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London Design Festival is the London Fashion Week<\/a> of the design world: a week-long programme of exhibitions, installations, talks, workshops and events which \u201creinforces London\u2019s position as the global design capital\u201d.<\/p>\n This year\u2019s edition takes place between 13 and 21 September across London\u2019s design studios, galleries, workshops and public spaces. There are \u201chubs\u201d throughout the city, including spaces like the V&A and the Design Museum, as well as 10 Design Districts, spanning from Park Royal<\/a> to Walthamstow<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI take the view that design is for everyone. We experience it all day, every day, but we don\u2019t think about it very much,\u201d says Ben Evans, the festival\u2019s director. \u201cIf you come to the Design Festival as a novice or a beginner, there\u2019s bound to be something for you that you like, or that you\u2019re interested in. It will provoke a reaction in you.\u201d <\/p>\n This year\u2019s programme has underlying themes of sustainability. \u201cMateriality is certainly a strong presence in the festival. We have movements based on circularity and reuse as well. In that sense, the ethics of the design creativity is quite strong,\u201d says Evans.<\/p>\n But with over 400 events spread across London, you might be wondering where to start \u2014 and how to avoid spending your day on public transport. According to Evans, it\u2019s best to work by district. <\/p>\n \u201cLondon\u2019s a wonderful city, but we have to live with the geography of it. We try to cluster activities in different districts in the city, so that you can go to a particular neighbourhood, hopefully with a distinctive personality of its own in terms of design culture, and be able to walk to everything.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to make it as easy as possible for people to discover, because I think that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about,\u201d he adds. \u201cThe great thrill is discovery \u2014 coming across something that\u2019s just caught your eye.\u201d<\/p>\n From mini festivals to public installations, here are some of the hottest picks from this year\u2019s programme<\/a>.<\/p>\n Alex Tieghi-Walker is curating Brompton Design District for the first time<\/p>\n Maureen Evans<\/p>\n Wresting cool back from east to west London, Brompton<\/a> is one of this year\u2019s most anticipated Design Districts. Curated by New York-based gallerist Alex Tieghi-Walker for the first time, the programme has enlisted creative heavyweights to take over Brompton\u2019s spaces. Curator Tione Trice and fashion designer Ronan McKenzie, for example, have collaborated in an exhibition called Mirroring Dialogue<\/a>, which explores connections between artists working across different practices.<\/p>\n The interior designer and art director Charlotte Taylor, meanwhile, is presenting her first solo exhibition: Soft Worlds, Sharp Edges<\/a>. Set in a bedroom, the installation features work by 30 female designers, including jewellery designer Sophie Buhai, glass sculptor Miranda Keyes and artist Silvia Prada.<\/p>\n Charlotte Taylor is presenting her first solo exhibition as part of Brompton Design District<\/p>\n Handout<\/p>\n At the V&A\u2019s garden and pond, artist and designer Alicja Patanowska has created a ceramic seating installation called The Ripple Effect<\/a>. Made partly from Polish mining waste, the installation is covered with 2,000 handmade, sculptural ceramic tiles and intended to spark reflection on our contested relationship with natural resources. <\/p>\n Furniture designers PINCH are running an installation, Supper in the Studio<\/a>, where guests can dine amongst their designs, and OKA will be giving home styling advice sessions<\/a>. Brompton\u2019s other native designers, like Kartell, Boffi|DePadova and Henge will be opening their doors too.<\/p>\n Camden Inspire: Green Loop Takeover<\/strong><\/p>\n “Eco-artivist”, rubbish artist & waste mosaicist Francesca Busca is running mosaic workshops<\/p>\n Camden Inspire<\/p>\n This day-long climate festival has a programme of creative, hands-on workshops to promote reuse and reduce the amount we throw away. Highlights include The Fixing Factory, where you can learn how to repair your electricals, as well as an introduction to Kintsugi<\/a>, the Japanese method of repairing broken china with a gold seal. <\/p>\n Studio Kuhu will be helping visitors to breathe new life into old clothes with a fabric dying workshop, while eco-activist and waste mosaicist Francesca Busca is running a workshop on transforming discarded materials into artwork.