection of his own craft-focused approach (and desire to make his stores into hubs for the local community).

London Design Festival 2025: The Loop by Studio Rhythmics at Oliver Spencer

In association with the Shoreditch Design Triangle (an LDF design district), Oliver Spencer is hosting an installation titled ‘The Loop’ by London-based design studio Studio Rythmics. Spencer came across the design duo through a friend, now a lecturer at Goldsmiths University: ‘He introduced me to his colleagues Chien and Su, who are two of the team that make up Studio Rhythmics,’ Spencer tells Wallpaper*.

An interior environment and the designs it accommodates are deeply personal. This is true of all of Oliver Spencer’s outposts, which are made to have a neighbourhood feel. Using the Shoreditch space as a creative platform during LDF not only benefits the customer experience and highlights a designer’s work, but also Spencer’s own creative process. ‘In previous years we’ve hosted Mac Collins’ “Iklwa” chair, which was a huge success,’ he says. ‘That design really stayed with me, and the colour, shape and inspiration behind the chair definitely influenced parts of future clothing collections we made.’

‘I think it’s really important, wherever possible, to bring creativity into our shops,’ he continues. ‘With “The Loop”, you get this brilliant immersive experience. Also, this [is] the work's debut public exhibition, so customers will get to see something totally new that’s a one-of-a-kind piece. “The Loop” is quite a meditative installation, so if nothing else, I hope customers will have a very peaceful experience.’

“The Loop” by Studio Rhythmics is on display until 21 September 2025, at Oliver Spencer’s Shoreditch store on Calvert Avenue, London E2 7JP, oliverspencer.co.uk

The Bank of England might not be the first place you’d think to go for lessons in the creative repurposing of waste, but circularity is the story that the Bank of England is exploring this London Design Festival. Currently installed in the Bank’s walnut-furnished former Stock Room is ’Reconstructing Value’, a collaboration between Saskia Boersma, head of the Bank of England Museum, material specialists Surface Matter, and Plasticiet, a studio focused on upgrading recycled matter through design.

The pop-up exhibition features benches made from a material specially developed for the project, created from £2.5m worth of shredded decommissioned banknotes. When no longer fit for purpose as precious tender, retired tenners are in fact no more than polypropylene waste, useless in our pockets but rich food for creative minds.

‘Reconstructing Value’: circularity at the Bank of England

The bank’s first engagement with the creative community came during last year’s LDF, when a project with Kessels Kramer invited 17 artists to take part in an exhibition at the museum entitled ‘Currency of the Future’, bringing fresh energy into the financial institution. A subsequent meeting between Boersma and Surface Matter highlighted the importance of circularity within the Bank's context, and the potential to give new life and value to a vast volume of old notes through design.

The idea was simple – the execution harder. 'Developing a new material is always complex and comes with risk,' explains Jane Campbell, strategy director at Surface Matter. 'Add in operational hurdles like security protocols and logistics between recycling partners, and there were a lot of moving parts. We also needed to strike a design balance – making a modern material that’s respectful of the bank’s historic, baroque setting. That meant navigating budget, time and aesthetic constraints, all while keeping the pieces impactful and functional.'

This is where the Delft-based material and design studio Plasticiet came in, using its expertise in the field to beautifully transform the humble waste into a piece of refined, high-end furniture. The new material and finely crafted forms easily hold their own in the stately interior, effortlessly demonstrating how value can be transformed through design.

For the occasion, the elegant curved benches are arranged into the form of a pound symbol. Around the periphery of the space are curated palettes of recycled and recyclable materials, created to underscore the story of reassigned value, and make the bridge between modern materials and architectural heritage.

Each palette nods to the colourways of British banknotes, while also reflecting architectural details from across the bank: the patina of aged bronze, the softness of Portland stone, the intricacy of mosaic flooring, the iridescence of the rotunda glass. The installation complements the adjacent Building of the Bank exhibition, which tracks the evolution of the bank’s design, from Sir John Soane’s original architecture to its present-day structure.

'The aim is to challenge assumptions and where we assign meaning and value – we often associate “recycled” with cheap, temporary or throwaway. These materials flip that idea. They’re enduring, refined, and able to stand proudly in a place steeped in heritage,' says Campbell. It’s a story of riches to rags to riches.

‘Reconstructing Value’, 15-21 September 2025, Bank of England Museum, London EC2R 8AH

Design fair Material Matters returns to London Design Festival (LDF) 2025 for its fourth edition (17-21 September). From its new location, the 1960s Space House, the fair promises its traditional mix of leading brands and emerging material explorations.

The initiative started out as a popular design podcast during lockdown, and developed into a fringe event that quickly piqued the design industry's curiosity. Fast-forward a couple of years, and Material Matters is a key feature of LDF, recently made its first outing in Copenhagen, during 3 Days of Design 2025, and is staging a series of pop-up events, including a bookshop that ran in early September, and a conference, planned for November 2025.

Earlier this summer, Wallpaper* sat down with founder (and podcast host) Grant Gibson to chat about Material Matters, where it came from and where it's going. Here, he shares more about the making of the fair, the new material explorations he's excited about, and why we should be keeping the material conversation alive.

Grant Gibson on Material Matters

Wallpaper*: Material Matters started as a podcast: can you tell us more about the idea and its early days?

Grant Gibson: I've been a design journalist and magazine editor for many years, but as people stopped reading magazines, I felt like I was in a position where I'd spent quite a few years fundamentally managing decline. And when I left Crafts Magazine, which I edited for over a decade, I needed something else to do. I wanted to create something that was bigger than me, and I needed to do that on a budget. I thought there was probably a market for a podcast, and so I recorded six episodes with people like Bill Amberg, Edmund de Waal, Celia Pym, with no great expectations. I put them out all together and realised it caused a bit of a ripple, and that, probably, there was an audience for this. This was 2019.

I spent a year going to people’s studios, and then Covid hit and people were at home, looking for things to do, or listen to. And at the same time, we discovered Zoom, among other things, and I realised that suddenly I could talk to designers, artists, makers, architects, scientists from across the globe, which was quite liberating.

W*: Why did you decide to focus on materials?

GG: I liked this notion of having a thread that ran through the interviews, rather than just a set of random interviews, it seemed like a sensible way to go. I started out with craftspeople and I was looking for something that wasn't overtly about sustainability, because it was becoming, even by that stage, really quite a tricky word, and people would start unpicking it. And I wanted some wriggle room, so I developed the conversations into the larger sphere of material intelligence. So if I wanted to interview John Barnard, the F1 designer who pioneered the use of carbon fibre in many ways, I could do that.

W*: How have conversations around materials evolved in the six years you've done the podcast, but then also since you've worked more in depth on the topic through the fair?

GG: I think it has become more mainstream. We have an installation this year in the fair, which is a follow-up from last year, called ‘In the Making’, curated by [architecture practice] TP Bennett in a partnership with The Furniture Practice, for example. And these are major companies, who are concerned with the environment and their impact upon it, looking at materials as a way to mitigate their impact. And up to a point, that's almost becoming more important than form. As an example, it seems like many of the contract and office furniture companies are in the process of thinking beyond the office and thinking about their wider impact on society, and they're doing that through materials.

W*: What did you learn in six years of doing the podcast?

GG: What struck me about doing the podcast is exactly this. It started very much as a series of conversations about craft. But then I expanded the scope because suddenly there was this realisation that materials touch every single part of our lives. And that can be on a macro scale; I did a podcast on the Grenfell Tower disaster, for example, and how aluminium composite material ended up cladding that building. But it can also be on the micro scale, and I have had many very intimate conversations with creatives over the years. I think the joy of doing the podcast is that you get these stories on different scales, all filtered through the prism of materials, which is really fascinating. As a society, we've lost touch with materials, with how things are made, and their value. And what we try to do on the podcast and in the fair is to explain why they matter, why they're important.

W*: The Materials Matter fair is a unique expansion of your concept that has become so successful, growing when many fairs were declining. How did the opportunity to evolve the podcast into a fair happen?

GG: Quite quickly, I realised that I'd created something close to a brand (I am cautious using that word), something that people were interested in. So the question was how to expand it, and make a living out of it. I'd known the person who became my business partner, William Knight, since the mid-1990s. We first met when he was at Design Council – he went on to become deputy director of the London Design Festival, and also a director of 100% Design, so he knew how to make events. It made sense to join forces and launch an event, get a space and fill it with worthwhile stuff, and the podcast gave it this kind of philosophical underpinning.

We didn’t want it to be in a large shed out of town, because people don't want to go to those kinds of places so much anymore. So we looked for a space, which is not straightforward in London, because it's been gentrified to within an inch of its life. So we found Bargehouse [at OXO Tower] in 2020, and year one was about proving that we could do it, which we did. And then we built on it, until it became clear it was something worth exporting, which is when the Copenhagen edition happened.

W* What should we expect for Material Matters 2025?

GG: The main news is our venue, Space House. It's a 1960s building by Richard Seifert, the architect best known for Centre Point. It's quite an extraordinary space; there's a lot of natural light coming in.

In terms of exhibitors, we have a mix of people coming back and new exhibitors. We’ll have ‘In the Making’ [as mentioned]. The Wood Awards will be showing their shortlist of the best buildings and products in wood. We've got a new installation from The Only Natural Design Competition, which encourages students to think about using materials such as hemp.

We have brands like Hydro and 3M, and exhibitors include MycoWorks, exploring the potential of mycelium, and then a variety of smaller designers and makers working in waste or pine resin, all sorts of new and different materials. It’s great to have a variety of people, from those working on a smaller scale, in a small studio or even at a kitchen table, to global brands.

W*: You obviously spent the past several years pretty much immersed in materials. What are the current trends?

GG: It's a bit of a cliché, but we've got quite a lot of mycelium going on. And one of the most interesting examples we've got in the fair is called Filie Materials, a leather alternative made from the plastic film taken from broken car windscreens. The two big strands that come through in the fair and the podcast are biomaterials (hemp is a big favourite, increasingly), but also waste and people doing things with waste in different ways.

Material Matters, 17-20 September
Space House, 1 Kemble St (Kingsway), London WC2B 4AN

Most of us have a mixed relationship with the tent. For some, it conjures memories of childhood camping trips, festival weekends, or nights shivering under nylon in the rain. For others, it evokes images of military camps, mountaineering expeditions, or humanitarian relief efforts. In The Camping Tent, the fifth book in the Typologie series, this deceptively simple structure is given the detailed design analysis usually reserved for furniture classics or architectural landmarks.

‘The Camping Tent’ by Typologie

Created by four designers and a photographer – Guillaume Bloget, Raphaël Daufresne, Thélonious Goupil, Guillaume Jandin, and Alberto Strada – Typologie is a series of self-published books that explores the forms and cultural significance of everyday objects.

Previous editions have looked at the pétanque ball, the wine bottle, the cork stopper, and the wooden crate. With the tent, the team turns its lens on a hybrid object: part shelter, part product, part symbol.

Three years in the making, the book’s first section methodically documents 55 tents, from 19th-century expedition models to the latest high-performance bivouacs, capturing each from the front, top, and side to reveal design evolution and technical ingenuity. The second half of the book dives into history and meaning, with essays, archival images, and interviews spanning military, leisure, and humanitarian contexts, alongside a factory visit exploring contemporary production in China.

Central to this title is the family-owned Italian brand Ferrino, Europe’s oldest tent manufacturer, whose archive underpins the book’s historical sweep. Founded in 1870, Ferrino’s tents have sheltered everyone from mountaineers to explorers to refugees, making it a fitting collaborator for Typologie’s rigorous study.

Ultimately, this is a book for anyone with an eye for detail and an appreciation of the utilitarian – particularly product designers – making Jasper Morrison's Shop the perfect host for its launch during London Design Festival 2025.

Typologie : The Camping Tent, €25, is available to order from collectionstypologie.com

The members of East London-based design collective Heirloom studio were researching the design of medical objects for a catheter design project, when they realised they had quite the collection on their hands.

This marked the beginning into a deep dive into objects that are conceived to be inserted into the body, whether for medical need or pleasure, and culminated into an exhibition to coincide with London Design Festival 2025. Titled 'Out of Orifice' and with an identity and posters by Studio Frith, the small display takes over the studio's office in Mile End.

Out of Orifice: design that goes inside of you

The 36 objects - ranging from catheters to inhalers, retainers and dummies all the way to grills, earbuds and butt plugs - give a magnificent overview of the extensive potential of design and its very tangible impact in our everyday life. It is obvious from looking at the group how important good design is for the world to function on a very detailed, intimate scale.

'The orifices of our bodies are the thresholds at which we meet the outside world,' reads a text from the collective introducing the exhibition. 'They are places of entry and exit; input and output; consumption, emission and exchange.

'These are the gateways between our interior and exterior universe. Some take in the materials we need to live, some are outlets for waste, some are erogenous zones, and some are all three and more.'

On the oval table, the objects are arranged from the medical to the pleasurable, with an emergency Nasopharyngeal Airway as the first item you encounter, all the way to a lollipop at the end. Curiously, the medical objects are all in shades of white and light blue, or teal, while the objects designed for pleasure are pink (a perineal massage wand) or bright fuchsia (a vibrator).

'Blue is a psychologically calming colour,' explains studio member Yemima Lorberbaum. 'These are objects you either choose to use, or have to use. This led us to notice how ones you choose are always looking quite fun, and wondering why can't we inject some of that in the objects you have to use? It has been a positive experience for us as a studio to explore this language, and we have loved how people have reacted and what conversations these objects have sparked.'

Shown on a neutral stage, however, the objects, even the most intrusively medical ones, end up appearing quite friendly, perhaps thanks to their no-nonsense, streamlined design.

Accompanying the exhibition are a series of colourful posters by Kerr, typographic exercises where some of the objects instructions are taken in isolation: 'Chew thoroughly', 'Stop at resistance', 'Lubricate if needed', they read.

Dubbed by the studio 'an eclectic catalogue of insertables,' the small display is cheerful as it is educational - both for visitors and the studio themselves.

'The fun projects [we do] and the functional ones inform each other, you can't design in isolation,' continues Lorberbaum. 'But the objects we put in our bodies end up being the more humane'

5 Tredegar Mews, E3 5AF

Japanese craft retailer Nakagawa has made its European debut in London, designed by Jones Neville with graphics by A Practice for Everyday Life.

Nakagawa, which can trace its roots back to 1716, stocks stylish household items made by more 800 artisans around Japan – from aprons and tea-sets to brooms and bento boxes – all designed to age gracefully with use.

The brand already has more than 60 directly managed stores in Japan, with pop-ups popping up in Taipei, Shanghai, Beijing and Seoul.

Inside Nakagawa's London pop-up

The 10-month pop-up in Shoreditch follows on from a shop at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport, designed by Yosuke Hayashi of Tokyo-based design studio, which opened in 2024. There, the display system comprised a collection of vermillion wooden volumes resembling oversized trunks.

Jones Neville, which straddles furniture-making, product and exhibition design, and architecture, was asked to make a shop in this bijou 5msq space that related to its surroundings.

'They wanted it to feel in context in London,' says co-founder Simon Jones. The client showed them one of the brand’s famous patterned dish cloths made from mosquito netting, folded into four with a diagonal stitch line.

Jones and Jack Neville took that module concept as a starting point for their design, and combined its geometry with the Victorian octagonal bandstand in nearby Boundary Garden, a local symbol of community and cultural gathering.

For the layout, they overlaid these two shapes. Around the edge of the room, they built and installed a low plinth in an octagon, with wall panels hiding storage and display shelves. And in the centre, there’s an octagon table, displaying more wares.

The cork floor echoes the same modular grid system, with some of them into triangles. As a result, the floor has the same square pattern with a diagonal seam as the dish cloth, and relates to the facets of the octagons.

The north London-based duo lined the room with joinery, to make it square, and added storage in the alcoves. The sales counter is angled at 45 degrees, and behind that they turned a little stock room into a changing room.

Rather than ape Japanese joinery, which is typically cedar or cypress, Jones Neville sourced sycamore, with its pale tone and even grain, from Warwickshire in England’s West Midlands. This was used for the worktops, central table and storage doors. 'It seems like an appropriate nod to the quietness of Japanese joinery,' Jones says of the sycamore.

A Practice for Everyday Life hand-painted the shop signage onto the back of the fan light above the shop door and onto a wall panel inside.

In Shoreditch, around 500 items will be on show, including textiles, ceramics, kitchenware, home accessories, and clothing. Part of the pop-up are two limited-edition dish cloth designs inspired by the nearby Columbia Road Flower Market, which will be exclusive to this store. They are a rendition of Nakagawa's famous Hana-Fukin dishcloths, originally derived from mosquito net fabric and ideal for modern kitchens for their lightweight, quick-drying, highly absorbent material.

The pop-up will also host workshops in tea ceremony, kintsugi (golden repair), and traditional ice shaving.

The pop-up is open until July 2026. Tuesday–Saturday 11:00–18:00, Sunday 11:00-17:00
16c Calvert Avenue, Shoreditch, London E2 7JP

RDI designers Luke Pearson and Tom Lloyd take comfort seriously. Over their 28-year career, they’ve designed everything from award-winning office chairs to airline seats and hearing aids – where comfort and ergonomics are non-negotiable. So when they were tasked by furniture brand Cozmo with creating a high-back sofa that makes you feel held, their design process, they reveal, was as rigorous as it was tactile.

Launching today at London Design Festival 2025, the appropriately named ‘Hug’ sofa was created in collaboration with Cozmo founder Jacob Peres, who singled out Pearson Lloyd as the ultimate connoisseurs of comfort for the project.

‘Exploring high-back design was an obvious brief for us, even though it’s often overlooked in contemporary, design-led furniture,' explains Peres. 'Low, slim profiles are easier to achieve, with appealing proportions, but we wanted to take on the challenge. Pearson Lloyd were the perfect partners. They combine first-class design innovation, beauty, and style with a real depth of ergonomic knowledge.’

The making of the ‘Hug’ high-backed sofa

The process to create ‘Hug’ began not at the drawing board, but on the workshop floor, where at their first meeting, in July 2024, Luke Pearson and Tom Lloyd showed Peres a ‘Frankenstein-like’ wooden structure with moving parts. ‘Hand sketching often focuses on the search for aesthetic, material or constructional ideas,’ explains Tom Lloyd. ‘In this case, we started with the idea of comfort, which is a very physical thing. The use of foams and fabrics to create comfort and the exploration of posture and ergonomics is clearly challenging to explore or convey through drawing.

‘We also wanted the look of the sofa to reflect the comfort that we were trying to establish, he continues. ‘So we let the design as much as possible reflect these early experiments. In a similar way to creating a beautiful coat, it is a form of tailoring that cannot be left to the end of the design process.’

As the design started to emerge, full-scale mock-ups gave the designers ‘immediate feedback’ on the ergonomics of the design. The secret to the sofa’s embrace-like feel, Lloyd explains, lies in its high back – ‘much higher than other contemporary upholstery’ – so that it cradles the back, neck and head.

