What not to miss at London Design Festival 2023
The London Design Festival sees London being taken over with a host of events, showcases, launches, collaborations, installations and talks. The city is divided into 13 ‘design districts’, which span from Dalston in the east to Park Royal in the west, with many exciting stops in between. A good place to rest your feet while making your way across London is Sketch, in Mayfair, which will play host to an installation of rugs and cushions from Manufacture Cogolin. Also worth journeying to is Egerton Gardens, SW3, which will be closed throughout the week and will instead present an installation by Eva Feldkamp and the team at All in Awe Look. The open-air installation is created in collaboration with members of the local community and follows the theme 'All Together'. Look no further for our round up of the events certainly not to be missed…
1/15Park Royal Design District, NW10, September 16-20
Home to over 250 creatives who work across textiles, furniture and product design, as well as art, architecture, glass and leather crafts, Park Royal Design District is quickly becoming a go-to destination for discovering up-and-coming makers and designers as well as respected ones. This year, alongside a number of open studios, workshops and talks, there will be the latest collections from Swedish self-taught designer and maker Tom Hertz, who creates bold sculptural concrete furniture (pictured), and Bill Amberg Studio, which specialises in bespoke leatherwork products and furniture.
2/1511:11, Jan Hendzel Studio, Staffordshire St Gallery, SE15, Southwark Design District, September 14-24
Furniture designer Jan Hendzel (pictured) is curating 11:11, an exhibition of pieces from 22 designers, makers and artists – 11 established names, including Jan himself, and 11 emerging creatives – for London Design Festival. Among them are the Italian designer Martino Gamper, Caroline Lindsell and Dylan O’Shea (the duo behind A Rum Fellow), and sculptor and furniture designer Alison Crowther. There will also be a series of inspiring talks. Entry is free.
3/15Decorex, Olympia London, W14, October 8-11
One of the new launches and engaging talks at Decorex is the Making Spaces showcase, which invites artisans from a range of makers’ communities to demonstrate their work within a dedicated area at the fair. The event will feature a mix of talented individuals from QEST, Cockpit, The Black Artisans, Future Icons and Oxford-based Rycotewood Furniture Centre, as well as the mosaic artist Giulia Manzoni and Elaine Chan-Perryman (pictured) of the leather design studio Atelier Wolfson. Tickets to Decorex cost £28.
4/15London Design Fair, Truman Brewery, E1, September 21-24
This long-standing fair not only hosts hundreds of brands, but also offers talks celebrating design in all its forms. The Design Alumni Pavilion will display works by recent graduates and the British Craft Pavilion will house pieces from UK-based craftspeople. These include the Brighton-based ceramicist Barbara Gittings (whose ‘Sculptural Form #3’ is pictured here) and woodturner Jason Lock. Tickets cost £12.50.
5/15Collections, Sarah Myerscough Gallery, W1, Mayfair Design
District, until October 21Design gallery Sarah Myerscough has moved its headquarters from Barnes to North Row, W1. To celebrate this and mark 25 years of the gallery, it is hosting Collections. The show features 15 of the makers Sarah has worked with since opening the gallery, plus
a few newcomers. Among them is Mayumi Onagi, who makes pieces using the traditional Japanese lacquering technique kanshitsu (such as Eternal, pictured here).
6/15The Invisible Collection: Pierre Augustin Rose, Huntsworth Mews, NW1 September 16-24
Throughout London Design Festival, The Invisible Collection’s light-filled mews house showroom in Marylebone will be the location for a residency of the Paris-based design studio Pierre Augustin Rose, founded by (pictured from left) Augustin Deleuze, Nina Rose and Pierre Bénard, who are all antique and art dealers. The pieces that they create are informed by their appreciation for 20th-century French design, but with a cool, contemporary approach. Visits are by appointment only (020 3868 9012; contact@theinvisiblecollection.com). All the items being displayed will also be available to purchase.
7/15A Midsummer Night’s Dream, David Gill Gallery, SW1, Mayfair Design District, September 8-October 3
Multimedia artist and designer Barnaby Barford works across drawing, sculpture, film and painting. This solo exhibition will feature Untitled, 2023, four moving images described as ‘living paintings’, created by combining some of the thousands of photographs of flora and fungi that he took on walks in Epping Forest during lockdown. He has also designed a series of steel benches inspired by the trees.