<\/p>\n For green-fingered Londoners, there\u2019s a plant pot design workshop with Rochester Square Gardens, and a plant rescue scheme with Wayward Architecture. Alongside the festival, Camden Inspire<\/a> is also hosting UnBroken<\/a>, an exhibition of salvaged objects transformed by designers into new creations. It starts on September 15, with the exhibits to be auctioned off on September 20. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a kind of hodgepodge. There\u2019s always something going on; there\u2019s lots for both kids and adults,\u201d says Simon Pitkeathley, chief executive of Camden Town Unlimited and Euston Town Business Improvement Districts. <\/p>\n \u201cThe workshops are the key thing that describe what we\u2019re trying to do. It\u2019s about helping people learn skills about repair and reuse that they can take away. I think the Kintsugi, about using gold to repair broken china, is a good metaphor for the whole thing. It\u2019s about recognising that these items have a lifecycle and a journey of their own, and that the broken bits of it are part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n Camden Collective, 5-7 Buck Street, NW1 8NJ. Free, with some events ticketed at \u00a33 or \u00a35. <\/p>\n What Nelson Sees<\/p>\n Handout<\/p>\n Paul Cocksedge\u2019s sculpture, a series of intersecting tubes which form a tripod-like structure, gives visitors access to something which had long fascinated him: Admiral Nelson\u2019s view from Nelson\u2019s Column.<\/p>\n What Nelson Sees<\/a> is one of the festival\u2019s landmark projects. Cocksedge has filmed Nelson\u2019s current view and used Google\u2019s AI filmmaking tool Flow to look back to the 1800s, as well as forwards towards the city\u2019s future. Visitors will be able to watch these short films through the \u201ctelescopic viewing portals\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe project is based on the fact that there [Nelson] is, standing in the corner with a unique view of London that no one else can see,\u201d says Evans. \u201cI think the interface between design and technology is really interesting. There\u2019s been lots of stuff about AI, but it\u2019s an amazing tool. I think people will be quite thrilled when they see this.\u201d<\/p>\n 13-16 September, free. Ticket required.<\/p>\n Ceramics by Emma Louise Payne<\/p>\n Louise Yeowart<\/p>\n Set inside a five-storey townhouse in Lancaster Gate, this intimate exhibition by designer and curator Emma Louise Payne explores how design touches our everyday lives. Work by nine designers and makers is displayed as it would be in a home, without plinths or spotlights.<\/p>\n \u201cThis exhibition<\/a> is not about showcasing objects as isolated artefacts, but about understanding how they settle into our lives and surroundings \u2014 how they become part of our daily rituals and spatial rhythms,\u201d says Payne. \u201cIt\u2019s about asking what design means when it is lived with, not just looked at.\u201d<\/p>\n Each room will host new works by one of the designers, which, alongside Payne\u2019s own ceramics, includes table lamps by glassmaking studio Gather Glass, furniture maker David Irwin\u2019s \u201cHardy Chair\u201d, and ink marbled table designs, inspired by the Margate coast, by artist NAT MAKS with designer Brogan Cox.<\/p>\n 76 Sussex Square, W2 2SS. 13-21 September, free. No ticket required.<\/p>\n Interestingly, there are two exhibits at this year\u2019s festival with the same title, both worthy of a look-in. The first is a day-long series of discussions<\/a> from designers and industry experts about the humble table, our \u201cmost trustworthy piece of furniture\u201d. <\/p>\n There are four sessions, which attendees can dip in and out of, focusing on iconic table designs, kitchen tables, working tables and dining tables. Soho Lighthouse, 21 Great Chapel Street, W1F 8FP. Free, ticket required.<\/p>\n The second, run by Design Everything<\/a> \u2014a platform which champions up-and-coming designers and creators\u2014 is a response to how hard it is for emerging creatives to share their work at the festival. The solution is a mobile exhibition, which showcases a collection of seats made by different designers. It\u2019ll be moved around London in a Luton van. <\/p>\n Why seats? \u201cIt\u2019s an accessible object to make, with a large amount of creative possibility\u201d, says Design Everything, and it also \u201cenables the show to communicate the wider power of design.\u201d<\/p>\n Park Royal Design District<\/strong><\/p>\n 11 Million Dots by Rafael El Baz<\/p>\n Ben Pipe<\/p>\n \u201c[Park Royal] is a rather special part of London,\u201d says Evans. \u201cYou just have to open a few doors, and there it is, all happening in front of your eyes. The first weekend of the festival, there will be a focus of activity there, so I recommend that people go.