Meanwhile, its exaggerated lumbar support is integrated within the back – a feature that 'shaped the entire design direction', according to Peres. 'We realised early on that comfort should be visible,' he remembers. 'The proportions, the posture of the sofa, the way it holds itself, even the way the textile wrinkles over feathers – all of that should communicate comfort before you even sit down.'

To achieve the perfect balance between support and softness, its frame is made of webbed steel packed with varying densities of foam, memory foam and a feather quilt. Unlike much traditional upholstery, which is stretched tight and stapled into place, the fabric treatment for 'Hug' is handled in a looser and freer way. ‘It feels more like a piece of clothing draped onto a body,' says Lloyd. 'This also makes it much easier for the customer to remove jackets for cleaning or replacement later.’

During LDF, 'Hug' will be displayed at ‘Comfort Lab’, an exhibition at Shoreditch’s Wax Building that documents the designers' scrupulous research, design and development process, complete with all of the early scale models as well as the full-size prototypes. Alongside this, Cozmo has created a film that captures the process.

The showcase promises to give visitors a behind-the-scenes look at the amount of work and research that goes into making a sofa, and crucially, sample the results for themselves. 'For me, it proved that a focused brief and true creative exploration can achieve something remarkable,' concludes Peres. 'Comfort and design don’t just coexist – they inform each other. And that’s what makes this collaboration so exciting.'

'Comfort Lab by Pearson Lloyd' and the launch of 'Hug' can be seen on the 2^nd floor of WAX, 4 Garden Walk, London EC2A 3EQ during London Design Festival, 13 – 21 September 2025

mycozmo.com
pearsonlloyd.com

Extremely pleasing teapots, tactile mugs, and all manner of other cosy-yet-delicate China tableware: Feldspar has spent the past decade perfecting the everyday object. Now the Devon studio is scaling up its craft, unveiling its first furniture collection at Lindsey Ingram gallery during London Design Festival 2025.

Feldspar furniture debut

A culmination of pieces developed over several years, the collection includes a dining table, side tables, a bench, a floor lamp and the possibility of a cheval mirror. All made in Feldspar’s workshop on the Devon cider farm in Dartmoor, where Cath and Jeremy Brown moved to leaving their 'unfulfilling' jobs in London back in 2016, it is a natural progression of the brand’s ethos of enduring and endearing design that makes the everyday feel special.

As with the Feldspar ceramics, all the materials used are local and sustainable. 'The wood is storm-felled and sourced from a farmer – also a family friend – just down the road from us.' Among the selection are unusual timbers with striking visual character. 'There’s some beautiful burr oak, some elm, sycamore and yew, which is amazing, like a ripple ice cream, with these big swirls through it.'

Some pieces were gifts of wood too precious to ignore. Jeremy recalls a small section of rippled sycamore 'as rare as hen’s teeth', which he transformed into a miniature bench. The new furniture carries that same spirit: finding the beauty in the materials and coaxing out forms that are as sculpted as they are constructed.

The process, however, is anything but effortless. 'The dining table has taken over a month to make,' says Jeremy. 'Obviously when you sculpt clay, it’s pretty immediate, and then you have drying and kilns. With wood, I couldn’t move my hands after sculpting the table!' He describes long days of sanding, planing and chiselling until the motions followed him into his dreams. 'You’ll close your eyes at night and you’ll just see the chisel going through the grain.'

The pressure to succeed the first time is great, unlike in ceramics, where clay can always be reconstituted. 'With wood, one slip at the very finishing stages and you can mess things up. But that length of production time really means that you get into it. You feel that piece. It has its own character.'

For Jeremy, who trained as a boatbuilder before founding Feldspar, walking the line between high-stakes precision and meditative craft is familiar. Boatbuilding demanded millimetre accuracy; furniture making demands a similar respect for material, scale and finish.

Still, Feldspar’s signature sense of play persists. Not everything is destined to be a table or lamp. Jeremy talks about making a full-sized table football set for his son, or perhaps a pinball machine one day.

Even within the collection itself, surprises abound. A heavy-looking table reveals a delicately carved underside, hidden from view until touched. A bench that looks archetypal — four legs and a seat — turns out to be 'glass smooth' to the touch.

Feldspar’s aesthetic has always had a subtle wobble to it - the look of having been drawn by a child - and that wonkiness is exactly the point. 'I’d prefer to make someone smile than think, ‘oh isn’t this clever’,' he says. 'We don’t want things to be intimidating.'

For the collection’s floor lamp – in ceramic – Feldspar partnered with Bath-based lighting designer Eloise Scotland. 'When you see her shades in real life, they steal the show,' Jeremy enthuses. 'With the floor lamp we’re using the ceramic base, a brass shaft, and then on top sits this giant fabric orb. It’s like a cool blue mist colour, very light blue, almost beige blue, with our cobalt blue running up the inside rib.'

Really it’s just a taster, the start of a conversation, says Jeremy. 'When we launched Feldspar, we planned to launch ceramics in the first quarter, and then in the second quarter get onto the furniture, and then by the end of the year there’d have been glassware and cutlery and loads of things. And, yeah, it’s taken a while to get there, but now we’re finally ready to start showing them.'

The guiding principle remains unchanged: to make objects for life that people use, rather than just have for display. But by its nature, you can’t get hold of that much storm-felled wood, so everything will be special, unique, and made to order. A production line it is not. (That said, the Browns are already fielding orders from major hospitality brands for the new designs.)

They also really do want everything to be passed on to the next generation, but even that is not enough in itself, he explains. 'It has to create a feeling. Essentially, we’re trying to create these magical moments for people in their lives. We’re serious. We’re doing it seriously, we’re doing it as well as we can with the best materials. But at the end of the day I’d prefer to make someone smile.'

Lyndsey Ingram, 20 Bourdon St, London W1K 3PJ

A stone’s throw from Hyde Park in west London, an elegant post-war townhouse turns into an unusual exhibition space for London Design Festival this year. Both family home and work studio of ceramicist Emma Louise Payne, the building becomes an immersive showcase of crafted design pieces for ‘The Objects We Live By’ (13–21 September 2025).

'The Objects We Live By': design and everyday life

Bringing together the work of nine makers, the curated group exhibition places one object in each room of the house, inviting the visitor to explore design in a natural domestic setting.

'Every room is activated – from the basement studio up to the attic,’ says Payne. Named Seventy-Six, the five-storey house in Paddington is ‘a place designed to accommodate both work and family,’ she adds. ‘The fact that it is a domestic setting, as well as a commercial space, adds to the theatre of this exhibition and helps demonstrate how design is a part of our everyday lives. The whole point is to see how design pieces sit within a real, lived-in environment, with all the quirks and compromises of a family home.’

Work on show includes a colourful hand-tufted rug with striking geometrical design by Granite + Smoke in collaboration with rug maker Roger Oates Design, a wooden stool with hand-painted aluminium inlays by London-based Studio B.C. Joshua, and molten glass table lamps by glassware studio Gather.

The Tides collection by artist Nat Maks and designer Brogan Cox – sycamore tables dipped in colourful marbled ink – are also featured, after a successful debut at London Craft Week earlier this year.

Other makers featured include Los Angeles-based designer and artist Daniel Mullin, industrial design studio Atelier Thirty Four, Newcastle-based designer David Irwin and Payne herself – showcasing everything from sculptural vases and lighting to candlesticks and tableware.

‘I invited friends and collaborators with distinct practices, from furniture to textiles to hybrid art and design,’ says Payne. ‘There is a mix of artisans I have worked with before, and then others who I have long admired and now relish the opportunity to collaborate with. Each designer offers something unique and has been chosen for a specific room, so their work feels at home in the space.’

Focusing on design in a domestic setting, rather than a white-cube gallery space, allows the visitor to understand how objects take on lives after they are made, and play a role in ours.

‘Our homes are portraits of our lives,’ says Payne. ‘They contain souvenirs from holidays, inherited oddities, practical purchases, and design pieces we can’t live without.’ How and where we place these objects around a house, she adds, ‘signals something about how we live and what we value’.

‘The Objects We Live By’ is on show at Seventy-Six, 76 Sussex Square, London W2 2SS from 13 to 21 September 2025. Find out more at londondesignfestival.com

Collective memory and loss has always been delicately intertwined with joy and celebration in Lebanon, a country that seems to wake up to new crisis every day. London-based Lebanese artist Ramzi Mallat’s powerful installation Not Your Martyr at the V&A – staged as part of the 2025 London Design Festival – is a bittersweet memorial that seeks to crystallise a moment of Beirut tragedy.

Not Your Martyr: Ramzi Mallat at the V&A

Created to honour the victims of the 2020 Beirut Port Blast, which this August marked five years, Mallat’s installation is made up from 260 colourful glass representations of ma’amouls – a traditional Levantine date or nut-filled shortbread eaten during Easter, Eid and other festivities – each one symbolising one of the lives lost.

The display is co-curated by Rachel Dedman, the V&A’s Jameel Curator of Contemporary Art from the Middle East, in collaboration with London Design Festival. Inspired by the patterns and forms of ma’amouls the project also draws on a shared food heritage that transcends religious and cultural difference, celebrating community and resilience in the wake of tragedy. It also doesn’t shy away from vulnerability and grief.

'After the blast, I was picking up glass for months and I started thinking about the fragility of the whole medium,' Mallat tells Wallpaper*. 'There were many artistic memorials made for the first anniversary, but I wanted to sit with it longer, and it was a solemn decision that every viewer should engage by looking downwards, rather than looking upwards at some kind of glory-filled grand artwork.

'I knew I wanted to use an item of heritage that tied in multiple religions and communities, and ma’amoul was the perfect form. The patterns are all like flowers, sunburst, leaves, raindrops and circles, and they also spoke of the shifting of seasons, still very much within the domestic sphere, so something that all of us engaged with that permeated generations.'

The installation has a quiet intimacy to it, drawing on a collective memory of joy, to honour a collective amnesia of tragedy. Mallat spent years collecting the wooden moulds from around the region, even carving a few himself, immersing himself in the manual process, before making a mould that would be suitable for a kiln and producing each glass sweet by hand.

'There’s a touch of Memento Mori to them. They elicit memories of celebration, but also showcase a lot of ephemerality, transience and death as well, because the fact is that ma’amoul doesn’t last too long, they’re only around for a brief time,' Mallat says. 'To make them out of glass was important because it speaks of the fragility of the material, while also allowing for light to permeate them. It also tied into a lot of violence that glass had brought during that time, as so many people were killed or injured by flying glass.'

The installation also seeks to act as a counter-monument, as 2025 marks 50 years since the onset of the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War. No monuments or memorials were ever built for it, and no official monuments have been built for the 2020 port blast either.

Mallat’s work seeks to offer a monument, which though small in scale, is appropriate in tone – moving away from detached, symbolic statues that plaster over the real human loss, and instead celebrating those individual victims, offering a touch of healing.

‘Not Your Martyr’ will be on display at the Medieval and Renaissance Gallery (50A) of the V&A South Kensington from 13 September – 19 October 2025

In 1963, Dieter Rams designed a leather handbag as a gift for his wife, Ingeborg. ‘A very private design,’ he described the accessory, which for almost half a century existed in an edition of one, out of reach from even the most diehard of collectors. True to form, its design was meticulous – a sharply defined leather shell with a simple top handle, evocative of those used to house electronics (Rams was collaborating with German manufacturer Braun at the time; the design was born from prototying leather cases for shavers).

Many of these prototypes were crafted in Offenbach am Main, a city just outside of Frankfurt, Germany which has long been synonymous with leatherwork. It is there, where Tsatsas – a leather goods company known for creating accessories with a sharp, architectural eye – was founded by Esther and Dimitros Tsatsas in 2012, building on the latter’s longstanding links with the region’s signature craft (Dimitros’ father ran a bag-making studio in Offenbach for several decades). In 2018, half a century after its original design, Rams allowed Tsatsas to recreate the ‘931’ bag for sale (he admired Esther and Dimitros’ approach, and saw the reissue as a chance to pay homage to Ingeborg).

‘We have used Dieter’s ‘Ten Principles for Good Design’ as guiding tenets [since we founded the brand],’ say the pair of their longtime admiration for Rams’ work. ‘For us, as an architect and an industrial designer, these principles formulated from the mid-1970s onwards resonate deeply with our design philosophy and are easy to reconcile with Dieter’s expectations of a product: creating timeless objects with a clear design language – enduring forms without any aesthetic expiry date.’ (The latter is proved by the way that the ‘931’ bag continues to look modern over 50 years since it was first created).

‘In 2018, Britte Siepenkothen, as trustee of the Rams Foundation, seeded the idea of collaborating with Tsatsas to bring the handbag to the market,’ they explain of the way the unique collaboration came about, a story currently being told in Vitsœ’s London store in a special exhibition to coincide with London Design Festival 2025 (UK-based Vitsœ was founded by Niels Vitsoe and Otto Zapf as a means to create Rams’ furniture designs). ‘Thanks to their invitation, we are able to tell the story behind 931 within the context of Dieter’s iconic Vitsœ products. For the first time, the exhibition will present the original ‘931’ bag, as well as some of his iconic designs for Braun, which unveil the crafting process.’

On its release, Wallpaper* awarded the bag a Design Award for ‘Best Belated Design’, praising its ‘highly practical’ design and adherence to Rams’ principle that design should be ‘thorough down to the last detail’. The Tsatsas version has just a few tweaks to the original design, including a detachable shoulder strap, magnetic fastening and blue nappa lining. ‘It is so reduced and simultaneously concise that it unavoidably calls to mind Rams,’ say the pair. ‘[But] while minimalist, it also has a hidden feminine part: when opening the bag, you discover a wide, easily accessible interior with beautiful details such as a pocket mirror and a special compartment for your lipstick.’

‘I designed this bag in the same way I designed everything else, so largely based on right angles, but perhaps a little more emotionally, more personally,’ says Rams himself, who earlier this week was awarded the World Design Medal 2025. ‘Designing a handbag is undoubtedly different to designing a Braun stereo system, but I applied the same principles. It had to be functional, visually durable, and very aesthetic. Less, but better.’

In Residence at Vitsœ, Tsatsas and the 931 bag, designed by Dieter Rams,runs at Vitsœ, London until 27 September 2025.

The ‘931’ bag is available at Tsatsas’ website.

‘A Seat at the Table’ (16–21 September 2025) is not your average design exhibition. Featuring chairs crafted by 37 young designers, the show travels around London in the back of a Luton van – traditionally used for moving furniture – and pops up at various places in the city where a curated set of seats becomes both the subject and the support for communal events including workshops and panel discussions.

The exhibition, coinciding with London Design Festival, is organised by Design Everything, a platform dedicated to supporting emerging creatives, itself run by five young designers: Lewis Duckworth, Jacob Marks, Eleanor Murphy, Tabatha Pearce Chedier and Sammi Cherryman.

‘With all of our exhibitions we want to showcase the power of design, beyond its immediate aesthetic value,’ says Marks. As such, the platform also seeks to build a sense of community within the design world and be a beacon of progress in fostering better inclusivity – such as helping young and disadvantaged designers set up their practices.

‘There are just so many barriers to establishing yourself as a designer, from the cost of digital programmes to the difficulty in finding an affordable and accessible workshop space,’ says Marks. ‘We wanted to create a space for emerging designers which encourages creative freedom.’

Design Everything chose to organise a roving exhibition in the back of a van to avoid the high costs of renting an exhibition space – a barrier for many young designers – and in order to visit an eclectic mix of venues, including those outside of the design world. At each stop of the exhibition, from Tokyobike in Shoreditch to Coal Drops Yard in King’s Cross, the seats are taken from the van to be used for an event.

Making the seats functional objects rather than pieces to be observed ‘challenges the formal exhibition environment’, says Marks, and changes the way the objects are perceived. ‘They are then used to facilitate community-oriented events, which to us is a powerful way of symbolising what designed objects can do – illustrating their potential to connect, inspire, and bring people together in unexpected ways.’

Designers whose work will form part of the exhibition include Jesse Butterfield, Y Lennon-Chong, Odd Universe and Sofia Matheou – as well as all five organisers of Design Everything. The chairs span a range of materials and forms – from welded steel to solid timber – and some feature upcycled elements including stair spindles and a car clamp; the only brief was a 45cm x 45cm x 45cm size restriction so all chairs could fit in the van together.

Design Everything turned to a panel of advisors to help select the works from over 150 anonymous open call submissions. The panel included director and photographer Bafic, editor and journalist Oli Stratford, creative director and cultural consultant Vickie Hayward, and 3D design studio Isabel + Helen. ‘We wanted the panel to be reflective of the design world, ensuring it represented a range of disciplines, so one particular approach wasn't favoured,’ says Marks.

Through ‘A Seat at the Table’, Design Everything is building momentum to ensure the platform can have a positive impact. Marks reports it has set up ‘Design Everything Visits’, taking designers on tours of factories, as well as a community chat where members can share useful resources or questions. Plans for future exhibitions are also in the works – including for London Design Festival next year.

‘A Seat at the Table’ (16–21 September) pops up at various venues across London. See the Design Everything Instagram for details

At London Design Festival 2025, The David Collins Foundation presents 'Convergence', an exhibition featuring a curation of talent it has honoured through its support of the Arts Foundation's annual Futures Awards. Presented at The Lavery as part of the Brompton Design District, the exhibition also marks the 40th anniversary of David Collins Studio.

Set up in 2016 to commemorate the late David Collins' passion for culture, creativity and the arts, the foundation that bears his name supports artists working across different fields resonating with Collins' passions, to help them develop their practice. 'We wanted to take David's passion and curiosity for culture forward,' says the studio's founder and CEO, Iain Watson. 'Our partnership with the Arts Foundation has evolved in very inspiring ways over the years, exploring areas of creativity where much support is needed, from poetry to biodesign.'

‘Convergence’: The David Collins Foundation at London Design Festival 2025

Each year since 2017, The David Collins Foundation and the Arts Foundation have partnered on an annual award. Curated by broadcaster and author Ellen E Jones, the new exhibition seeks to find connections between the works of past winners, who represent a variety of fields, from design and craft to film, sculpture, bio design, set design and poetry. On display is the work of artists Ayo Akingbade and Savinder Bual, designers Jochen Holz, Louise Lenborg Skajem and Aura Murillo, Max Frommeld and TK Hay, poets Ella Frears and Will Harris, and filmmakers Cherish Oteka and Onyeka Igwe.

The exhibition started with a question: 'Can an object lend permanence to an otherwise fleeting human experience?' All the works on display form connections with each other and with the mission of the foundation, in an attempt to 'archive emotion, memory and time'.

'I see my role as curator as something akin to a host or facilitator, entrusted with helping to bring together a group of extraordinary guests for a moment of shared connection,' says Jones, who over the past few months delved deep into the works of the talents on display.

'I was in awe of The David Collins Foundation and its work,' she continues. 'I wanted to explore how the idea of legacy develops for contemporary practices.'

