London Design Festival returns for its 23rd edition this week. Eleven districts across the capital are hosting exhibitions in showrooms and pop-ups – from Chelsea Design District in the west and Shoreditch Design Triangle in the east, to the William Morris Design Line in the north and Bankside Design District in the south. Material Matters, which showcases innovative approaches to sustainable design, is back for a fourth year. The fair’s new location is the Grade II-listed, mid-century Space House, WC2, with smaller makers on show in the Experimental zone. On the South Bank, County Hall Pottery has an exhibition of pieces by ceramicists Francesca Anfossi and Frances Gibson, alongside other artists. We are also looking forward to seeing multidisciplinary artist Dharma Taylor (pictured), who will be displaying her latest work – a public realm piece with which she is aiming to blur ‘the boundaries between sculpture and seating’ – at the Shoreditch Design Triangle.
The week represents a wonderful opportunity to discover new names, materials and exiting collaborations, all of which informs the way we shape our homes. Here's our pick of what not to miss.
London Design Festival is on September 13-21; londondesignfestival.com | Focus/25 is on at Design Centre Chelsea Harbour September 15-19; dcch.co.uk/focus
GRAIN PILE: an exhibition by Max Radford and Ercol
Iconic British furniture brand Ercol has teamed up with curator and interior designer Max Radford on an exhibition of peices designed by a number of emerging names, all made using Ercol off-cuts. Set within the old Clerkenwell Fire Station – rumoured to be the oldest in Europe – the exhibition includes the first ever furniture pieces by lighting designer Joe Armitage. The Keeling Collection Lounge Chair, pictured above, is made using an eye-catching combination of blackened ash, walnut and stainless steel, with a shape that nods to the curved lines of mid-century styles. Alongside Joe, expect pieces from London-based Andu Masebo, Lewis Kemmenoe and Isabel Alonso.
‘Beacon’, a landmark installation by Lee Broom
This installation is set against the dramatic backdrop of the Royal Festival Hall, on London's South Bank, just across the river from Big Ben. It is composed of a series of black lamp posts, each one topped with a glass shade made from recycled materials. The lamp posts are based on the classic Dolphin Street Lamps typically found on the South Bank, originally designed by George John Vulliamy in 1870, though their shapes have been reinterpreted by the London-based lighting designer Lee Broom to marry them with their setting outsite of the brutalist Festival Hall. Most exciting about the installation is the light show that takes place every hour in response to Big Ben's chimes. It will be in place on the South Bank until early 2026, and is certainly worth a visit.
Feldspar launches its first furniture collection
Known for its exceptionally beautiful porcelain accessories, tableware and lighting, Feldspar, the Devon-based design studio, is debuting it's first ever collection of furniture. Among the pieces – many of which are porcelain and demonstrate the same live-edged, organic shapes as the studio's accessories – are a series of tables and lamps made using felled wood, collected by a neighbour of co-founder Jeremy Brown in Devon. Among them are hand-turned sycamore, elm, ash, and burr oak, which are used together or on their own to create the striking, yet quietly stylish pieces. Alongside the furniture are a series of lampshades made in collaboration with the maker Eloise Scotland, whose hand-stitched, fabric designs perfectly complement the pared-back nature of the lights upon which they sit.
House of ICON at Shoreditch Town Hall
Shoreditch Town Hall, in the heart of the Shoreditch Design Triangle, has been taken over as the House of ICON exhibition, which forms a part of Design London. The magnificent space plays host to a series of designers exhibiting their latest work. With most of the participating names being recent graduates or up-and-coming creatives, the exhibition offers a fresh new perspective. Among those taking part is Shivangi Vasudeva, one of House & Garden's Rising Stars of 2024, who uses her skills as a designer to champion Indian heritage crafts. Her furniture features textiles woven using heritage techniques by female weavers in the northeastern Indian state of Nagaland. Another exciting addition to House of ICON, a bar designed by Lois O'Hara in her popular, Matisse-esque style offers a brilliant place to perch and re-fuel.
The Green Carnation from 2LG Studio
For the third iteration of their ‘You can sit with us’ exhibition (this year renamed The Green Carnation, a nod to the accessory famously worn by Oscar Wilde as a discreet signal of queerness), designers Jordan Cluroe and Russell Whitehead of 2LG Studio are presenting a series of furniture, lighting, glass, fine art and textiles, all of which is dedicated to the work of emerging queer artists and makers. Among those taking part is leatherworker Marf Summers, furniture designer Henry Svendsen and ceramicist Azem William. As well as being a brilliant showcase for the bredth and skill of the makers, the exhibition also opens up dialogues surrounding and celebrating queerness within design.
New launches at SCP
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Always a key player during London Design Festival, SCP, the furniture brand whose Curtain Road, EC2A, shop is perennial source of inspiration and brilliant pieces from small makers and large studios alike. For this year's showcase, and in celebration of its 40th anniversary, SCP launching a number of new designs as well as re-issuing many of its iconic peices from the last few decades. Among them, an uplifting, colourful and fun bookshelf by Donna Wilson and a new collection of
upholstered furniture, including the ‘Puffer’ bed by Philippe Malouin, and Marcel armchair
by Lucy Kurrein, all made using foam and fire-retardant free upholstery. Also catching our eye was the ‘Archer’ chair by Magnus Long, a cantilevered design made in celebration of the centenary of the launch of the original.