\u201d<\/p>\n Over the last few years, Park Royal has been the centre of a cultural resurgence. In 2022, it was designated as a Creative Enterprise Zone, and its former industrial buildings are now home to new and established designers alike. This includes leather designer Bill Amberg<\/a>, whose studio is hosting an exhibition<\/a> of experimental leather products throughout the festival. The design collective Blast Studio<\/a>, which transforms waste into new materials, will also be opening its doors, alongside emerging furniture designer David Samuel<\/a>. <\/p>\n There are workshops too, including one in clay plastering and timber cladding at North Acton Village Hut<\/a>, where visitors will be able to observe and take part in the hut\u2019s construction. And at the Rescued Clay studio<\/a> at Minerva Works, people can make clay sculptures and tiles.<\/p>\n One of Park Royal\u2019s highlights, though, is 11 Million Dots<\/a> by Rafael El Baz, one of Europe\u2019s largest public artworks. El Baz recorded ambient sounds and interviews with local businesses and residents, and translated these into binary code and audio waveforms, using these as the basis of his artwork. The piece is displayed on the fa\u00e7ade of a data centre, with visitors able to access the soundscapes via QR codes. It\u2019ll be displayed between 13 and 21 September.<\/p>\n Park Royal Design District\u2019s mini festival<\/a> takes place on 13 and 14 September.<\/p>\n Blackhorse Workshop 11th Birthday Festival<\/strong><\/p>\n Blackhorse Workshop’s 11th birthday festival includes a metalworking workshop<\/p>\n Paul Cochrane<\/p>\n Across town in Walthamstow, Blackhorse Workshop is hosting a day of open studios, activities and workshops<\/a>. If you\u2019ve ever felt you lack practical, hands-on skills around the house, this one might be for you. There\u2019s an introduction to decorating and repairs, using simple tools and woodwork techniques, as well as a metalworking workshop with Nina O\u0142tarzewska.<\/p>\n This is a good one for children too: kids (and adults) can make their own hobby horse to race later, and there\u2019s a rosette-making workshop which is suitable for people of all ages. Best of all, it\u2019s rounded off with a party. <\/p>\n The day is part of the William Morris Design Line<\/a>, an open weekend in Walthamstow which celebrates the 75th anniversary of the William Morris Gallery. \u201cIt\u2019s about making,\u201d says Evans. \u201cI think lots of people will be able to roll their sleeves up and get their hands dirty at the weekend there.\u201d<\/p>\n Blackhorse Workshop, 1-2 Sutherland Road, E17 6BX. 20 September, free with no ticket required.<\/p>\n Beacon by Lee Broom<\/p>\n Handout<\/p>\n Lee Broom\u2019s<\/a> lighting installation outside the Royal Festival Hall is another of the festival\u2019s landmark projects. Inspired by the area\u2019s brutalist architecture, Beacon<\/a> uses discarded fragments of glass to create a sculptural chandelier which reinterprets London\u2019s streetlamps. It\u2019ll be visible from all the way across the Thames.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a tribute to both the history and the future of this iconic location,\u201d says Broom. \u201cI 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 Southbank itself.\u201d<\/p>\n Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX. 13-21 September. Free, no ticket required.<\/p>\n Reishi\u2122 is a mycelium-based alternative to leather<\/p>\n MycoWorks<\/p>\n Set inside the iconic Space House, Material Matters<\/a> is the festival\u2019s \u201ccornerstone fair\u201d. Aiming to explore the role of materials in shaping the future of architecture, design and manufacturing, Material Matters will showcase sustainable materials, furniture and technology, host talks and panel discussions, as well as immersive installations. <\/p>\n This includes installations from the Wood Awards<\/a>, which celebrates innovative use of wood in design and construction, as well as a look at pioneering new materials like Reishi\u2122, which is a mycelium (fungus)-based alternative to leather.<\/p>\n Space House, 1 Kemble Street, WC2B 4AN. 17-20 September, free. Ticket required.<\/p>\n Beyond Foam and BioFab Fair<\/strong><\/p>\n Fungal pigments and dyes for textiles at BioFab Fair<\/p>\n Fabulous Fungi<\/p>\n Materials Matters, though, shouldn\u2019t be the only materials-related event in your LDF calendar. The Biofab Fair<\/a> is a weird and wonderful design showcase, with cutting-edge textiles made from protein and bacterial-based pigments to see, touch and smell up close. It runs on 16 and 17 September at Walthamstow\u2019s Big Penny Social. Tickets start at \u00a340.<\/p>\n![\"Alex](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2--Alex-Tieghi-Walker-photo-by-Maureen-Evans.jpg\")
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