The exhibition, designed by London-based studio Bibliothèque is staged as an 'imagined gathering'. Says Jones: 'The guests are the works themselves, each one representing an artist the late David Collins once met, admired, and was moved by. My hope is to arrange them so that a conversation begins to take place, until the room feels alive with connection.'

Among the pieces on display is the work of German designer Max Frommeld, the partnership's first award winner, in 2017; Frommeld used the prize money to travel to the US, where he created an object a day for a month. 'In a different place, your work changes: you soak up different inspirations around you, like a sponge,' he says. His featured set-up includes a toilet seat made with an elaborate wood inlay technique, which he describes as 'marquetry, but very lo-fi', and 'not so much “a piece”, but actually more a process'.

The most recent talent to be honoured is theatre designer TK Hay, whose set model for Scenes from a Repatriation questions the concept of exhibition. What is interesting is that although the maquette is presented as an artwork within the exhibition, it is actually a tool, an object, he explains, 'through which I am communicating what the space is going to look like’.

Shown at the Royal Court Theatre, London, the play by Joel Tan is about the controversial journey from China to the UK of a 1,000-year-old statue, which remains on view but wrapped, mummy-like, for the duration of the play.

No Archive Can Restore You, a 2020 film by Onyeka Igwe, is also concerned with hidden historical objects. Shot at Lagos’ now defunct Colonial Film Unit, the nearly six-minute film is 'a sonic exploration of the archival space', accompanied by a reimagined audio track for the now-unavailable colonial-era films.

The Guinness brewery on Lagos’ Ikeja Industrial Estate (the first brewery Guinness opened outside Ireland, in the early 1960s) forms part of the photographic work of visual artist Ayo Akingbade. Working with personal and family archives throughout her practice, she has created a triptych that layers images from Ikeja with personal photos and pop-culture icons, as Jones notes, 'playing with the idea of archiving as a connector of themes'.

Merging memory with bio design, Memorial Reef addresses 'the whole bureaucratic process of a funeral and realising that death can be taboo'. The project by Aura Murillo and Louise Lenborg Skajem is based on a novel take on a traditional funeral urn: using a 'bio-receptive formula' to protect and restore the oceans, the sculptural pieces have been used for a pilot underwater cemetery in Bali, where they have become home to a variety of fish, coral and other species. 'It’s very beautiful, because in the end, it represents how an end of life is creating new life.'

Also looking at Bali for inspiration is Savinder Bual (who, according to her bio, 'doesn’t mind if you think of her as an artist, or a designer, or even an inventor'). Her simple mechanisms, made with found and reclaimed materials, are based on the rattles used by Balinese farmers to scare away birds.

'I'm not precious… My main thing is that the work doesn't just sit in my studio; that it’s shared,' she says. 'It’s so important to try and find pockets of joy, or bring ourselves to the present.' Visitors at the exhibition are able to try the objects.

On display nearby are new glass pieces by London-based Jochen Holz, the UK’s only master practitioner of lampworking (a form of glasswork that originates from the manufacture of scientific equipment). Experimenting with form and colour, Holz creates pieces that can't easily be categorised, beyond their obvious function as vessels: 'You don't categorise it too closely… Sometimes you have this function just as an anchor,' he says. His objects are conceived as spontaneous expressions of the material.

The second video on display, a BAFTA-winning film by filmmaker Chez Oteka, explores inter-generational connection and empathy. The film is an intimate portrait of Gamal 'G' Turawa, an ex-Metropolitan police officer, struggling with themes of identity, homophobia and racism. '[In life] we go through things and feel like we're the only one, when actually there's generations of people who've gone through that same thing before,' Oteka comments.

It is unusual to see poetry presented within a London Design Festival exhibition, and the two pieces by Ella Frears and Will Harris are a welcome surprise. 'Blue Acres' started when the two poets did a shared freewrite on the theme of ‘blue’ – a shade that was also associated with David Collins, and remains important to the studio. This poem in two parts offers a view of memory around a specific colour. 'You're taking in as much as possible of a moment or place, in order to then try and reflect some element of that in poetic form,' the pair say.

Addressing the diversity within the exhibition, Iain Watson reflects on how the fields covered by the award with the Arts Foundation have broadened over time. 'We started with furniture, and the award evolved over the years – every year, we review the categories, to understand which areas of creativity need more support. The roster of talent on view here is a great representation of the passion for culture and art that drives us, and it's been great to have Ellen research parallels within them.'

The winners of the 2025 London Design Medals have been announced as the London Design Festival prepares to kick off this week (13-21 September), with Michael Anastassiades, Norman Foster, Sinéad Burke and Rio Kobayashi awarded the annual design accolade. The winners were selected by a jury including Festival Director Ben Evans as well as Ozwald Boateng, Es Devlin, Yinka Ilori, Alice Rawsthorn, and Jane Withers, among others.

'This year's medal recipients represent the breadth of contemporary design excellence,' says Evans. 'From Michael Anastassiades' approach to lighting that has redefined spatial experiences, to Lord Norman Foster's architectural legacy spanning over six decades, Sinéad Burke's vital work making design truly accessible for all, and Rio Kobayashi's innovative craft practice that bridges tradition with contemporary vision. These designers exemplify how creativity can transform our world.'

LONDON DESIGN MEDALS 2025: MEET THE WINNERS

London Design Medal - Michael Anastassiades

Awarded with the London Design Medal, 'bestowed upon an individual who has distinguished themselves within the industry and demonstrated consistent design excellence,' Michael Anastassiades needs little introduction, high lighting work having revolutionised the aesthetic of the genre in the nearly 20 years since he launched his eponymous brand.

Working on lighting, objects and furniture for a variety of companies and brands, he has conceived a design language that is as much about subtraction and precision as it is about poetry and a refined aesthetic.

Read our ultimate guide to Michael Anastassiades' designs

Lifetime Achievement Medal – Norman Foster

'Since my early childhood, design has been an integral part of my life, and I feel extremely privileged to have indulged in this passion every day of my life since,' said Norman Foster upon the award being announced. The founder and chairman of architecture and design firm Foster + Partners, for the past five decades he has been a pioneer of innovative architecture, urbanism and sustainable design.

Read our guide to know more about Norman Foster

Design Innovation Medal - Sinéad Burke

Awarded to Sinéad Burke, the Design Innovation Medal is an accolade that 'celebrates entrepreneurship in all its forms, honouring an individual for whom design lies at the core of their development and success.'

A little person with Acondraplasia, Burke's experience was driven by her training as a teacher, which made her realise how spaces are often inaccessible to disabled people, hindering her ability to thrive and succeed in a career. In 2020, she founded strategic consultancy 'Tilting the Lens' with the aim of 'building an accessible and fairer world'. Alongside a majority-disabled team, she works globally to create accessible public spaces and advise companies on recruitment, workflows, and culture changes - with clients including Chanel, Gucci, Microsoft, NASA, and the V&A.

'It is a privilege to receive the Design Innovation Award. As a majority Disabled team, we’ve seen few places acknowledge the innovation and intellectual property of lived experience,' says Burke. 'At Tilting the Lens, our design practice is rooted in co-designing with communities that have historically been designed for. Our co-design and human-centered design framework means that Disabled people are central to the design process, allowing us to collectively improve and transform systems. Our focus is for design innovation to be multi-modal, to move beyond compliance, and to create the conditions for Disabled people to be successful.'

Emerging Design Medal - Rio Kobayashi

Rio Kobayashi's recent impact on the design scene, in London and beyond, is undeniable. In a short time, his work has blossomed through collaborations with designers and makers, combining his woodworking expertise and creative approach with new influences from friends across the industry.

Born in Japan, he trained as a furniture maker in Austria and launched his studio in East London in 2017. His work spans furniture, lighting, interiors, and sculptural objects with a distinct sense of craft and material.

'I am truly honoured to receive this recognition from the design community, alongside inspirational figures who have forged new paths of creativity for the future.'

Otl Aicher’s legacy is unquestionable. The German designer (1922-1991) was a co-founder of the Ulm School of Design, along with Inge Aicher-Scholl and Max Bill, creating an educational institution that carried the legacy of the Bauhaus into the modern era, as well as establishing principles of design education that carry through to the modern day.

Aicher is also revered among designers for his high-profile graphic identities, spearheaded by that for the 1972 Munich Olympics, one of the most quoted and oft-cited pieces of 20th-century graphic art. The designer’s oeuvre was wide-ranging but always enduring, from avant-garde poster art, typefaces, pictograms and colour systems through to a graphic identity for a smalltown tourist board.

Now there’s a chance to get up close to some key examples of Aicher’s work – and even acquire some for yourself. A new exhibition, ‘Otl Aicher: The Legacy Archive’, forms part of 2025’s London Design Festival and the Shoreditch Design Triangle. Curated by brand consultancy Wiedemann Lampe, the exhibition presents a number of unique pieces and classic posters, along with items for sale.

According to Benji Wiedemann, executive creative director and co-founder at Wiedemann Lampe, ‘Aicher’s design practice is timeless, still uniquely relevant and inspiring. His work was a masterclass in rationalism and reduction, but always brought to life through emotive visual expression.’

The Hoxton Square-based studio has worked with clients including the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, the Natural History Museum, and the Louvre Abu Dhabi. The ground floor of the studio is given over to a dedicated gallery space with a focus on contemporary and historic graphic design. ‘Where lots of rationalism can feel cold and unapproachable, Aicher’s designs always had an incredible sense of soul,’ Wiedemann explains. ‘To get up close with his working process, the literal cut and paste of his creations, is quite exciting.’

Although the majority of Aicher’s archive is held by the HfG Archiv Ulm, the official repository of the work and legacy of the Ulm School of Design, some of it was recently sold out from a private family collection. Wiedemann Lampe were appointed as custodians, and some of this work can be seen in the current show.

Pieces include an original typeface proposal for the Munich Olympics’ visual identity, and a mock-up of the brand guidelines created for the German national broadcaster ZDF. The availability of rare posters makes this a must-visit exhibition for graphic design aficionados.

‘Otl Aicher: The Legacy Archive,’ at Wiedemann Lampe, 41 Hoxton Square, Shoreditch, 13-21 September 2025, LondonDesignFestival.com, @L_D_F_official, wiedemannlampe.com, @wiedemannlampe

Industrial designer Terence Woodgate has teamed up with John Barnard, an automotive engineer best known for his pioneering work with carbon fibre, to create a new design collection that bridges the divide between craft and technology.

Woodgate’s career has been characterised by a minimalist, ascetic approach, influenced in part by the pared-back work of artists and sculptors like Carl Andre, Sol LeWitt, Dan Flavin and Donald Judd. Parlaying these influences into products, lighting and his own sculptural objects, Woodgate’s client list includes Cappellini, Established & Sons, Moroso, SCP, Objekten, and Izé.

This new collaboration, Lightness of Form, sprang from another source of inspiration, the work of racing car designer John Barnard. Barnard began working in motorsport in the late 1960s and in 1972 he joined McLaren for the first time, leaving after three years to work in the American IndyCar race series. Back in the UK in 1980, he once again went to work for McLaren, by now led by the legendary Ron Dennis.

At McLaren, Barnard was one of the pioneers of working with carbon fibre composite. The resulting car, the MP4/1, was a game-changer for the sport, and today the ultra-light and strong material has applications right across the automotive spectrum.

Now it also has a place in collectible design. Woodgate has teamed up with Barnard to create a collection of pieces using the material. On show at London’s Carpenters Workshop Gallery as part of London Design Festival 2025, the pieces include cabinets and seating elements as well as two sculptural tables, shown here, the ‘Wedge Desk’ and the ‘Aero Leg Table’.

The tables take full advantage of carbon fibre’s remarkable strength and rigidity. The ‘Aero Leg’ in particular features a long span, with an ultra-slim top and legs. The more monumental ‘Wedge Desk’ incorporates a couple of flush drawers into its precisely honed surfaces.

The collaborators describe all the pieces as transcending easy categorisation – they are ‘neither wholly functional nor strictly sculptural but suspended in the fertile space in between’. They’re also incredibly high-performance in terms of strength, as well as being durable, featuring forms that simultaneously manage to celebrate lightness and solidity.

‘Terence Woodgate and John Barnard: Lightness of Form’ is at the Carpenters Workshop Gallery from 17 September to 1 November 2025, Ladbroke Hall, 79 Barlby Road, London W10 6AZ

CarpentersWorkshopGallery.com, @CarpentersWorkshopGallery

During the London Design Festival, running from 13-21 September, the Conran Shop will launch a new furniture collection, conceptualised by designer Francis Sultana. Titled Tamilla, the collection marks a return to the brand’s roots – echoing the refined, quintessentially European aesthetic championed by Sir Terence Conran, who founded the Conran Shop in 1973.

Tamilla will include an armchair, a daybed and a two-seater sofa, each featuring solid oak frames, natural rattan side panels and Belgian linen upholstery, available in three earthy tones, oatmeal, sage and dahlia. Complementing the seating options are marble side tables offered in Bulgari Red or Verde Marl, each resting on matching oak bases.

This is the Conran Shop doing what it does best: accessible, well-designed products grounded in minimalism but enriched with international flair. ‘Terence loved Europe – he brought a bit of France and Italy to London,’ says Sultana. Woven rattan was one such export, which features heavily in Tamilla.

But Sultana’s stamp is unmistakable. Known for his opulent yet restrained interiors, he brings a layer of sophisticated drama to Tamilla. Hints of the designer’s Maltese heritage come through in the use of noble materials and his reverence for craftsmanship.

In Tamilla, the fusion of styles is complementary – perhaps because of Sultana’s long-standing reverence for the Conran Shop. He recalls visiting as a teenager: ‘I was hugely inspired going there. It was a ritual on Saturdays to be on the Fulham Road, which was where all the great design and fashion shops were.’

‘The aesthetic of the Conran shop, to me, reflected the new modern outlook in British decoration. Terence’s curatorial choices, bringing his unique style into British homes via the high street, were truly a brand new lifestyle,’ the designer continues.

Although he describes his own style as more ‘avant-garde’, Sultana says that Tamilla ‘has the Conran aesthetic at its heart, but reinterpreted.'

‘I feel Terence would approve,' he adds.

Tamilla will launch in-store on 10 September 2025.

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

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

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, 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

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

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. Aram 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

Out of Orifice by Heirloom studio

Proving that design really is everywhere, the exhibition OOO - Out of Orifice by design collective Heirloom is an investigation into objects designed to go inside our body, from the medical to the pleasurable (and a few in between). The exhibition looks into the objects' purpose and use, exploring shared themes of trust, comfort, and careful consideration of human sensation.

5 Tredegar Mews, E3 5AF

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

Otl Aicher: The Legacy Archive

London-based brand consultancy Wiedemann Lampe offers a rare chance to get up close to some key examples of legendary designer Otl Aicher’s work – and even acquire some for yourself. A new exhibition, ‘Otl Aicher: The Legacy Archive’, presents a number of unique pieces and classic posters, along with items for sale.

‘Otl Aicher: The Legacy Archive,’ at Wiedemann Lampe, 41 Hoxton Square, Shoreditch, 13-21 September 2025

‘Terence Woodgate and John Barnard: Lightness of Form’

Industrial designer Terence Woodgate has teamed up with John Barnard, an automotive engineer best known for his pioneering work with carbon fibre, to create a new design collection that bridges the divide between craft and technology. The pair have teamed up to create a collection of pieces using the material, on show at London’s Carpenters Workshop Gallery.

‘Terence Woodgate and John Barnard: Lightness of Form’ is at the Carpenters Workshop Gallery from 17 September to 1 November 2025, Ladbroke Hall, 79 Barlby Road, London W10 6AZ
CarpentersWorkshopGallery.com

Reconstructing Value at the Bank of England Museum

Presented by the Bank of England, Surface Matter and Plasticiet at the Bank of England Museum, Reconstructing Value features a sculptural installation made from £2.5 million reclaimed, recycled and reconstructed British banknotes. The installation accompanies The exhibition complements the Building of the Bank exhibition, exploring the evolution of the Bank of England’s design — from Sir John Soane to contemporary architecture.

Stock room, Bank of England Museum, Threadneedle Street, EC2R 8AH

British designer Lee Broom honours brutalism with his first landmark project for London Design Festival. Titled Beacon, the site-specific lighting sculpture is situated at the entrance of the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall. Broom was supported by Czech premium lighting brand Brokis and London consultancy firm Materials Assemble to realise the project.

Resembling a giant, ground-based chandelier, the work takes design cues from its surroundings, including the brutalist codes of the nearby Hayward Gallery and the modernist architecture of the Royal Festival Hall. Its form consists of a cluster of black lamp posts, each with an illuminated glass shade, inspired by the area's so-called ‘dolphin’ sculptural lamp posts designed by George John Vulliamy around 1870. Each element of the installation is tied together through a contemporary lens.

Lee Broom's 'Beacon' to light up London

Beyond its visual intrigue, Beacon serves a purpose. When Big Ben strikes the hour, the installation, visible from both sides of the Thames, will perform an illuminated choreography, beginning with a slow pulse and gradually building in tempo.

The installation’s glass features were made from recycled glass at Brokis’ factory in Czechia. The textured surface mimics Baltic pine trees (a detail imprinted in the concrete walls of the Hayward Gallery). Broom also worked with Materials Assemble to help source sustainable and eco-friendly materials. Each part of the installation has been designed to be reused in a standalone lighting piece or a larger cluster, once Beacon is disassembled.

Broom's inspiration for the installation came from the 1951 Festival of Britain, which was described as a ‘beacon of change’ – promoting British science, technology, industrial design, architecture and the arts, and reinvigorating creativity in the wake of the Second World War.

‘I’ve always been hugely inspired by London and its architecture, especially the city’s brutalist and modernist buildings, and having lived here most of my life, the Southbank Centre has long been a place of creative resonance for me. There were so many architectural and cultural references I wanted to weave into Beacon’, says Broom. ‘I hope the installation evokes a sense of spectacle, but also stirs something deeper: an emotional connection to the power of light, and to the spirit of the South Bank itself.’

‘Beacon’ will be on view for the duration of the London Design Festival 2025, 13-22 September. It will then remain in place as a key installation for the Southbank Centre’s Winter Light festival, running from late October 2025 to early February 2026.

At Wallpaper* we’ve been following the rise of British-Italian curator, writer, and gallerist Alex Tieghi-Walker with much interest, so the news of his appointment as curator of the 2025 Brompton Design District programme for London Design Festival was a welcome development – and has us looking ahead to September with renewed anticipation.

He steps into the role following the venerable Jane Withers, who shaped and arguably defined the district over her 18-year tenure. Tieghi-Walker – whose New York gallery, TIWA Select, has become a pilgrimage site for design collectors and appreciators – has forged a distinct curatorial voice rooted in material-led, emotionally resonant craft and design. This September, his programme of exhibitions and interventions promises to bring fresh perspectives and renewed energy to the district. 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’.