Nakagawa pops-up in east London
From the philosophy of imperfect beauty to the serenity of Zen gardens, Japanese traditions have long influenced art and design around the world. And in recent years, many of us have become fascinated by traditional Japanese crafts and art forms. So we are particularly excited to see Nakagawa open its first European outpost in Shoreditch this September. Founded in 1716 in Nara, Nakagawa began as a merchant of Nara-Sarashi ramie cloth before evolving into one of Japan’s leading heritage craft companies, which now collaborates with over 800 artisans. The pop-up store will showcase around 500 pieces including textiles, ceramics, home accessories and clothing that marry Japanese tradition with modern sensibilities. Look out for two limited-edition hana-fukin dishcloth designs inspired by Columbia Road Flower Market. The pop-up is at 16C Calvert Avenue, E2 7JP, until July next year.
Leendert de Vos launches 'A Found Collection’
‘The aim is to re-contextualise some of the objects we encounter day to day, and to show beauty where we don’t always recognise it,’ says the designer Leendert de Vos, who was one of House & Garden's Rising Stars this year. London Design Festival sees the addition of two new pieces to his ongoing ‘Found Collection’. The first is aptly called the ‘Anti-climb floor light’, so named for the barbed wire-esque fencing that can be found all around London, which Leendert has repurposed into a vertical, sculptural light.
Proving that the existing popularity of industrial furniture is going nowhere, Leendert suggests that ‘they’re one of the most aggressive architectural elements from our streets, designed to keep intruders out. Yet, they possess a remarkable elegance. Bringing this into a domestic sphere sheds new light on them (literally).’ The light is topped with a globe light poking out of the top ‘like a budding flower’. The ‘Polka dot bistro chair’, meanwhile, offers a different, more familiar take on repurposing. The classic shape of a bistro chair is reinterpreted with bold, monochrome spots, which, says Leendert, lends ‘this classic bistro chair we all know and love a completely new personality’.
Beyond Foam, an exhibition from Aram and Ecolattice
Sustainability is on everyone's agenda right now, especially when it comes to finding pieces for our homes that combine strong eco credentials with serious style. The Beyond Foam exhibition presented by Aram in its Covent Garden gallery offers great hope for the future. It showcases the work of eight emerging UK-based designers working with an innovative 3D-printed lattice foam replacement by start-up EcoLattice to address the problems surrounding conventional polyurethane foam. The resulting designs are fun yet thought provoking, with EcoLattice's reinterpretation of Eileen Gray's ‘Bibendum’ chair being a real highlight. The exhibition is open at 110 Drury Lane, WC2B 5SG, until November 1.
Collaborative, an exhibition at County Hall Pottery
A year ago a new ceramics hub in the former County Hall in Lambeth, SE1 opened its doors and with it, a series of exhibitions exploring all things ceramic and beyond. County Hall Pottery is part gallery, part workshop (there are three large kilns in the courtyard) and a studio cum teaching space. For London Design Festival, County Hall Pottery is presenting Collaborative, a multi-disciplinary show featuring the work of five well-known ceramic artists, each of which has been partnered up with a maker practicing a different discipline. The result is a series of works which blur the lines between furniture and art. Among our favourites, a board game titles Table Manners, brought to us by artists Francesca Anfossi and Frances Gibson. Pictured above, the tabletop itself acts as a board, and is surrounded by wooden and ceramic stools in playful colours and shapes.
The Objects We Live By
Taking place in the London atelier of the ceramicist Emma Louise Payne, Seventy-Six, The Objects We Live By will showcase new work from nine designers and makers, displayed not in the typical exhibition format but as you would expect to see the pieces in a real home. We are particularly excited to see the unveiling of Tides, a collaboration between marble artist Nat Maks and furniture designer Brogan Cox. The pieces, which include two tables made from local sycamore, are inspired by the coastal landscapes of Margate, and involve dipping turned wooden furniture in baths of marbled ink. Their fluid forms and psychedelic motifs juxtapose the sturdy, rigid nature of the wood from which they are made. Also keep an eye out for the Dogtrot side table and the Topo Lamp, designed by Blake Carlton Joshua (B.C. Joshua). The table and lamp are made using paper pulp, a sustainable and tactile medium which results in sculptural pieces.
Material Matters
Material Matters is dedicated to putting the spotlight on sustainable design, showcasing how cutting-edge, environmentally friendly techniques can be used to create beautiful, timeless furniture, lighting, accessories and materials. Now in it's fourth year, the fair has relocated to an impressive, Grade II-listed, mid-century house, Space House, WC2. We are loving the furniture and lighting produced by Aifunghi, a Dutch collective founded by Bart & Marije Schilder, Michiel Geluk and Mo Aouraghé. The studio's debut showcase will show how mycelium composite – a humble, root-like material that forms the basis of mushrooms (hence the studio's name) can be used to create stylish and sustainable furniture and lighting.
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