Copyright 2022 Sameli Rantanen, all rights reserved8/15The Craft & Design of Maruni, Nikari, Ozeki & Co and Woodnotes, Twentytwentyone, EC1, September 19-23
At its River Street store, Twentytwenty one is presenting an exhibition of new and existing works by the Japanese designers Maruni and Ozeki & Co, and Finnish designers Nikari and Woodnotes. It will showcase the countries’ shared sensibility, which is rooted in nature and an appreciation of craftsmanship, seen in the clean lines of this ‘Willow’ rug by Claesson Koivisto Rune for Woodnotes.
© Mark Cocksedge9/15Material Matters, Bargehouse at Oxo Tower Wharf, SE1, September 20-23
For its second iteration, Material Matters is returning to the Southbank for a four-day show focusing on makers who are interpreting materials in new, innovative ways. Among them is Yair Neuman (above left), who creates lighting – such as ‘Hibiscus’ (above right) – using discarded lenses from glasses, and Tamasine Osher, who works with sustainable, locally sourced fallen wood. Tickets cost £12.
Kensington Leverne10/15LDF talks programme
Throughout the week, there will be a series of talks and panel events which promise to enlighten and engage a design-focussed audience. From a discussion between Alex Bauman-Lyons, Design Director at Locke hotels, and emerging Designers Andreas Christodoulou and Pauline Dellemotte on the subject of creating spaces with character, to architect Giulio Cappellini in conversation with design duo Barber Osgerby. Many of the talks are free to attend, though booking is required.
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11/15The launch of Larusi's limited collection of vintage Tuareg rugs, Studio 18, The Dove Centre, 109 Bartholomew Road, London NW5 2BJ
A favourite amongst A-listers, namely Tilda Swinton, Sir Paul McCartney, Ilse Crawford and Tom Ford, Larusi rugs were one of the original purveyors of Moroccan berber rugs. During LDF, they will be presenting a new, limited collection of 20 Tuareg rugs, made using the heritage techniques and locally sourced materials, including palm reeds, palm tree fibres and camel or goat leather.
- James Harris12/15
Brompton Design District, SW7
London's oldest design district, which spreads across Brompton and South Kensington, is hosting a flurry of exciting events. Pictured here is a space designed by emerging designer Rio Kobayashi, who will also be holding his first solo exhibition: ‘MANUS MANUM LAVAT’, or ‘One hand washes the other’. The pieces are typical of Kobayashi's style: natural materials and punchy forms, with a considered amount of colour and function. Other exhibitions include ‘Join, Assemble, Hold’ from The New Craftsmen, which will feature new pieces from makers Matthew Raw and Bibbings & Hensby. Comwell Place will act as the district's hub, and would make a good starting place for anyone wanting to discover all that the area has to offer throughout the week.
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13/15Mayfair Design District, W1
The Mayfair Design District is London's most central hub for design. This year, there will be 14 new galleries and shops taking part alongside nine returning. One returning partner is Gallery FUMI, with an exhibition of new pieces by textile artist Rowan Mersh, including ‘Marmaros Metamorphosis II’ (pictured here). There will also be showcases from some newcomers to the area, such as Apparatus, BDDW, Ralph Pucci and Bryan O'Sullivan.
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14/15Lights & Lamps debut pop-up, E1
Contemporary lighting brand, lights & lamps, creates lighting solutions that are as stylish as they are functional. For LDF, it's hosting its first ever pop-up, as part of the Shoreditch Design Triangle. Throughout the week, there will also be two talks on lighting: The first of which, 'The lowdown on lighting', promises to enlighten the audience on how to build a successful lighting scheme.
September 15 - 22; 146 Shoreditch Highstreet, London, E1 6JE
15/15The Interiors of Laura Gonzalez hosted by House & Garden
Join House & Garden editor, Hatta Byng, in conversation with interior designer Laura Gonzalez as part of FOCUS at Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour. Laura will be talking all things design, focussing on how she creates warm, layered and sophisticated interiors using a mixture of colour, print, texture and carefully chosen pieces.
Tickets cost £10
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