Alex Tieghi-Walker on why he wants to show the softer side of design at LDF 2025's Brompton Design District

Wallpaper*: How did your role as curator of the Brompton Design District come about?
Alex Tieghi-Walker: It all came about because Jane [Withers] decided to move on from the role [after 18 years at the helm]. The team behind Brompton Design District had seen my work at Frieze – the group exhibition I curated in London in 2023 – and was aware of what I’ve been doing with the gallery here in New York.

In particular, they were interested in the way I’ve been talking about design – really looking at the intersection of craft, applied arts, and design. I don’t have any training in art or design. I’m entirely self-taught. This started off as a passion project that evolved into a gallery, and I think that gives me a unique lens that felt appealing for this role.

W*: What does this year’s theme, ‘A Softer World’, mean to you?
ATW: That theme has been key to my practice. I think design has historically been about making a lot of noise – it’s been hyper-masculine, hyper-designed, very much design with a capital D. You still see that when you go to Milan Design Week or Salone.

I just think there’s another side to design that’s more gentle and slow and considerate. Kind of akin to the slow food movement, where we went from Michelin-starred plates to something more about community and meaning.

My approach to design is materials-based. It’s about people working with materials, with their hands, in a crafted sense. Design stems from craft – they’re interconnected, and we can’t separate them. Craft has this innate feeling of softness, gentleness, and domesticity. That’s something I really wanted to bring into the theme – seeing softness as a strength, not a weakness.

W*: How are you shaping the programme this year?
ATW: This is the first time I’ve curated anything on a district-wide level. I’m used to curating exhibitions in my small gallery – occasionally off-site – like the salon-style show I did on Cork Street.

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.

Each of these curators is bringing something very different to the district – and, I think, drawing in different audiences. Charlotte, for example, is showing all female designers. Tione is bringing a diasporic lens rooted in the American South and West Africa.

That’s part of why I wanted to invite other curators in – it expands the cultural touchpoints and brings designers into the fold who weren’t on my radar. Brompton needs more than one perspective. That’s the joy of a design district, not just a gallery.

W*: You’re using residential and non-traditional spaces across the district. Why?
ATW: The white-box gallery space can be intimidating. Part of my programme is about creating spaces that feel familiar and generous. We’re taking over old buildings – apartments, houses, stores – and giving them to young curators who might not otherwise be able to afford to take part in a design fair.

I’ve tried to do things at Salone and 3 Days of Design, and honestly, it’s just financially constrictive. I can’t afford it. So I thought – what if we use these spaces in a way that makes the district feel more open?

People love Open House London – getting to see inside places you don’t normally have access to. There’s a nosiness to it, and I think that can be a gateway to design. At my gallery in New York, which is also my home, I’ve always tried to break down that barrier.

So this is about bringing people in who maybe thought design was one thing, in one kind of setting – and showing them it can be something very different.

W*: What kind of energy do you hope to bring to Brompton this year?
ATW: Jane laid a really excellent foundation, so my main challenge is honouring the work of previous years and not taking it too far in a crazy direction. This district has 18 years of practice running pretty smoothly. So it’s about asking: how can I bring my curatorial sensibility into it? How can I bring my version of what design is?

I’m newer to the design world, and I feel like my generation – and my peers here in New York – operate differently from traditional galleries. There’s a real focus on community, not just commerce. There’s a huge ethical standpoint in my practice, and I don’t just mean representation or sustainability. I mean: who’s making the work, who’s taking part in it, what conversations are we having, and how do we think about the longevity of design?

W*: You’ve lived in California and New York. What’s it been like coming back to work in London?
ATW: It’s been really fun being on the phone with Brits again! I left London about 11 years ago, and this has been a lovely way to reconnect.

I’m not saying London is scrappier, but I do think the corporate culture in the US slows things down. Things are expensive and restrictive – you often know exactly what your reach is. In London, people are more connected and more willing to share.

It’s much freer and more informal. I don’t know if I would have said this before, but London really does feel more open in comparison.

W*: How did you end up running a gallery?
ATW: If you’d said to me ten years ago that I’d be running a gallery, I’d have thought that was outlandish. But now I think about everything I’ve done – writing, film, photography – it’s all come together in a way that makes sense.

I moved to California after losing a parent and needing a big change. Northern California was a breath of fresh air. It gave me a new relationship to nature, craft, and pace. I was working at a winery, got really into food and community – and that turned into wanting to bring people together around design.

The gallery wasn’t supposed to be a gallery. It was going to be a series of one-off exhibitions centred around meals. Then it was going to be a shop. It kind of snowballed into a gallery by accident.

But even now, food is central. I cook lunch every day at the gallery. Anyone who’s here while lunch is happening gets fed. That’s the spirit of the space – and that’s what I’m trying to bring to Brompton too. It's not about my voice. I’m curating the neighbourhood, but my job is to invite others in – to let people speak their truth and share their version of design in the world.

Brompton Design District at London Design Festival runs between 13-21 September 2025.

For more information and the full programme here: bromptondesigndistrict.com

A relative newcomer to the London design scene, New York furniture and lighting brand Apparatus opened its first UK outpost, in Mayfair, in spring 2023. Since its inception in 2012, the brand has become renowned for its all-encompassing approach to design, led by co-founder and creative director Gabriel Hendifar. The detailed narratives that Hendifar weaves inform every detail, from the tactile materials he selects to the immersive launch events he hosts – the brand’s ‘Operatic’ collection debuted in a historic theatre in New York, while another was based on pre-revolutionary nightclubs in Tehran.

In light of this, it’s perhaps no surprise to learn that Hendifar began his career in costume and scenic design after studying at UCLA, and cut his teeth working in fashion. In 2012, after he was unable to find suitable lighting fixtures for his own home, he created Apparatus alongside Jeremy Anderson, and grew it into a global design brand. One year since opening its London gallery, Hendifar reflects on his journey so far, shares his impressions of London, and reveals his plans for the future.

Behind the scenes of Apparatus

Wallpaper*: How do you think the design landscape has changed since you founded Apparatus in 2012?

Gabriel Hendifar: My mission for the work of the studio is to always approach what we do with an understanding that the objects we live with have power and carry meaning, and to honour that potential. I see a growing awareness of that generally in the culture at large, and I believe it has made design consumers much more invested in the stories of objects.

W*: Your business has grown dramatically and fantastically in that time. How many people/locations are you now?

GH: We are about 110 team members now, between design, sales, operations and manufacturing. We currently operate our own galleries in New York, Los Angeles and London, and in 2021 we moved manufacturing from our Manhattan studio to a factory we designed and built in Red Hook.

W*: What has managing that growth been like?

GH: It's a bit like raising a child. You do the very best you can to instill the right values, to encourage growth and imagination, to guide the development of this new organism with the aim of making a positive contribution. And just like raising a child, there are twists and turns, tantrums, and moments of pride and triumph. At its best, it's all an act of love.

W*: Has the Apparatus aesthetic or your design approach evolved since you started out?

GH: I’ve always considered Apparatus more of an approach than a specific aesthetic or sensibility. I always want to arrive at an object that feels just familiar enough to invite you in, but then reveals its idiosyncrasy – its a temporality. There are always historical or aesthetic references, but they are used in service of arriving at that emotional response to the object. This approach has remained consistent, albeit more nuanced and sophisticated as we evolve; the aesthetic can develop without losing connection to the body of work as a whole.

W*: You opened your first London gallery last year, which now serves as your European base. What made you choose London?

GH: London is a centre for design in the UK, but beyond that it is a window into the rest of Europe, the Middle East and Asia. It allows us to present a seductive and compelling story to a broad, international audience. Our clientele ranges from architects and interior designers to design-savvy fashion consumers who want to bring the same level of sophistication to their home as they create in their closet.

W*: How does your London outpost compare to your galleries in New York and LA?

GH: Our spaces in New York and Los Angeles are very hidden from the street by design, to heighten a sense of mystery and discovery. We play a different game of seduction on Mount Street where, in addition to creating a gathering place for clients who already know the brand, we are attracting a new design consumer who might just be out for a stroll.

W*: What new projects are you most excited to see come to fruition in the near future?

GH: Our catalogue is made up of fixture series in continuous production, and over the next year we will be revisiting some of these series to introduce new ideas – some inspired by function, some inspired by what I call ‘fancy’. ‘Series Extension’ allows us to shape knowledge gained over time into new ways of making light.

W*: How do you see Apparatus evolving in the next ten years?

GH: What has become more clear to me in the last ten years is that my process starts first with imagining a full world – its mood, its attitude, its references. From that point of departure, the pieces I design become the tangible artifacts of that world. As we’ve grown, I’ve had the ability to bring more of these worlds into existence through our presentations and campaigns, and to think through the resolution of their details. I’m excited to see how this process will inform the growth of the studio over the next ten years, and the categories it will inspire.

apparatusstudio.com

Few figures on the London Design scene have been in business as long as Sheridan Coakley, founder of retail store and furniture brand SCP. Since opening the doors of his Shoreditch showroom in 1985, he has navigated recessions, the digitisation of retail, Brexit and a pandemic. Coakley was the first to bring Philippe Starck’s furniture to the UK, and subsequently helped kickstart the careers of design legends such as Jasper Morrison, Donna Wilson and Matthew Hilton. He is a staunch supporter of UK manufacturing, and integrated a Norfolk upholstery factory into his business in 2003. After 39 years at the helm, you might think he’d be ready to put his feet up. But on the contrary – when we speak, Coakley is just back from a visit to his factory where his team are putting the finishing touches to new pieces ahead of the London Design Festival 2024.

Sheridan Coakley on four decades of the London Design Festival

Wallpaper*: You’ve been in business for almost 40 years. What is your secret to longevity?

Sheridan Coakley: I think, apart from luck, I've survived really through being quite belligerent, being slow in how my business has progressed, not being too ambitious and particularly not getting myself into large debt that I can't pay back or getting outside investors. First and foremost, I was not a businessman. It's not like I went to business school to see where I could make money and have an exit strategy. I was the opposite. I did it because I wanted to do it, I did it for my love of design and furniture. The business aspect I had to make up as I went along. I remember somebody once asked me what my exit strategy was, and I said, ‘What's an exit strategy?’

W*: Has your passion for design ever waned?

SC: No, because design changes and it’s interesting being involved in those changes. For instance, I started Case Furniture with Paul Newman in 2006 as a sideline, because that gave me a route into making furniture in larger volumes. More recently, I've become interested in the other end of the market, collectible design with small production or one-off pieces. We’ve started making upholstery using 100 per cent natural and sustainable materials, which is exciting.

W*: How has the design landscape changed since you started out?

SC: It moves all the time. In the 1980s, we were all interested in minimalism, form and function, and using materials economically. We've now entered this decorative phase, where it's all a bit decadent. Sometimes I feel uneasy about it, but then other times I get it. However, what we do at SCP is not transitory, we're designing and making pieces that have longevity. Hopefully, people keep our products for 50 years.

W*: Do you think there has been a shift away from ego-centric design?

SC: You could say: 'How many designers do we need in the world? How many chairs do we need to design?' And maybe designers can do other things like community-based projects, which is laudable. But I'm in the old-fashioned business of designing contemporary products to go into the world that we live in now, because if there wasn't a demand for furniture that fits in with the psyche of the day, we'd still be sitting on Victorian furniture. However, I do get the point that there's sometimes a bit too much design, and perhaps those designers can apply themselves to more worthy causes, less designing products, and using their skills for the greater good.

W*: You are a renowned talent spotter. What qualities do you look for in a designer?

SC: Well obviously, I've got to like the work I've seen, and it's good to be able to have a conversation with people to understand how and why they’ve designed something. But also it's a collaboration, you've got to be able to get on with designers and they've got to be able to want to design within the parameters of what we can do, such as using all natural materials and traditional methods.

W*: Do you think London is still a good place to be based as a designer?

SC: When I started SCP, we were very much part of a community of like-minded people who all enjoyed what we were doing. It wasn't a highly competitive business. Is it still like that? It might be, I don't really know, but I think Covid and Brexit have had a big impact on it. At one point, designers from all over the world wanted to open offices in London, and many of them did because that's where the business was, and they were able to because of being in the EU, so Brexit has definitely had an impact.

W*: What do you get out of participating in the London Design Festival?

SC: For us it has a social focus, it’s a community thing, which I think is really important because a lot of designers work in an isolated way, and it's very tough. If you're starting out, it's a difficult world to break into. From our point of view, the design festival is really good, because we launch products. It's the one thing that we do every year, it gives us a focus, a deadline to work to and I think it’s still very relevant.

scp.co.uk

Read more London Design Festival interviews:
Curator Jane Withers: ‘If you’re a designer today, you have to keep learning to keep up’

Designer Natsai Audrey Chieza: ‘London has a punk attitude – it has enabled somebody like me to emerge in this extremely niche field’

Architect Shawn Adams: ‘If kids grew up going to London Design Festival they would learn so much’

Any round-up of emerging design talent in the past five years has, more often than not, included London-based architect Shawn Adams. And for good reason. Also an educator, writer, and social advocate, Adams and his practice POoR Collective (Power Out of Restriction) burst onto the scene in 2019 with a participatory design approach and a commitment to using architecture as a tool for social change. Born and raised in south-west London, Adams was named a RIBAJ Rising Star 2020, and last year his studio was awarded the 2023 London Design Festival’s Emerging Design Medal. We caught up with him one year on as he was busy putting together POWERSHIIFT, the second iteration of POoR Collective’s group exhibition, taking place in Brompton during London Design Festival 2024.

Shawn Adams on LDF 2024 and the life-changing power of design

Wallpaper*: How did architecture emerge as your calling?

Shawn Adams: There was never a particular turning point. I always said I wanted to become an architect, even before I knew what an architect really was. I don't have any architects in my family or any direct family members that pursued any jobs in the built environment, but just knowing that [as an architect] you've got the power to shape space was always so powerful to me.

W*: Do you think it's the responsibility of designers and architects to engage more with young people in schools?

SA: I think so, because state schools are really very stretched and time-poor. But from my experience, when you present something to a school, the children are super receptive to it. I think that those of us in the creative industries have to play an active role if we want more diversity. We need to be going into schools in deprived areas and showing children that architecture and design could be a potential career route.

W*: How can we get more kids interested in creative subjects?

SA: Firstly I think it's about showing students and their parents that there are jobs and careers that they can pursue in the creative industries. If parents don't believe there's a career to pursue, they will try and direct their kids to something else that they believe will help to create a stable future for them. There’s a perceived lack of value in creative subjects, and you see it now more than ever.

W*: What do you love about working with young people?

SA: One of the main things is seeing how you impact that young person. Sometimes that impact isn't seen immediately – you might do a workshop and think they're not interested, but they will remember what you did, especially as a child, when we tend to be more impressionable. That one experience could change their whole life trajectory.

W*: Do you think the industry is changing?

SA: I definitely think the industry is trying to change, but there is still a lot of lip service. Everyone wants more diversity, especially in the creative industries, but it’s one thing to say it and another to actually get up and do something. You can say loads of great things. You can be on all the podcasts and write all the articles, and have all the right intentions. But if you're not actively doing something, then it doesn't really matter. You need to take action.

W*: What does the future hold for POoR Collective?

SA: In the next few years we want to develop a POoR community where resources and projects can be shared. We also want to build a community centre. At the moment, we've got a lot of installations and small-scale architecture, but if we could design and build a physical community centre that would be fantastic. Ultimately, we want to be a leading provider of creative opportunities for young people. That’s what we want the legacy of the business to be: an organisation that really moved the needle – that made creative industries accessible and gave young people opportunities.

W*: You’re currently in the middle of putting together an interactive installation for this year’s London Design Festival. What do you like about the festival, and is there anything it could improve upon?

SA: I think it's great for London, as we don't have many moments where the design community comes together in the same way. I think that engagement with a younger audience is something that I would like to see more of in the future. I think [LDF] does an excellent job of engaging early career designers but when it comes to younger age groups, events where parents can bring their kids to engage with design are still missing. If there were kids who had grown up going to LDF every year, by the time they got to university or college, they would have learned so much.

poorcollective.com

London Design Festival 2024 runs from 14 to 22 September, and there is – as ever – more to take in across the city than a single pair of eyes or feet could possibly manage. That's where we can help. Here’s our guide – researched over the preceding weeks – to the places, products and people we will be seeking out.

London Design Festival 2024: what to see in 2024

sketch Art & Design 2024

12 September – 10 November
sketch, 9 Conduit Street, London, W1S 2XG

In collaboration with London Design Festival and Mayfair Design District, restaurant and gallery Sketch is back with its annual Art & Design exhibition. Titled ‘Dreamscapes’ the exhibition is in collaboration with three artists and designers, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Paul Cocksedge and the emerging Ida Immendorff, who have added their personal touch to Sketch’s playful spaces. The overall theme nods to the heritage of the 18th-century building, including its deep rooted history with the suffragettes. Read our interview with Sketch founder Mourad Mazouz.

sketch.london

Design Everything x Kindred

14 – 22 September
Kindred, 15 Mount Pleasant London, WC1X 0AR

Design Everything, a design community and collaborative platform striving to bridge the gap between emerging designers and clients, has invited 18 London-based designers to collaborate with Kindred, a cultural hub for music, objects and vinyl, for the London Design Festival. To design for such a vibrant space, the artists were given objects which were categorised into form and function, with each designer encouraged to pick an object to redesign, allowing them to explore and expand upon their own practice. The outcomes range across various materials, including steel, aluminium, wood, ceramics, creating a playfully tactile space.

designeverything.org

Bill Amberg Studio Marks 40 Years with Retrospective

17 – 20 September
White Collar Factory, 1 Old Street Yard, London EC1Y 8AF

Bill Amberg Studio marks its 40th anniversary with a curated retrospective during the London Design Festival. Four decades of design are celebrated through iconic works from its Rocket Bag, which holds a place in the permanent collections of both London's V&A and New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, to bespoke furniture, interiors and luxury products. The studio which was founded in 1984, will encourage visitors to discover early collaborations, and step into ‘Bill’s Cabinet of Curiosities’, which includes never-before-seen prototypes, and glimpse into the creative world behind-the-scenes at the Studio’s workshop.

billamberg.com

Craft x Tech at the V&A

14 September – 13 October
Victoria & Albert Museum, London, Prince Consort Gallery

Following its successful Tokyo debut at Kudan House in May, Craft x Tech will be hosted at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. The project promoted by Hideki Yoshimoto, founder of the engineering design studio Tangent, and curated by Wallpaper's contributing editor Maria Cristina Didero, explores the symbiotic relationship of craftsmanship with art and design. It unites six craft districts from Japan's Tohoku region along with creators including Sabine Marcelis, Studio SWINE, Ini Archibong, Yoichi Ochiai, Michael Young and Hideki Yoshimoto. Each project celebrates cultural exchange to merge traditional craftsmanship with cutting edge technology.

craft-x-tech.com

Annie Frost Nicholson's K67 kiosk

3 September – 3 December
Coal Drops Yard, Kings Cross

‘How can we develop the skills to be more vulnerable and dispel thoughts of self-loathing and ego?’ This is what London-based artist Annie Frost Nicholson asked herself when tackling the subject of shame. As a result she designed The Juicy Booth in collaboration with K67 Berlin and The Loss Project. The kiosk is multi-sensory and uses colour, light and music, providing a refuge and sanctuary for visitors to explore the complex emotion of shame. Inside the kiosk, LED monitors spell out visitors’ confessions. If a visitor types that they are feeling anxious, the system maps their emotions with coordinates that correspond to a responsive colour spectrum. In the ten minute allocated slots the aim is for the visitor to leave happier and lighter.

anniefrostnicholson.com

The Plunkett Plan

18- 22 September
twentytwentyone, 18c River Street, London, EC1R 1XN

British designer William Plunkett (1928-2013) was a formative figure in the post-war design industry, intertwining his flair for engineering with his love for furniture design. twentytwentyone will present an archive of Plunkett's designs. The retrospective celebrates his broad ouevre, from the 1961 Aeropreen Award-winning chair to his collaborations with Christopher Farr Cloth and beyond. The Plunkett Plan demonstrates the evolution of Plunkett's design language through his pioneering approach to form, materials and commitment to reductionism.

twentytwentyone.com

Christopher Farr x Fondation Arp

16 - 22 September
Christopher Farr Studio, 18 Calvin St, E1 6HF, Shoreditch Design Triangle

Luxury rug brand Christopher Farr has collaborated with Fondation Arp, to present two new rugs. The hand knotted ‘Etude Ligne, 1941’, and CF Editions hand tufted ‘Aubette Study’ are inspired by the original artworks of Swiss artist and designer Sophie Taeuber-Arp. She was a key figure in the pre-WWII European art scene, and followed the Dada movement, which inspired her abstract sculptural head image that became a signature in her designs. The installation will include printed linen developed by Christopher Farr Cloth and furniture from 8 Holland Street.

christopherfarr.com

Chandigarh Furniture by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret

7 September to 4 October
Blue Mountain School 9 Chance St, London E2 7JB

Blue Mountain School presents an exhibition of historic furniture from the private collection of British-Indian collector, dealer and developer, Rajan Bijlani. The rare collection consists of furniture designed by Pierre Jeanneret and Le Corbusier for the Northern Indian city of Chandigarh in the early 1950s. Pieces were inspired by the city’s architecture and include the High Court Sofa Set, which was designed for the High Court with a timber frame; the Square Library Table, one of only twenty made for the Punjab University; and two Committee Chairs.

bluemountain.school

Molteni Mondo. An Italian Design Story by Molteni&C

14 – 22 September
Brompton Design District

Celebrating 90 years of design and innovation, Molteni&C is launching the brand’s first monograph in London. The Italian design behemoths have created an immersive installation in its flagship store on Brompton Road, and proceedings will be marked by a talk with Michael Anastassiades, whose 123 chair and Card bookcase for Molteni were standout highlights from Salone 2024. Focusing on Brompton Design District’s theme of ‘The Practice of Learning’, the conversation will dive into the power of collaboration and the role of design as a bridge between past, present and future.

molteni.it

Poltrona Frau with Faye Toogood: 'A Squashed Space'

14 – 22 September
157-153 Fulham Road, London, SW3 6S

Designer Faye Toogood takes over Italian brand Poltrona Frau’s Fulham flagship store for London Design Festival. The installation titled ‘A Squashed Space’ is a charismatic portmanteau of Italian refinement and English tradition showcasing the collaborative Squash collection, which was presented earlier this year and featured in Wallpaper’s latest design directory. The store is a backdrop for a captivating display, draped in leather with tactile furnishings, a blend which Toogood describes with signature wit and whimsy: ‘I’m thinking of this collection as English Folk with Italian Horsepower’.

Toogood-x-poltrona-frau

APPARATUS: Open Gallery

16 – 17 September
Apparatus, 7 Mount Street, London W1K 3EH

The New York-based design studio hops across the pond to host an open gallery during this year’s London Design Festival. Informed by theatre and literature, Apparatus will present an array of lighting furniture and objects, including new editions to the Horsehair lighting collection and Cylinder series. The customisable, modular system has been somewhat augmented, emerging as different characters with vim and vigour. The Horsehair series welcomes ‘9 Pendant’ with columns of hair, brass and etched glass - signature elements of equine extravagance, which delight us enormously.

apparatusstudio.uk

The Sun, My Heart by Marjan van Aubel

14 – 22 September
G16, New Wing, Somerset House Strand, London WC2R 1LA

Connect with the power of the sun in van Aubel’s immersive installation. 'The Sun, My Heart' uses a series of 70 specially modified lights inspired by the Dutch designer’s ‘Sunne’ solar lights, to create a constellation which charts the sun’s daily cycles from dawn to dusk. Commissioned by London Design Festival, in partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies, the installation evokes an emotional response, designed to synchronise the rhythm of visitors' hearts with solar rhythms.

marjanvanaubel.com

Barbie x Greater Palm Springs by Nina Tolstrup of Studiomama

14 – 22 September
Strand Aldwych, London, WC2R 1ES

Mid-century modern architecture is celebrated through a Barbie lens, in a landmark project by Nina Tolstrup of Studiomama, in collaboration with Barbie and Greater Palm Springs.’Pavillions of Wonder’ are three pavilions inspired by Barbie’s 1960s Dreamhouses and the modernist architecture of Palm Springs. The imaginative pavilions are mildly surreal, with a desert-inspired infinity garden, geometric structures and swirling facades; a nod to modernist architecture and design, saturated in Barbie’s trademark pink.

studiomama.com

The Wax Building opening exhibition

14 – 22 September
4 Garden Walk, Shoreditch EC2A 3EQ

The Wax Building is set to open during the London Design Festival, nestling into its Shoreditch location. The former Victorian factory has been transformed into four storeys, with an amalgamation of product design, lighting, furniture and interiors taking over each of its floors. On the basement-level floor a new London-based lighting company LightMass displays its illuminating structures. Furniture brand Cozmo takes over the ground floor, with Tamart setting up shop on the first floor, a design and furniture brand founded by architect Amos Goldreich. On the second floor Minimalux, known for its simple yet functional products, displays its work across the space.

waxbuilding.com

Sophie Lou Jacobsen x de Gournay

19 September – mid-October
De Gournay showroom SW3 6EP

Artist and designer Sophie Lou Jacobson has teamed up with heritage wallpaper brand de Gournay to unveil a collection of new pieces including an array of vases, candle sconces, pendant lights, and mirrors titled 'Tulipa'. Hand-crafted, each piece offers a historical touch to any interior, gently nodding to de Gournay's renowned Chinoiserie wallpapers, and boasting a deep understanding of 18th and 19th-century furniture and decor. The de Gournay showroom will display the glass and ceramic objects which is an expansion of Jacobsen’s 'Giardino Segreto' (Secret Garden) series of floral-motif vases and candle holders that launched in May 2023.

sophieloujacobsen.com

degournay.com

‘Together In Battersea’ by POoR Collective x Battersea Power Station

20 September – 20 October
Battersea Power Station Turbine Hall A

Inspired by community, Power Out of Restriction (POoR Collective) has partnered with Battersea Power Station to create an installation inspired by the surrounding neighbourhood (read our interview with founder Shawn Adams). POoR Collective will also host a series of workshops for Wandsworth-based school children and youth groups to design an exciting piece of public art themed around ‘‘What does Battersea mean to you?’. This will be displayed in the Grade II* listed building’s Turbine Hall A during the London Design Festival.

poorcollective.com

'Communion' by Giles Tettey Nartey

14 - 22 September
V&A Cromwell Road, SW7 2RL

British-Ghanaian designer Giles Tettey Nartey, showcases his 'Communion' table which was specially commissioned for Wallpaper* Class of '24 exhibition in Milan. With support from AHEC and crafted with Amercian Hard maple by Jan Hendzel, the designer explores cultural traditions through the rituals of domestic life in Ghana. Nartey designed the table for the making fufu–a West African staple food, which is made by pounding cassava into a dough. ' Communion' is designed to bring together family and friends in the shared act of making food.

gilestetteynartey.com

‘Vert’ by AHEC, Diez Office and OMC°C

14 September-14 October
The Parade Ground at Chelsea College of Art

American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) presents ‘Vert’, designed by industrial design practice Diez Office, and in partnership with climate farming experts Office for Mirco Climate Cultivation (OMC°C). Presented at the Parade Ground at Chelsea College of Art, this project was designed with a clear mission in mind- to propose an innovative architectural solution for cooling cities, while also providing green spaces, urban biodiversity, and naturally integrating with existing infrastructure. The design consisted of a series of ten metre tall timber sails, which are covered in climbing plants, offering a cool and calming space in the bustle of the city.

americanhardwood.org

www.diezoffice.com

omc-c.com

‘BLOND LABORATORY’ by BLOND

16 – 22 September
1 Kingsland Road, Shoreditch, London, E28AA

Industrial designers BLOND have asked seven designers to partake in its curated exhibition ‘Blond Laboratory’. The premise is to encourage ‘real-world’ inspiration over digital. BLOND asked each designer to create a response to artefacts they sourced- things that might be forgotten in an attic or left in a charity shop all within a budget of £20. Designers include: Jon Marshall (Pentagram), Form Us With Love, Julie Richoz (Julie Richoz Studio), Maddalena Casadei (Maddalena Casadei Studio) and James Melia (BLOND).

blond.cc

‘10 x 10’ by Floor_Story

Cairo Studios
Nile Street, London, N1

Rug dealer Floor_Story presents an exhibition of ten new editions from some of its iconic collaborations. Located at Floor_Story’s Old Street studio, the ‘10 x 10’ series will be presented together for the first time, with new editions from Henry Holland, Kangan Arora, Camille Walala, Adam Nathaniel Furman, Kitty Joseph, 2LG, John Booth, Gill Thorpe, Flock Studio and Diane Bresson. The fun and colourful exhibition celebrates the evolution of each designer, from the original partnerships, to how it has evolved to date. With experimentation in colour, techniques and influences, the exhibition showcases each designer's skill and craftsmanship.

floorstory.co.uk

‘Off The Shelf’ by Rio Kobayashi and Webb Yates

14 September 2024 to 28 February 2025
Olympia London

Olympia hosts its first ever London Design Festival pavilion, designed by Wallpaper* Class of ’24 artist Rio Kobayashi. Titled ‘Off the Shelf’, the installation, created alongside award-winning engineering firm Webb Yates, is an amalgamation of its surrounding architecture and the traditional Japanese wooden homes of Kobayashi's childhood. It is a seamless blend of science and craft, integrating traditional techniques alongside contemporary engineering. Using limited screws, joints, or material alterations; it is instead assembled from standard components cleverly weighted, or clamped together. This method ensures stability and durability while allowing the pavilion to be easily disassembled back into its original, off-the-shelf parts, the bulk of which can be returned, reused, or resold, demonstrating an innovative approach to sustainability. Acting as a platform to showcase other craftspeople and designers, it will be open from the 14 September 2024 to 28 February 2025.

olympia.london.com

‘The Muffin Collection’ by George Smith x Commune Design

Launches 18 September
George Smith flagship
SW6 2EH

George Smith, the English furniture and fabric company, and Commune Design, the California design studio celebrate ten years of creative partnership, revealing The Muffin Collection during the London Design Festival. The creative duo’s latest collection draws inspiration from the art deco movement, intertwined with a contemporary flair. Drawing inspiration from French interior designer Jean Michel-Frank, this collection encapsulates a spirit of playful elegance and is available in a sofa, armchair, chaise, and ottoman.

www.georgesmith.com

‘The Practice of Learning’ in the Brompton Design District

14 – 22 September
Located around the Brompton Design District

London’s longest running design district fails to disappoint, continuing to showcase a variety of designers with a programme of temporary exhibitions focusing on experimental design, also sitting alongside a series of new collection launches and events from international design brands. This year, they have been asked to respond to the theme ‘The Practice of Learning’ curated by Jane Withers Studio. Designers participating include: Marco Campardo, Guan Lee, Attua Aparicio, Sarah Van Gameren, Andu Masebo, Michael Anastassiades, Patricia Urquiola, Studio AMOS, Giles Tettey Nartey, Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian, POoR Collective and RCA Class of 2024 Design Products Graduates. Design showrooms based in the District launching new collections and design pieces include Cassina, Occhio, Liaigre, Giorgetti and Poltrona Frau while Molteni&C celebrate their 90th anniversary with a new monograph Molteni Mondo. An Italian Design Story.

bromptondesigndistrict.com

‘Well Made: What it means today’ by Pearson Lloyd

14–22 September
Yorkton Workshops, E2 8NH

Pearson Lloyd, a London-based design studio known for designing functional beautiful and efficient systems that serve the needs of clients, and society at large, presents its curated exhibition to redefine the meaning of ‘well made’ in relation to contemporary challenges. In seeking contributions to the exhibition, Pearson Lloyd sent invitations to a diverse group of people and practices from across the design landscape, offering unique interpretations of certain designs varying across hand-held proportions, low cost and ease of access.

pearsonlloyd.com

'Fields of Vision' by Blessed Foundation

Closes 19 September
Blessed Foundation
6 Stannary StreetSE11 4AA

Blessed Foundation presents its group exhibition ‘Fields of Vision’ during the London Design Festival, celebrating the works from three US-based multidisciplinary artists: Ai Xia, Jamica El, and Alfredo Salazar-Caro. Integrating them into the Blessed Foundation space, the artists encourage visitors to question their relationship with nature, society and the future of sustainable practices.

blessed-foundation.org

Material Matters

18 – 21 September
Bargehouse
Oxo Tower Wharf

Nested into the Oxo Tower Wharf on London’s Southbank, Material Matters returns again bringing together over 50 globally renowned designers, manufacturers and organisations to showcase the many interpretations of how the design industry can address issues around the circular economy and why material intelligence is so important to all our lives. There will be two themes this year; ‘Biodesign’ and 'Working with Waste’ .The first one is the innovative use of bio-materials, showing products made from mud to orange peel. The second theme is waste. The exhibitors delve into working with recycled plastics, textiles and more, discovering another us rather than burying or burning it.

materialmatters.design

The London Design Festival 2024 programme has been announced, with a focus on international talent and a renewed mission to celebrate ‘creativity, innovation and the power of design to shape our world’. Supported by the Mayor of London and Bloomberg Philanthropies, the London Design Festival’s next edition will take over the city with installations and exhibitions at key cultural institutions and design districts

London Design Festival 2024: what to expect

Landmark projects across London include an installation by ‘a future facing designer’ in collaboration with London Design Festival partner Johnnie Walker, and Vert, an installation at the Parade Ground at Chelsea College of Art by Diez Office and AHEC, in partnership with climate farming experts OMC°C. An innovative proposal for cooling cities, the installation will include a structure made from American red oak holding a biodegradable net with a curated selection of around 20 plant species. ‘The living ecosystem will support local biodiversity, serve as a habitat for essential insect populations, enrich the urban environment, and provide a sheltered space where visitors to the Festival can gather and relax.’

Meanwhile, Duo by Turkish designer Melek Zeynep at the Royal Naval College’s Painted Hall is a symbolic installation comprising a series of prisms, ‘encapsulating the essence of 'two': a dialogue, a duality, an agreement, and the dynamic interplay between the centre and periphery.’

Other festival commissions include a partnership between London Design Festival Emerging Design Medal winners, Power Out of Restriction (POoR Collective) and Battersea Power Station, which will result in a community-led riverside installation by the London-based collective, and Craft x Tech Tohoku Project, launched in Japan this past May and on view at the V&A’s Prince Consort Gallery.

Also at the V&A will be Giles Tettey Nartey’s ‘Communion’, originally created in partnership with AHEC for Wallpaper’s Class of ‘24 exhibition at Triennale Milano, and further commissions by emerging designers Arjun Singh Assa, Liang-Jung Chen, and Angela Ford, as well as Modular by Mensah with Bridge of Weir Leather and Muirhead.

The return of Material Matters

A regular highlight of London Design Festival is the Material Matters fair, established in 2022 by Grant Gibson off the back of the design podcast of the same name. Set at Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf, from 18-21 September, the fair showcases brands and designers united by 'an innate sense of material intelligence and the desire to make the world a slightly better place.'

‘London Design Festival 2024 promises to be another strong year,’ says Ben Evans, London Design Festival Director. ‘The lineup is set to offer fresh perspectives and innovative ideas that will captivate and inspire our audiences. Equally important, the Festival continues to champion inclusivity and provides crucial opportunities for emerging talent to shine. We take great pride in the Festival's role in expanding the reach of designers and creative businesses, reaffirming design's profound impact on our society.’

London Design Festival 2024 runs from 14 - 22 September

londondesignfestival.com

Tom Dixon was inspired by his recent foray into portable lamps for the theme of his London Design Festival 2023 exhibition at Coal Office. Over the years, his Kings' Cross HQ has become a hub for creativity and innovation, often hosting brands that cover the full design spectrum and ignite conversations around the future of creation. 

‘The future is hypermobile’ by Tom Dixon

'Through launching portable lamps, I had the idea of hypermobility, which became an umbrella to cover everything,' said Dixon, citing portability, miniaturisation and rechargeability as key elements of the explorations across his spaces. 'Our music has become portable, businesses become portable through phones and lighting is now portable: portability, flexibility and miniaturisation are all around us, we're just acknowledging it.'

Across 11 arches of Coal Office, Dixon presents new products as well as multidisciplinary spaces that include a broadcast studio, mini cinema (both equipped with sound-absorbing panels made of Kvadrat textiles), a hypermarket, dedicated to the “Portables” and featuring an on-site screen-printing workshop for customised packaging. 

A Techno Lab taking over Arch 9 features a curated series of of innovative brands, including Swedish electronics company Teenage Engineering, London-based tech brand Nothing, British speaker specialist KEF and 3D printer manufacturer Ultimaker. It's a group selected by Dixon to further enhance his visions of portability and flexibility. 

For the week, AI designer Tilly, created by Studio Snoop will be at the venue to interact with visitors, answering questions on design and beyond through an on-screen chat system. A series of early designs created by Tilly, from tapestries to mycelium experiments, will also be on display.

'The frenetic world that we inhabit requires more flexibility and adaptability than ever before – that's why we have adopted the theme of “Hypermobile” for our installation,' says Dixon. 'We focus our attention on the new possibilities that miniaturisation and movement have allowed, introducing our latest ideas in mobile illumination including the “Portables”. Allowing us even more adaptability in how we work, play and entertain. The future, in our view is hypermobile.'

The Coal Office Hub

The Hypermobile displays are mixed with showcases from guests taking over spaces across Coal Office, including Zaha Hadid Design unveiling new prototypes, as well as collaborations with Slamp and Karimoku. Next door, Porro presents a series of new reissues from Alessandro Mendini, alongside the Italian company's architectural systems. 

zaha-hadid-design.com
porro.com

The curation also includes Cozmo, the modular and customisable sofa brand now launching a series of tables by Raw Edges through an installation created with terrarium experts Botanical Boys.

mycozmo.com

Meanwhile, New Zealand-based Resident, set up by Tom Dixon alumnus Scott Bridgens with Simon James, presents an exhibition titled 'Runway', staying on view for 6 weeks and featuring among others the Sacha Chair, by Philippe Malouin. 

resident.co.nz

During London Design Festival 2023, Ozwald Boateng and Poltrona Frau unveil ‘Culture and Craft’, a collaboration defined by the Savile Row designer’s interpretations of the Italian furniture company’s classics. 

A glimpse into a wider collaboration that will expand in the future, the pieces are on view at Boateng’s Savile Row showroom as well as Poltrona Frau’s Fulham Road and Harrods location, and include the ‘Chester’ sofa, a 1912 design conceived by the company's founder and inspired by Edwardian Chesterfields, and the ‘Vanity Fair’ chair, from 1984, both adorned with distinctive patterns developed by the designer. 

Although the furniture acts as the centrepiece of the collaboration's debut, Boateng's interpretation of Poltrona Frau stretches far beyond these initial designs, with 'The Beautilities Collection' comprising rugs, wallpaper, cushions, scented candles and a Mancala board game, all reflecting the spirit of the designer's approach to creation.

Ozwald Boateng and Poltrona Frau: evolution from tradition

Boateng has been a Savile Row institution since he opened his shop on the street in 1995, after nearly a decade of learning from the tailors on the street. At 28, he was the youngest designer to ever open a space on the road, and instantly impressed with his interpretation of classic tailoring merged with the aesthetic and cultural codes of his Ghanaian background. Similarly, he now brings his distinctive approach to Poltrona Frau, through a collection that blends both brands’ identities. 

'At Poltrona Frau, we wanted to make tradition alive in a contemporary key,' says Poltrona Frau CEO, Nicola Coropulis. 'The meeting with Ozwald was a catalyst, because he had done exactly this same exercise on traditional English formal dress, innovating it with the colours and designs of the African tradition.' 

Boateng has always been known for his use of colour and his approach to fabrication. With Poltrona Frau, there was an instant connection through craft, construction and attention to detail. ‘When I visited them in Tolentino, the thing which was abundantly clear about them was the execution, the attention to detail and the craftsmanship,’ says the designer

Boateng enriched the classic furniture designs by embossing his signature ‘Tribal’ print in Frau leather. A pattern referencing traditional Kente Cloth Motifs, it becomes both a subtle decoration and a powerful aesthetic exercise once placed on the designs. 

The collection merges Poltrona Frau’s longstanding expertise with handcrafting techniques and furniture construction with Boateng’s distinctive aesthetic and spirit. Subtle yet vivid in its execution, the pattern is declined in a vibrant series of shades that reflect the designer’s work, including red, yellow, purple, blue, green and black.

Although effortless in its appearance, the embossed elements were a key step forward for Poltrona Frau's manufacturing approach. 'Applying Oswald's patterns on the leather was an important technological challenge,' says Coropulis. 'In the furniture sector today, no one uses the embossing technique that we have used, he has pushed us to work on the leather in a new way.'

As a Savile Row tailor, Boateng has had extensive experience with modernising the classics. ‘I learned very early on as a designer that to take something that's very traditional, and modernise it, it’s actually quite difficult, there’s a subtlety to getting the balance of the two worlds right.’

From the start, Boateng found similarities between his approach to tailoring and construction and Poltrona Frau’s techniques. Rooted in precision, craft and innovation, the two brands found common ground and also challenged each other. ‘The process of making the furniture is very similar to my approach to tailoring, including the choice and development of materials,’ explains Boateng. ‘For me this partnership is really about tradition, and finding a new language around that tradition, the same way I did in Savile Row.'

'We both have great respect for the past, for what we define as "the intelligence of the hands",' adds Coropulis. 'We know the value of this tradition and we have practised it over the years, so we are in a position to be able to offer a credible interpretation of tradition.'

‘“Chester” is a very traditional piece of furniture, so for me, being able to take that, and interprete it through a new language around the existing frame that everyone knows, that's really what design is about,' concludes Boateng. 'Because if tradition doesn't evolve, it dies.’

The collection is on view at Poltrona Frau, 147-153 Fulham Road, Harrods, 87-135 Brompton Rd, and Ozwald Boateng, 39 Savile Row

poltronafrau.com
ozwaldboateng.co.uk

‘Infinite’. This is the word Jasper Morrison uses to describe the creative potential of bamboo.

This natural material – alongside its qualities of strength, versatility, beauty – is the under the spotlight at the exhibition Bamboo, currently taking place at Jasper Morrison Shop in east London.

Dozens of works designed, crafted and woven by mainly anonymous specialist artisans from across the archipelago are on display in the show, produced in collaboration with Japan Creative, an organising promoting the values of Japanese craftsmanship, as part of London Design Festivl 2023.

A quiet curation of bamboo items spans the spectrum of the quotidian, such as clean-lined cups, intricate baskets, hanging flower vases and delicate tea whisks. A film also depicts scenes of Japanese bamboo craftsmanship – from the material being harvesting in bamboo forests in southern Japan to the intricate weaving techniques of artisans.

Bamboo has long been a key material for making, designing, crafting and building in Japan, a country which is home to as many as 600 different types of bamboo, out of an estimated total of 1,300 species globally.

For Morrison, the material is synonymous with craftsmanship and versatility. 'It’s a poor material, easily grown without any effort and yet it can be used to make incredibly well crafted and beautiful objects,' he tells Wallpaper*. 'I mostly love it for that.'

A focus on the daily use of bamboo, created using an array of processing methods, connects the pieces selected for the exhibition, which is a specially edited version of Our Bamboo: Exploring Materials by Japan Creative, which was shown during Salone del Mobile 2023.

'In Japan, there are still two main types of bamboo crafts,' says Japanese designer Wataru Kumano, creative director of Japan Creative. 'One is bamboo crafts used as tools for daily life, and the other is basket weaving called hanakago, which is used in tea ceremonies. At Japan Creative, we chose bamboo crafts as tools for daily life from a design perspective.'

Threaded through the exhibition concept is also the timeless idea that bamboo, with its craftsmanship traditionally rooted in the rhythms of nature, is still a “relevant” material for modern life.

'Most bamboo crafts were created during the agricultural off-season,' Kumano adds. 'Such seasonal pieces are almost gone; they are made all year round, and with the advent of plastic and other substitutes, items with the same functionality are now available at lower prices. However, I think there is a need to reconsider bamboo, which has a very high contribution both culturally and environmentally, to discover new charms, and to continue using it.'

Bamboo is on view until 22 September 2023

Jasper Morrison Shop
24b Kingsland Road

jaspermorrisonshop.com

In partnership with VitrA London

VitrA has collaborated with designers Jordan Cluroe and Russell Whitehead of 2LG studio on an installation inspired by sci-fi aesthetics and the work of the late French designer Andree Putman for ‘Playscape’, which is taking over VitrA London during the London Design Festival 2023. 

At the heart of the project is the Istanbul collection by Ross Lovegrove, whose futuristic organic forms serve as a starting point for an exploration of future bathroom design. Including basins, toilets, taps and showers, Lovegrove’s collection is inspired by the eclectic cultural diversity of the city from which it is named, its forms instantly recognisable yet functional and versatile. 

To accompany the designs, Cluroe and Whitehead have created a composition using tiles from the ‘Mode’ range, with black and white hues which they arranged in a chequerboard motif to form a backdrop to the sinuous silhouettes. The tiles are the focal point of a striking structure that nods to the playful forms of a playground, with slide-like formations, curved walls and a contrasting monochromatic shade of Tobacco used to create enclosed areas where visitors can explore the collection further. 

A centrepiece for the London showroom that offers a visionary interpretation of the materials and the bathroom collections, ‘Playscape’ also features a chequered, stepped structure adorned with plants, evoking the spirit of freedom and infinite possibilities of contemporary bathroom design. 

As part of the installation, VitrA offers a free virtual reality experience (Thursday 21 September 2023) in collaboration with Virtual Worlds, a software that transfers bathroom designs into 4D, letting visitors delve deeper into the designs in an immersive, interactive setting.

Says Whitehead: ‘Bold, boundary-pushing and aspirational, our design speaks of futures past and takes us into new territory, showcasing the elegant organic shapes of the Istanbul collection – contrasted with the graphic impact of monochromatic tiling.’

‘Playscape has been designed to re-imagine the way we experience our bathrooms,’ says Cluroe. ‘As if a spacecraft has landed in the VitrA showroom from the not-too-distant future.’

‘Playscape’ is on view at VitrA during London Design Festival, and will remain installed for Clerkenwell Design Trail, 4-5 October 2023. You can register for special events via https://london.vitra.co.uk/events

VitrA London, 64 Turnmill Street, London EC1M 5RR

london.vitra.co.uk

For London Design Festival 2023 (16–24 September), Jan Hendzel Studio has brought together 22 designers – half of them established, the other half emerging – in an exhibition, ‘11:11’, at Staffordshire St gallery in Peckham, south London. 

Hendzel, a furniture designer known for working with reclaimed and locally sourced timber, chose 11 celebrated makers to feature in the show, from Simone Brewster to Martino Gamper. He then asked each of them to select an up-and-coming, south London-based designer to exhibit alongside, drawn from an open call. 

'Our emphasis was very much on creating a platform to support the grassroots and emerging creators of Southwark,' says Hendzel. The resulting show forms part of the Southwark Design District at LDF.

Jan Hendzel: ‘We want to celebrate what's great about design’

The exhibition presents a diverse breadth of design, from ceramics and textiles to woodworking and jewellery. As well as reflecting the 11 established and 11 emerging designers, the exhibition title references numerological beliefs, where the set of numbers, 11:11, is considered highly special, and rooted in synchronicity. 

'We wanted to have a showcase of incredible designers who are pushing what it means to work in a variety of materials that blend the disciplines of design and craft, to inspire a new generation of rising designers,' says Hendzel. 'Ultimately we want to celebrate what's great about design – and for us that is putting the emerging stars in with the established makers.'

Grain + Knot, a woodworking studio based in south London founded by Sophie Sellu, is one of those established makers. The studio is exhibiting a selection of sculptural and functional objects at ‘11:11’, made from storm-fallen and reclaimed timber.   

Sellu selected Jacob Marks from the open call, a designer-maker from Manchester whose studio is based in Peckham. Marks graduated from a BA in product and furniture design at Kingston University last year, and his practice centres on material experimentation. 

Sellu was intrigued by Marks’ use of pine resin – a yellow, viscous substance that is secreted by pine trees in order to protect their bark. 'It’s a really interesting way to use parts of a tree that would otherwise not be used in woodworking,' she says.

Marks is exhibiting ‘Pina Lamp I’ and ‘Pina Lamp II’, inventive lights made by dipping a paper form into a vat of molten pine resin, before setting it around a timber base. Marks praises pine resin’s renewable, carbon-negative and biodegradable attributes. 'Its vibrant, amber tone also led me to think lighting could be a particularly effective application,' he says.

A Rum Fellow, the London-based design studio dedicated to artisan textiles, is exhibiting a boldly patterned flatweave rug, handwoven in India (‘Periscope’ rug). The studio selected Mariangel Talamas Leal from the open call, who recently graduated with an MA in furniture design from Central Saint Martins. 

Leal’s sculptural furniture is imbued with emotion and identity as well as packing a delightful visual punch. 'We were instantly drawn to the rawness of Mariangel’s work,' says Dylan O’Shea, director and co-founder at A Rum Fellow. 'Her pieces have at once a familiar organic nature and an otherworldly, almost alien quality.'

Leal’s pieces on show – ‘Lupita’ lounge chair and ‘Carmen’ side table – are crafted from plywood, stainless steel mesh, plaster and Modroc bandages, painted in bright block colours. 'At the centre of this collection is my personal experience and emotions that come from being of multiple cultural identities,' she says. 

‘I am Mexican-Palestinian and was raised in the US. Each piece of furniture in the collection is made of two different parts, with each part needing the other to fully embody its true identity. This emphasises the concept of two separate identities coming together to create a stable and productive third.’ She named her pieces after women in her family, ‘as an homage to my cultures and appreciation of my roots’.

‘11:11’ is on show at Staffordshire St Gallery, 15 to 24 September 2023

Staffordshire St Gallery
49 Staffordshire Street
SE15 5TJ

janhendzel.com

Experience St Paul’s Cathedral like never before: for London Design Festival 2023, artist Pablo Valbuena created Aura, an installation that makes sound tangible through light. The unique thing about the London Design Festival is its ability to animate London landmarks with imaginative and exciting installations by leading creatives of our time, and this new commission makes no exception. 

St Paul’s Cathedral for LDF 2023: ‘Aura’ by Pablo Valbuena

Valbuena was inspired by attending evensong at the Cathedral to create his beacon of light that responds to sound across the building, whether it’s people’s murmuring or the sound of the organ and choir during services.

‘My father brought me here when I was ten, and I probably didn’t come back for 30 years,’ said festival director Ben Evans, who also commissioned John Pawson to create a temporary installation for the space in 2011. ‘We are very privileged to be able to be in this space, a place where everyone is welcome.'

A vertical beam suspended from the Cathedral’s cupola, Aura listens to the sounds generated across St Paul’s, transforming them into a tangible light that responds to their intensity and pitch. ‘The piece is about experience, about the rituals that take place in the cathedral,’ says Valbuena. The piece not only responds to a spectrum of noises across the building, but its light also bounces across the golden mosaics surrounding the cathedral’s upper levels. ‘The piece is intended to be seen from across the space: it formalises the sounds in a scale that is visible from everywhere in the cathedral.’

As the monumental commission was unveiled at the start of London Design Festival, Valbuena cited philosopher Byung-Chul Han: ‘Rituals are to time what a home is to space: they render time habitable.’

The project is part of a series of activations to mark the 300th anniversary of Sir Christopher Wren’s death. Dubbed 'Wren 300', the programme delves into the architect's vision: the festival, in conjunction with Bloomberg Philanthropies, has commissioned two projects that look at the architecture in a new light. In addition to Aura, another commission includes Halo, by Studio Waldemeyer, at St Stephen Walbrook Church.

Aura by Pablo Valbuena is on view until November 2023

londondesignfestival.com
pablovalbuena.com

A group of large, totemic cork vessels has arrived in central London this September, marking out a bold presence on The Strand. Created by designer Simone Brewster, the outdoor public installation – titled ‘Spirit of Place’ – has been commissioned for London Design Festival 2023 (16–24 September), situated on a recently pedestrianised section of the historic West End street. 

Simone Brewster: 'Spirit of Place'

Together, the five sculptural vessels are intended to evoke a forest of cork oak trees in Portugal. The forest, at Herdade de Rio Frio, is managed by Portuguese cork manufacturer Amorim, which collaborated with Brewster on the project. 'It was amazing, and so beautiful,' says Brewster of the forest, which she visited during a run of mild, blue-skied days in February 2023.

The project is directly inspired by the place. 'I wanted to capture the essence of what’s going on in the forest,' says Brewster. The column-like vessels, 2.6m high, recall the presence of sturdy oaks. 'Historically, the idea of columns is based on trees,’ says Brewster. Meanwhile, the palette of colours, painted on, references those she experienced on her visit.

Brewster was also inspired by the notions of resilience and regeneration that underpin the forest and how it’s managed. As our climate changes, Amorim is encouraging strains of trees to grow that are more resilient to drought, and their approach to harvesting the cork – for wine stoppers or any other use – is a waste-free, regenerative one. 'Everything gets reused,' says Brewster, mentioning in particular the cork dust which is used as biomass to power machinery in the factory.

The cork composite Brewster has utilised for ‘Spirit of Place’ is the result of stripping the bark of the trees – a process that boosts growth and carbon capture, but is nevertheless slow: it can only happen every eight years. 'It’s almost counterculture,' says Brewster, contrasting the approach with the contemporary pressures for fast-paced design and production. 'When you’re dealing with nature in a respectful and understanding way, you can’t push that [process], because you’re just going to end up damaging your resource.'

After the bark has been stripped, it is steamed, chipped and then heated, so that the natural resin in the cork bonds the chips together. It is this material that is compressed and cut into shapes, and which makes up the vessels of ‘Spirit of Place’.

This is the largest-scale project Brewster has worked on to date, blending her architectural training with her skill in crafting beautiful design objects. The totemic design recalls her ‘Tropical Noire’ (2014) vessels, continuing a practice of deeply sculptural expression that has also been on show at Brewster’s solo exhibition ‘The Shape of Things’ at London’s NOW Gallery.

Brewster calls ‘Spirit of Place’ a 'family of objects' to engage with, and is glad that their location in a pedestrianised zone will enable people to walk around them. Although only installed on The Strand for the duration of LDF, Brewster is already in discussions to hopefully find a new outdoor home for the project, whether that’s in another urban space – or a forest.

'Spirit of Place' by Simone Brewster in collaboration with Amorim is on view on The Strand until 24 September 2023

simonebrewster.co.uk
londondesignfestival.com

For London-based designer Andu Masebo, cars are a 'rich territory' of stories. The UK capital’s recent expansion of the Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), charging non-compliant cars a fee to drive on the roads, has prompted fierce debates, with cars condemned as destroyers of the environment or exalted as vehicles of freedom. But for Masebo it is the stories cars evince that fascinate him most. As part of London Design Festival 2023 (16 to 24 September), Masebo is presenting the results of disassembling a 1998 Alfa Romeo 145 Cloverleaf – not ULEZ-compliant – and turning it into a series of furniture pieces. 

Andu Masebo’s ‘Part Exchange’ at the V&A

His 'Part Exchange' project, showcased at the V&A South Kensington, not only presents the sleek and often playful furniture objects he has crafted, but also the stories of the people that have informed them – the previous owners of the red Alfa Romeo that Masebo tenaciously sought out and interviewed. 

'I wanted to take those stories and use them as a starting point or a reason to design objects and furniture that would resonate somehow with what the car used to mean,' he says.

A nightlight, created using car engine parts that cast curious shadows, responds to the life story of the car’s first owner. 'It was a lady who lost her husband while she had the car, but then went on to have an adventurous life, going to Mount Everest and Antarctica,' Masebo says. 'After her husband died, she felt his presence, telling her that she’s going to be OK.' The designer chose a nightlight as a symbol of comforting presence in dark times. 'I’m always making quite simple objects, that sometimes resonate with deep stories,' he adds.

Not all of the owners’ stories were so profound, but Masebo enjoys exploring the banal and the cheeky as much as the heart-rending. A shelf with hidden compartments, made from the wing of the car, was inspired by the owner who bought the car in his twenties and 'got up to no good', while a practical wall unit with space for loose change and plastic bags – made from parts of the passenger seats and the rear-view mirror – is designed in response to the owner who simply used the car to go shopping.

There is also a freestanding shelving unit, a wine rack, a chunky coffee table, coat hooks and a day bed. Each object uses a different part of the car, from its body work to its wheels, and each is hand-welded by Masebo. He admits the design process was a careful balance to strike: wanting the presence of the car to be felt in the objects, whilst not wanting to create anything 'kitsch'.

Masebo found the car online, having searched for cars that had failed their MOTs and were destined to be scrapped ('the car could have been restored, but its value would have been less than the cost to restore it', he explains). Although repurposing waste material is high on the design world’s agenda, Masebo points out that sustainability was not the driving force behind the project.

'The most sustainable way to recycle a car is not to make it into furniture,' he says, explaining that the current system of melting down scrapped cars and using the metal for new uses is a more efficient approach. Nevertheless, he admits conversations about sustainability have emerged indirectly from the project. He hopes the work points to a world in which people are more ‘compassionate’ to materials, including what they meant and how they were used over time.

Mining this emotional landscape and history of objects seems to be Masebo’s preoccupation in his design practice, and it is one he hopes to continue. He is keen to co-design products with people that emerge from in-depth discussions about their lives, needs and feelings. Hopefully, the success of ‘Part Exchange’ will pave the way forward.

The works from 'Part Exchange' are available for sale; prices available on request from the designer. ‘Part Exchange’ is on shows at the V&A South Kensington, 16 September to 15 October 2023

andumasebo.com
londondesignfestival.com

Normal Phenomena of Life (NPOL) is the result of a long-term collaboration between Faber Futures, Natsai Audrey Chieza’s design research laboratory, and Christina Agapakis of biotech company Gingko Bioworks. Making its debut at London Design Festival 2023, NPOL is the culmination of the work Faber Futures has been doing since its founding in 2018, acting as a marketplace for biodesign products, an innovation catalyst and technology showcase. Its goal, Chieza explains, is to ‘prioritise thoughtful design over business as usual’.

Normal Phenomena of Life: designing with biology

‘Creating a marketplace is an opportunity to tell stories about the possibilities of bioeconomy,’ continues Chieza. ‘My main motivation was to see the field evolving in a direction that is incredibly uninspiring – not going to do anything new, just consolidate existing business models. But we need to change everything, including consumer expectations of what products should be.’

The first drop includes a series of ‘NPOL Originals’ such as bacterially dyed garments, prints made with algae ink, and objects made of a bio-concrete fabricated by microbes, while a parallel editorial platform will offer an insight into biodesign and the living world.

‘NPOL offers a unique opportunity to merge cutting-edge biotechnology with standout product innovation and storytelling,’ says Chieza. ‘As a consumer-facing platform, its power will be in driving both biotechnology and culture toward the systemic changes needed to act on the climate crisis.’

Through this growing collection of everyday objects, Chieza and Agapakis hope to normalise our relationship with the living world and create conditions for a regenerative cycle while enhancing the cultural understanding around the use of grown natural materials. As there is no blueprint for this initiative, they started from scratch, and will continue adding to the catalogue as the project progresses.

NPOL’s launch includes the Exploring Jacket + Musette, a unisex jacket made of 100 per cent GOTS-certified silk that was batch-dyed with Streptomyces coelicolor bacteria, created in collaboration between Mbeu, designer Louise Bennetts and garment manufacturer Fabrika. The second product, a series of prints by Bruton-based artist Kelvyn Smith, pays tribute to algae, a vital life source responsible for about 50 per cent of the oxygen we breathe. Lessons from the Living World: Breathe In Editions is printed with non-toxic, carbon-negative ink made from algae with typographic compositions that reflect the role of the organisms. 

‘Biology does something remarkable – it grows,’ adds Agapakis. ‘NPOL helps us to grow our imagination of what might be possible when we design with biology.’

normalphenomena.life

The winners of the London Design Medals 2023 have been announced as the London Design Festival prepares to kick off for its latest edition (16-24 September), with Hanif Kara OBE, Pooja Agrawal, POoR Collective and Magdalene Odundo DBE awarded the annual design accolade. The winners were chosen by a panel of judges including festival founder and director Ben Evans, Yinka Ilori, Pentagram's Domenic Lippa, Wallpaper* editor-in-chief Sarah Douglas, Ozwald Boateng, Es Devlin, Justine Simons, and Jane Withers among others.

‘Each year, the London Design Festival celebrates the creativity and innovation that shapes our world,’ comments Evans. ‘The 2023 London Design Medal winners are exemplary individuals and collectives, embodying the spirit of design excellence and its transformative power. Their work, from pushing the boundaries of architecture to fostering social change, inspires us all.’ 

LONDON DESIGN MEDALS 2023: MEET THE WINNERS

London Design Medal – Hanif Kara OBE

Hanif Kara is the design director and co-founder of engineering practice and B Corp AKT II. Born in Bombo, Uganda, Kara was Inspired by his father’s work in a construction company, and later he developed an interest in building and a desire to explore how the built environment can improve lives. Having moved to the UK in the 1970s as a refugee, he eventually studied engineering at the University of Salford before working on heavy engineering schemes. 

Kara’s work has focused on expanding his engineering practice to explore new materials, sustainable construction and complex analysis methods that he applies to innovative approaches to the issues facing the built environment. Among AKT II’s projects is the UK Pavilion at Shanghai Expo 2010, London’s Bloomberg European HQ and the upcoming Museum of London, set to take over an abandoned Smithfield Market site. 

‘The goal was to do well by designing a non-combustible model of practice, one that doesn’t simply light up bright like a star and burn out but goes on to make a wider impact on the field beyond the narrow gaze of our own profession,’ he says. ‘This is why wider peer recognition, and awards like this one specifically, matter. I am so grateful to the jury.

'You encounter Hanif's work regularly, without realising it,' says Evans. 'Some of the magnificent buildings we've admired in the last couple of decades would not have been possible without his imagination and skill. He is famously known for collaborating with Zaha Hadid on some of her most iconic projects and has been the brains behind Grafton Architects’ work. That alone is a legacy we have to celebrate.’

Design Innovation Medal – Pooja Agrawal

Mumbai-born architect Pooja Agrawal is the co-founder and CEO of the not-for-profit company Public Practice, collaborating with local authorities to improve the built environment to help solve society’s most complex challenges. The aim of the initiative (which functions as a social enterprise) is to connect professionals with forward-thinking councils: to date, Public Practice has placed 296 associates into 78 authorities across the UK. 

Agrawal also co-founded Sound Advice, a platform created to improve diversity and representation in architecture, and created a handbook for her former employer, Greater London Authority, to support diversity and inclusion in the built environment sector. 

'Cities are organisms, they're always evolving and changing,' she says. 'You don't want to pause a city, change is a positive thing. The worry is when change is causing consequences of extreme inequality. I hope London continues to be a very vibrant, diverse place where everyone has the right to own parts of the city.

'I am delighted to have won the award for design innovation. This is a great example of public sector innovation and it is fantastic to see Public Practice being recognised as a design that has positively impacted London. As a framework, it enables passionate and socially led designers and architects to make meaningful changes within local authorities. We emerged out of London but continue to design and scale the organisation to ensure we can spread its impact across the country.'

Emerging Design Medal – POoR Collective

POoR Collective (Power out of Restriction) is a London-based social enterprise, launched in 2019 by architects Shawn Adams, Larry Botchway and Ben Spry with accountant Matt Harvey-Agyemang. POoR collective acts as a facilitator dedicated to the development of communities within the built environment with the goal of driving positive social change. 

The collective’s initiatives span from community-led projects involving local youth in local planning, representing under-represented communities, working with schools, community groups and councils to foster and inspire the next generation of designers. 

‘Our design approach allows us to act as a conduit for young people,’ says Botchway. ‘Therefore, winning the Emerging Talent Medal isn't just a win for us, but a win for the numerous communities we have connected with. This award reinforces that there is value in championing young voices and providing opportunities for others.’

Lifetime Achievement Medal – Magdalene Odundo DBE 

‘I have always been curious to discover why human beings make and surround themselves with objects that are not just utilitarian, but also give pleasure, have spiritual significance, and tell the stories of the people who made the objects,’ says ceramic artist Magdalene Odundo. Born in Nairobi in 1950, after education in Kenya and India, she studied ceramics, printmaking and photography at West Surrey College of Art and Design, Farnham. 

Working predominantly in ceramics, in her work she references a variety of craft traditions, from Mexican pottery and Greek Cycladic sculpture to sub-Saharan ceramics. Her work is characterised by great depth of colour, achieved through the use of multiple oxidised firings at high temperature. Her work is part of the collections of nearly 50 international institutions and museums, including African Heritage, Nairobi, The Art Institute of Chicago and the British Museum, London.

‘What makes Odundo so exceptional is that she has infused her command of her craft with a sophisticated understanding of the constantly changing politics of cultural identity,’ says jury member Alice Rawsthorn. 

The stellar quartet represents London's creative community and demonstrates how design practitioners can push the boundaries of creativity to improve lives. 'For me this year's London Design Medal list is especially strong and topical,' says Jane Withers. 'The winners reflect so many different aspects of design and really touch on current debates – social design, the power of the collective, crafts traditions and making, policy, engineering and innovation. It illustrates the extraordinary breadth of design practice and how young designers in particular are really engaging with shaping our world for the better.'

Concludes Evans: 'This year the diversity of disciplines is as strong as the diversity of the winners. It's the first time we've celebrated an engineer, the often unsung heroes of architecture and design. It's also the first time we've recognised a ceramicist, a public sector innovator, and a collective. This illustrates the reach of design and how the London Design Medals continue to grow and evolve.'

London Design Festival 2023 included a rich programme of installations, exhibitions and events throughout the city. This year marked the design event's 21st edition, as always activating landmarks across London with special artistic interventions by international designers in collaboration with festival supporters the Mayor of London and Bloomberg Philanthropies. 

'This week, design is everywhere,' said Director Ben Evans when introducing this year's Design Medals winners on 18 September. 'The London Design Festival continues to provide an invaluable platform for the UK's design community: over the past two decades, the festival has cemented London's reputation as a global creative capital while supporting designers at every level of their careers. This year's programme promises fresh perspectives and boundary-pushing ideas that will inspire audiences.'

LONDON DESIGN FESTIVAL 2023

St Paul’s Cathedral and St Stephen Walbrook

Among the London Design Festival 2023 projects is a series of activations to mark the 300th anniversary of Sir Christopher Wren’s death. Dubbed 'Wren 300', the programme delved into the architect's vision: the festival, in conjunction with Bloomberg Philanthropies, enlisted contemporary designers to explore his legacy.  

At St Paul's Cathedral, Spanish artist Pablo Valbuena presented a specially commissioned body of work titled Aura (on view until November 2023). The installation explores the contemporary meaning of a temple and the role of light and sound in creating modern-day rituals. Conceived as a light installation, the intervention will be defined by pulsating light reflecting the cathedral's sounds. 'Aura listens to the sound, voices and music generated in St Paul’s and materialises them into a spectral, three-dimensional aura that enhances the ritual aspects of this space,' reads a note accompanying the announcement.

Meanwhile, at St Stephen Walbrook Church (39 Walbrook, EC4N), Moritz Waldemeyer of Studio Waldemeyer presented Halo, an installation defined by a pendulum circling Henry Moore's altar with a trajectory informed by planetary movements and creating a halo around the marble piece. The installation was completed by chromatic transitions that reflect natural phenomena including the aurora borealis, adding a sense of meditative calm to the space.

London Design Festival Commissions and Special Projects

For London Design Festival 2023, London-based designer and artist Simone Brewster worked with Portuguese cork specialist Amorim on Spirit of Place, an installation on The Strand featuring a family of sculptural vessels 2.5m tall, representing the company's cork forests in Portugal. 'The future of the forest is secured by four key traits: drought resistance, fungal resistance, upright expression, and fast voluminous growth,' states the project announcement. 'These four characteristics act as the foundation for the visual language of the piece, with Brewster translating each factor into a visual equivalent that can then be experienced and enjoyed in the centre of London.'

Other festival commissions activating some of the city's key locations include the Rubin Museum’s Mandala Lab (until 25 November 2023) in Canary Wharf's Union Square, an interactive space that explores how challenging emotions can be transformed into wisdom.

At the V&A, a traditional destination for London Design Festival, visitors can experience several multidisciplinary projects that include an installation by Andu Masebo – this year’s V&A Emerging Designer commission – whose 'Part exchange' project explores the story of a scrapped Alfa Romeo Cloverleaf through a series of domestic objects.

London Design Districts: design across the city

Brompton

Across South Kensington, exhibitions explored the theme of ‘Conviviality – The Art of Living Together', curated by Jane Withers Studio and focusing on design’s ability to connect people and inspire collaboration. 

Cromwell Place has become an unmissable destination for the Festival, year after year gathering a plethora of inspiring design exhibitions by independent makers, galleries and brands. Among the venue's highlights this year was the first solo exhibition of London-based designer Rio Kobayashi’s, titled ‘Manus Manum Lavat’ (One Hand Washes the Other) and highlighting his collaborative practice.

'Join, Assemble, Hold' was an exhibition by The New Craftsmen (4 Cromwell Place) presenting two large cabinets by makers Bibbings & Hensby and Matthew Raw, which become the focus of two interiors that interpret the spirit of the theme of togetherness. The Welcome Drinks Cabinet by Raw is a tile-clad bar unit intended as a gathering point, while The Nailed Pantry by Bibbings & Hensby is a piece of furniture for the modern kitche, 'evoking a sense of abundance and togetherness'.

Fels Gallery’s Farm Shop (209 Brompton Road) was a project curated by designers Marco Campardo, Guan Lee and Luca Lo Pinto, who invited fellow designers to collaborate on different elements of a dining scene that was created during a residency at Grymsdyke Farm.

Social design collective All in Awe, meanwhile, presented 'All Together' (Egerton Gardens, SW3), 'a temporary monument to the subject of loneliness' created in collaboration with local residents. Aiming at drawing attention to the universal human experience of loneliness, the project supported local charities including Mind Kensington, the Kensington & Chelsea Volunteer Centre and the Kensington and Chelsea Foundation.

Shoreditch Design Triangle

The east London design district is a natural LDF hub, with several design showrooms and studios scattered across the area. Vitra hosts Artek's ‘Hackability of the Stool’ at its Tramshed showroom (until 6 October 2023): led by Daisuke Motogi, the project explores 100 creative interventions on Alvar Aalto's iconic ‘Stool 60’ (also see our article on Formafantasma’ take on ‘Stool 60’).

SCP offered an overview of its latest launches, which this year included Philippe Malouin's new ‘Topper’ armchair, whose compact, angular forms feature a soft wool and feather topper cushion. The piece was part of ‘Soft Power’, an exploration of sustainable design and enduring ideas with other designers, including Wilkinson & Rivera (who debut their first upholstered design), Matthew Hilton, Donna Wilson, and Terence Woodgate. 

At his shop (24b Kingsland Road), Jasper Morrison presented a curated display of objects in bamboo, dozens of works designed, crafted and woven by mainly anonymous specialist artisans from across the archipelago, an exhibition produced in collaboration with Japan Creative, an organisation promoting the values of Japanese craftsmanship.

Joseph Ellwood of Six Dots Design took over the Shoreditch Arts Club with a pop-up exhibition titled ‘The Localist Cafe’, inviting guests to experience a space created with furniture and objects made by over 40 London-based emerging creatives. 

Lee Broom presented his latest lighting and furniture designs in the newly-expanded Electra House showroom (95 Rivington Street). This is the third expansion for the lighting designer, who first moved to the street in 2010, and the shop's façade has been painted a unifying shade of matte black with brushed accents and a series of Little Lens Flair lights illuminating the front. 

Lego took over a Shoreditch shopfront (149-150 Shoreditch High Street) offering an overview of its botanical collections through the Lego Piece Garden, where visitors were invited to build a Lego bouquet and explore a series of works by an ever-changing roster of artists in residence. 

Kings Cross: Tom Dixon’s Hypermobile at Coal Office

Over the years, Tom Dixon's Coal Office has become a significant Festival hub, as the design entrepreneur has been hosting designers and brands within his King’s Cross spaces. For 2023, Tom Dixon presented ‘Hypermobile’, an exploration of contemporary design that was inspired by the designer's venture into portable lighting design. 

The ‘Hypermobile’ exhibition included a display of new collections as well as a broadcasting studio and cinema in collaboration with Sony and Kvadrat, a Hypermarket dedicated to portable lamps and a Techno Lab showcasing some of today's most innovative independent brands, including Nothing, Kef and Teenage Engineering. 

Traditionally, Dixon has also hosted different brands within Coal Office, including Porro, whose showroom opened in 2022, sofa brand Cozmo as well as Zaha Hadid Design and New Zealand furniture company Resident. 

Mayfair

Among the highlights around Mayfair was Sketch (9 Conduit St), every year hosting a series of artistic interventions to showcase diverse creative expressions. This year, the eclectic spaces hosted La Manufacture Cogolin, Lasvit, and Julian Carter Design, coming together in an exhibition titled ‘Crafted Wonder’, on view until 16 October. 

Gallery Fumi (2-3 Hay Hill) has unveiled its 15th-anniversary exhibition, titled ‘Growth and Form’ and curated by Libby Sellers to showcase boundary-pushing design by the gallery's creative roster. 

Part of the district is also SoShiro (23 Welbeck St), the design gallery producing, curating, and showcasing works inspired by global cultures and here presenting new designs from artists, designers and craftspeople from Japan, Kenya and Cuba. 'We wanted to highlight work from places that don’t normally get a spotlight of design shone on them,' says founder Shiro Muchiri.  

Among the area's new entries is design consultancy Alpha Kilo, which transformed its offices (11 Savile Row) into a new concept titled 'Art + Interiors' in collaboration with interior designer Alice Leigh and gallerist Georgie Grandy.

A new addition to the district is also the Bryan O'Sullivan Collection Gallery (49 Brook St), a new space by the London-based studio. A home for the interior design studio's newly launched debut collection of furniture, lighting and objects, the gallery space evokes a warm residential interior, defined by a terracotta ombré plaster finish and an interior palette inspired by Mayfair architecture. 

Clerkenwell & Islington

Clerkenwell is home to a cluster of showrooms representing several international brands in the city. Bathroom specialist VitrA enlisted London design studio 2LG Studio to create an installation in their showroom (64 Turnmill St), titled 'Playscape' and offering a vision on the future of bathroom design through a futuristic, scifi-inspired aesthetic.

Nearby, Carl Hansen & Søn (16 Bowling Green Lane) presented 'Wonders of Wood', paying tribute to the iconic CH07 Shell Chair on its 60th anniversary. For the week, the showroom became a woodworking studio with workshops led by master craftsman Michael Murphy. 

At twentytwentyone (18c River Street), Finland and Japan came together in an exhibition featuring designs by Maruni, Nikari, Ozeki & Co., and Woodnotes, showing the influences in aesthetic and craft between the two countries. 

Knoll (91 Goswell Road) paid tribute to Eero Saarinnen with a special installation focused on his Tables, reissued for the occasion in Spectrolite Blue, a granite evoking the brightness of the night sky.  

Slightly further afield at Aram (110 Drury Lane) was the debut of a new collection featuring four new rug designs inspired by Eileen Gray’s gouaches, drawings, and collages. 

Greenwich Peninsula

Home to London’s Design District, Greenwich Peninsula is an ever-evolving creative hub. This year, the area hosted the launch of Faber Futures’ and Gingko Bioworks’ new brand, NPOL (Normal Phenomena of Life), offering an array of ‘grown to order’ products.  

Meanwhile, Simone Brewster’s exhibition, ‘The Shape of Things to Come’, remained on view until the end of the Festival.

Design Fairs

The returning London Design Fair took over the spaces at Truman Brewery (21-24 September) with a showcase of independent brands and makers and a programme of conversations around design and innovations. 

Meanwhile, the showrooms of Design Centre Chelsea Harbour came together into Focus/23, a showcase of the best new designs from brands including Dedar, Kaldewei (launching its psychedelic collaboration with Bethan Laura Wood), Gallotti&Radice, Porada and Visionnaire. 

Over in Southbank, the Material Matters fair returned for a second edition, taking over the Bargehouse at Oxo Tower (20-23 September). A concept developed from Grant Gibson’s popular design podcast of the same name, the fair presented 45 world-leading brands, designers, makers, and innovators, 'to investigate and celebrate the importance of materials and their ability to shape our lives.'

londondesignfestival.com

Displaying at the V&A until 2 November, and part of London Design Festival 2022, ‘R for Repair’, curated by Singapore’s Hans Tan Studio and Britain’s Jane Withers Studio, is intended as an experiment. In an open call, the studios requested people to send in objects to be repaired and, through a selection process that involved both the tugging of heartstrings and the opportunity to explore the crafts that emerge through repair, they chose ten snapped, torn and fallen-into-disarray objects to be mended for the show. Each item was then sent off to craftspeople in the UK or Singapore, who discussed with the owners how best to display and structurally reaffirm their sentimental relics.  

‘Repair has been reduced to a bit of glue,’ explains Withers, ‘but we need to explore the language of crafts that can go into fixing something.’ The cracked wing of a puffin toy has been repaired by Ng Si Ying with a fine rattan weave, and multidisciplinary artist Attua Aparicio Torinos has made shards of glass from a Jewish wedding ceremony into a chain using lampworking – reconfiguring the pieces 15 years after their breakage. 

A highlight in the show is the repairs carried out on a sewing chest by Japanese-Austrian designer Rio Kobayashi. The chest was opened up by a woman after her grandmother’s death to reveal paintings, and in turn a hidden dream of becoming an artist. Kobayashi used cherry, sapele and walnut to fix and extend the legs of the structure. ‘I wanted to show the ageing of the piece; it’s already got a story and I wanted to add and repair it with something that could age with it again,’ he says.

Next, he opened the chest’s elements and lay them flat to become a table: ‘I wanted it to blossom like a flower into something new,’ he says. He’s painted flecks of green onto the foot of the now-table, creating a modest symbol of foliage. 

There is a theme of international connection in the array, too. A designer from Brown Office, who repaired a ‘Winnie the Pooh’ clock from its former glory into a tri-time-zoned contraption explains its origins. Inspired by a fictional British bear, then designed by an American company (Disney) and made in China, the clock went on to sit in a childhood bedroom in Singapore and – when its edges peeled and elements began to detach – it came to the UK to be fixed by Brown Office and is now displayed in the V&A. ‘It was sometimes as much about repairing a memory as the object itself,’ explains Withers, and the accompanying stories allow for a sentimental appreciation of otherwise-ordinary items. 

The major lesson from this intricate exhibition is our need to utilise design to reduce waste. Withers explains that ‘you have to design value’ and is using this show to discuss ‘why people keep things, and how to design things that people want to keep for a long time’

NFORMATION

R for Repair is on view until 2 November 2022
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Inspired by the optimism of the 1990s, the ‘T4’ collection by London-based architecture practice Holloway Li in collaboration with Turkish manufacturer Uma features candy hues and a playful design. The collection also marks the furniture debut for the practice, led by interior architects Alex Holloway and Na Li, and was originally unveiled during London Design Festival 2022 at their space within The Market Building in Clerkenwell.

Cool Britannia and 1990s design icons such as inflatable chairs and lava lamps, as well as TV references (think Big Brother’s Diary Room or ‘the golden era of the chat show sofa’) form the basis for the collection which, the architects explain, ‘is an homage to the visual language of colourful onscreen scenography that dominated before the turn of the millenium’.

The modular seats are defined by an inviting, warm palette with shades including Melon Yellow, Blush Pink, Overground Orange and Cream Soda, and feature a bold fibreglass base with an upholstered seat and back in the same colour. Uma’s expertise lies in the production of moulded composites used in the automotive industry (as well as London buses), and every piece is hand-finished at its Izmir factory.

‘Our factory provides an extraordinary testing ground for designers where their ideas can be realised,’ comments Uma founder Steph Gallia. ‘Holloway Li’s playful and future-facing aesthetic and our technical know-how have resulted in the creation of lightweight banquettes with a stony finish for the hotel rooms of [London’s] Bermonds Locke, and the brightly coloured red and amber resin panels that currently stand tall in the shopfront of The Market Building.’

The designs are available as single seats, corner modules as well as other elements that can be combined to create a multitude of compositions. ‘It’s been a pleasure to collaborate with Uma on realising our first standalone modular furniture collection,’ say the designers.

‘As a studio, we’re always looking to film and television to tell new stories through design. In creating the series, we wanted to reference our childhood memories of the optimism of the 1990s Big Brother era and the colourful brash scenography that dominated our screens growing up; transporting this joyful nostalgia into our homes.’

INFORMATION

umaobjects.com
hollowayli.com

Established in 1997, Pearson Lloyd prides itself on developing products for a changing world. Its ongoing collaborations with Teknion, as well as a more recent surge towards sustainable design with Bfriends, exhibit the studio’s ability to cover all bases with its constant evolutions. To summarise the learning curves explored and experiments pursued over its 25 years of design, the studio presented ‘Change Making’ as part of London Design Festival 2022 – and as a mark of accumulated knowledge. 

The exhibition, which coincided with an open house in the studio’s adjoining offices, starts by showcasing everyday objects – a display table covered in naturally worn down fragments of brick, spoons, ladles and an eclectic range of brushes. The table holds a mixture of naturally occurring structures as well as carefully man-made ones – demonstrating the evolving understanding in Pearson Lloyd’s designs, and the inspiration derived from logical solutions. The team say that ‘as designers, finding quality through the act of making is a constant in our work’.

Looking at a historic collaboration with Knoll, in which the studio came up with the ‘Homer' caddie, Pearson Lloyd presents changes made at technological turning points. The caddie, created in 1997, came at a time when mobile working first appeared, thanks to the invention of WiFi and laptops. 

While the ‘Homer' caddie now sits as a relic of 1990s design, Pearson Lloyd has continued to keep both people’s needs and the changing needs of the environment at the centre of its creations. Its collaboration with Bene and Batch.Works caters thoroughly to the needs of our current ecological climate, using 100 per cent recycled bioplastics diverted from post-consumer waste to create ‘bfriends', a collection of 3D-printed office organisers, pots, hooks and stands. The pieces are charming and lightweight – for example, in a new product, a simple plastic structure holds together three wooden poles that twist together within the closed-loop circular design to form a coat stand. 

The use of 3D-printing removes a plethora of sustainability faux-pas – the removal of injection moulds and the introduction of localised production reduces energy consumption, while the ability to print on demand reduces the need for storage and waste. Elsewhere, the team are looking at genuine material solutions to the climate crisis and have collaborated with Polish company Profim on ‘Revo' seating and screens in a confident stride towards a more circular economy. The pieces have been made using recycled expanded propylene to reduce weight, and consequently the carbon footprint of production and transport. The furniture also deconstructs, making it easier to recycle the materials and replace parts. 

‘Change Making’ summarises Pearson Lloyd’s vision, showcasing where it has utilised research and observation to design accessible NHS service delivery programmes, social working spaces in collaborations with Teknion, and intriguing and minimalist furniture designs. The exhibition demonstrates the ongoing reflection that the studio channels for ever-evolving relevance in design.

INFORMATION

pearsonlloyd.com

batch.works

‘These are the healed scars from where the cattle have dragged themselves through bushes,' says designer Bill Amberg as he points to the marks on a new range of furniture made by his studio in collaboration with the Knepp Estate in Sussex. ‘And that’s absolutely perfect, because we want every piece of furniture to be different from the next.' Renowned for an audacious rewilding project started some 20 years ago, the Knepp Estate’s 3,500 acres have been allowed to return to nature and its cattle to roam the land freely throughout the seasons. ‘Their animals, deer, and pigs and cattle, don't come inside in the winter and don’t get any artificial feed,' explains Amberg. ‘They go into the woods in the winter and, in the summer they come out and go back into the meadows.'

When the idea was first floated about doing something with the skins of the longhorn cattle and deer from the estate, the Burrell family, who own it, thought they could make leather from the hides. It was Amberg who suggested going one step further and making something special and bespoke out of the material that was true to the estate’s ethos. Fast forward to a new capsule collection launched during the London Design Festival 2022, made out of leather from the estate that will be used in a new cafe restaurant due to open on the site in Spring 2023 and also sold separately on the Bill Amberg website.

Bill Amberg's furniture for the Knepp Estate

The quality of the leather from the animals on the Knepp Estate is second to none explains Amberg. The skins from commercial beef production, where the animals live indoors, never walk anywhere and are fed lots of cheap food and slaughtered very young, creates thin, veiny skins that have no character. ‘When you look at a really beautiful animal skin, it’s very evident how that animal has lived, and how healthy it is.' Also, unbeknownst to most of us, 90% of commercially made leather has a pigmented finish, which essentially means the top surface is sanded and treated with a filler and then sanded again until smooth and the grain printed back on the surface. This is the case even for well-known luxury brands.

For this collection the skins were tanned in two tanneries in the UK, and tanned using tree bark and finished with a simple wax, which will encourage a natural patination over time and use. One of the tanneries, which is located in Bristol, specialises in shoe sole leather and was ideal for working the leather so it could be used structurally. ‘One of the things I am very interested in,' says Amberg, ‘is taking the different techniques of leatherwork, which are principally bookbinding, saddlery, shoe making, case making and upholstery, and mashing them all up together. Taking an idea from saddlery and using it in upholstery, taking an idea from bookbinding and using it in architectural work. So scaling it up.'

In this case Amberg experimented with shoe sole leather as a furniture material as it is rigid and more like plywood than a supple material in this form. This was perfect for creating a collection composed of a chair, a stool (formed as a cylinder), and a tub chair with a curved back that has been simply waxed and pressed, as well as log baskets and, in order to use every last part of the hide, coasters. (The deer hides don’t feature in the collection but will be used to create upholstered pads for the banquette seating in the cafe).

The sustainability of the range comes full circle through its wooden elements and frame, which are made out of Ash wood collected from dieback clearance on the estate. The same timber is being used for the tables in the cafe, which are not part of the collection but nevertheless interesting. ‘The restaurant is going to be in a Sussex barn dating back to medieval times and being restored by a timber frame building expert,' says Amberg. ‘He has made the tables using an old medieval technique and design.‘

The beauty of this new furniture collection is not only that every piece is unique and will age differently but that it has sustainability built into it naturally. As Amberg says: ‘The conversation around the sustainability of the material is becoming more evident. That is why this particular project is so poignant because here is evidence of the material being used directly and appropriately.'

INFORMATION

billamberg.com

In the 20 years since launching his studio, Tom Dixon hasn’t stopped experimenting, and the latest exhibition, coinciding with London Design Festival 2022, is a testament to his non-stop enthusiasm for design experimentation. The British designer (who also happens to be a maker, entrepreneur and more) celebrated his 20 years in business with an exhibition at Coal Office, the design studio, shop and restaurant he debuted in 2018. 

‘A 20th anniversary provides a moment to review, adapt, upgrade and rethink some of the designs that we have produced but also to introduce some of the latest thinking in materiality, longevity and luminosity for the near future,’ comments Dixon, introducing the show. 

Aptly named ‘Twenty’, the display presents the studio’s recent and current areas of experimentation, ranging from material research to formal compositions and products. These span from the lightweight aluminium chair that Dixon created in collaboration with Hydro, and has expanded into a collection that includes ceiling lamps, to the ‘Underwater Project’, and the ‘Flamecut’ chair, an archive piece made of heavyweight, thick steel plate, almost impossible to lift and promising a 1,000 year warranty. 

The ‘Biorock’ chair, the designer explains, ‘is an experiment in underwater factory production’, essentially a collaboration with nature. The chair features a thin metal frame, charged with a small amount of electricity, allowing for a natural concrete to form on top of the structure over two years under the sea. Conceived by 1970s scientist Wolf Hilbertz, the biorock concept was part of the experimental utopia of building cities under the sea, but, notes Dixon, ‘has a great potential in coral regeneration and stopping beach erosions’.

More pieces on display include the ‘Dichroic’ chandeliers, a new interpretation of Dixon’s ‘Melt’ lamps, and the ‘S-Chair’ (among his most iconic designs and one, he notes, ‘that has been following me around for years’), this time reintroduced in latex, its original material. ‘It’s a natural material, a forest plastic,’ he explains. For this version, he partnered with Dead Lotus Couture to achieve an inflatable version of the chair. ‘It’s a bit kinky,’ he concedes, ‘but it enhances the curves of the chair.’

The exhibition also includes some work-in-progress prototypes, such as an eel grass version of the ‘Bird’ chaise, and perfume towers made with mycelium from the Magic Mushroom Company. ‘It’s about trying new stuff, and sometimes things don't work,’ concludes Dixon, ‘but it’s good to show the mistakes as well.’

INFORMATION

Tom Dixon ‘TWENTY’ is on until 25 September 2022
tomdixon.net

Canadian artist and designer Omer Arbel stands in the John Madejski Garden at the V&A, watching the most recent element of his series 113 unfold. ‘Material Experiments’ sees a small team of glass-blowers carry out the ongoing series in a ritualistic re-calibration of materials until Friday 23 September and ending in a special late-night performance. 

The process of Arbel’s series begins in local charity shops around London, where a group of 11 artists have selected items made from glass and copper alloys. The objects are then displayed in the V&A’s Santa Chiara Chapel, where they sit until they are chosen by the team to be repurposed. The glass pieces are melted down and blown to form irregular vessels; bowls are stretched into hollow, elongated droplets and a sherry glass is morphed into a lopsided sphere. 

Next, the team melt down the chosen metal object and pour the molten liquid into the quickly contracting containers, causing them to shatter on the surface of the metal and resulting in a carefully designed collision of science and art. 

Arbel’s work is process-based, ‘so a set of parameters are given to us for the design process’ explains Jay MacDonell, glass-blower and director of material explorations at Bocci, ‘then we just choose whatever it takes, and the different aspects come together to form a pathway’.

The input from each decision leaves imprints of the individuals involved in the process. MacDonell describes the patterns within the copper alloy structures as ‘like a memory of the glass form’, and this thread of memories runs smoothly through Arbel’s concept for 113. 

The outcome of the ongoing works, which Arbel started experimenting with in 2019, are spindly copper structures, fragments of metal are left suspended, floating but maintaining their new-found form. The exterior surface of the metal contrasts with its opposing side, having been protected from oxidation by the seal of the now-shattered glass – another shining detail in the experiments that, planned or not, nods to the characteristics of the natural materials. 

Arbel oozes with excitement for the potential of a material overhaul: ‘What I'm proposing is kind of a total reconfiguration of the same raw material,’ he says. ‘I want to ask – what are precious antiquities, what have they lived through and what is their spiritual presence?’

Macdonnell takes a similar tone, explaining that ‘we create this play on the value of pieces from thrift shops that cost so little, but now they’re being shown at the V&A’.

Arbel’s inquisition begs the question: should we melt it all down and start again? And why do we hold so firmly onto relics of the past. His explanation feels like a philosophically fuelled delve into how we value physical forms, and with that query lingering in the air, he sets another intriguing parameter within which our thoughts can flourish. ‘It’s a perfect metaphor for the kind of changes that are happening. Taking old things, melting them down, and then a form being shaped by something that breaks.’ 

See the performance and process

INFORMATION

vam.ac.uk

When Tom Dixon first opened his King’s Cross Coal Office space in 2018 (a hybrid of shop, restaurant, office and exhibition space), his goal was to gather and connect different creative practices and brands under one roof, transforming the space through different design approaches. 

The latest opening within the building does just this: Italian furniture company Porro just moved into the Coal Office with a new showroom. Featuring Porro’s architectural and bespoke furniture systems, the showroom is defined by a perfect contrast between the rough, industrial environment and the company’s pristine geometries, with the aim of creating a space that acts as a platform to showcase the products’ versatility and their custom potential, while also celebrating the craft at the heart of the designs. 

Porro London showroom at the Coal Office

‘Innovation and the desire to break out of established paths have always been the driving forces of my family’s company,’ says Maria Porro, fourth generation and in charge of marketing and communications. ‘We feel the fascination of such a contemporary and intercultural place, a crossroads where art and creativity can thrive: we believe that by mingling different creative approaches and combining seemingly opposing worlds, linked by design quality as a common thread, we can develop incredible interior designs.’

The space, she explains, was intended as a blank canvas to initiate a conversation with the local creative community of architects and London-based customers, but it also shows opportunities to expand Porro’s reach through collaborations with local institutions such as Central Saint Martins, located across the square. 

The showroom makes its debut with some of Porro’s key designs, including the ‘Storage’ wardrobe, designed by Piero Lissoni in collaboration with the company’s design team, and a demonstration of its customisation skills and flexibility into a space. Furniture includes the ‘Lullaby’ armchair by Nicola Gallizia and the ‘Offshore’ dresser by Lissoni, welcoming visitors at the entrance. Also by Lissoni is the ‘Materic’ table, anchoring the dining area that also features GamFratesi’s ‘Romby’ chairs in natural ash. 

At the back, Porro’s iconic shelving system, the ‘Load-it’ by Wolfgang Tolk, adds functionality to the narrow space – every area of the compact showroom is a fitting example of the bespoke quality of the company’s designs. 

‘This space has been created to establish a dialogue with architects, interior designers and end customers who want to live and work in custom-designed spaces, where the artisan care for details matches the precision, reliability and quality of the industry,’ continues Porro.

‘Thanks to a revolutionary, state-of-the-art production facility that has eliminated warehouse stocks by working just-in-time with excellent results in terms of panel-cutting and veneer quality, customisation ability, waste reduction and sustainability, Porro offers solutions that are every time different, every time unique. This store is another proof of that: in it, the company’s systems, true complex but flexible architectures, design the spaces in a creative way in combination with the product collections, developed by leading designers.’

INFORMATION

porro.com

ADDRESS

Porro London @ The Coal Office
1 Bagley Walk
Kings Cross
N1C 4PQ 

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