Together We Rise installation by POor Collective at Battersea Power Station, ©Charlie Round Turner. All photos are courtesy of London Design Festival 2024, unless stated otherwise.
Design. Faye Toogood, Pearson Loyd, and Stefan Diez are among the protagonists of London Design Festival 2024. From 14-22 September, the 22nd edition of the city-wide design celebration takes over the city – from Brompton to Greenwich, from Battersea Power Station to Shoreditch – with hundreds of events, sparking discovery through exhibits, installations, workshops and more. Enrico Zilli, Archipanic’s founder and Editor-in-Chief, has selected fifteen must-visit exhibitions. Begin at the OXO Tower Wharf to discover the state-of-the-art material innovation Material Matters fair. This year’s best installations include a set of pavilions merging Barbie’s Dreamhouses with Palm Spring’s Mid-century Modernism and a ‘temple’ for urban biodiversity.
Elements for Studio TIP’s installation at Materials Matter 2024 – Courtesy of Materials Matter.
At the Bargehouse at OXO Tower Wharf, the third edition of Materials Matters brings together over 50 world-leading brands, designers, makers and manufacturers to celebrate the importance of materials and their ability to shape our lives. Discover smart solutions from seaweed, mud, plant roots, collagen and more. Katie May Boyd and Charlotte Kidger of Studio TIP welcome visitors: “We have taken 2.5 tonnes of waste from a demolition site in central London and have created a temporary installation celebrating the creative potential of these materials.”
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Arper showcases the Catifa Carta chair, which features a re-engineered shell made of PaperShell, a revolutionary new material made of composite wood by-product. We liked the Potr self-watering pot vases: they come flatpack with a cotton cord that functions as a wicking straw, transferring water from the reservoir in the pot’s base to the soil. There’s also the chance to have a free haircut and watch your hair spun and turned into rope courtesy of Studio Sanne Visser.
At The Old Selfridges Hotel, artist collective Marshmallow Laser Feast and Johnnie Walker Scotch Whisky present the immersive Liquid Light installation, symbolising the evolution of form over time. A cascade of glass-blown droplets suspended in mid-air creates an interplay of light and shadow. Moving light passing through the glass forms projects mesmerising undulations onto the surrounding white walls.
Photo by Richard Round Turner.
Nine renowned artists, including Yinka Ilori, David Shrigley, Shona Heath, and Faye Toogood, have created unique spectacle frames, which independent glassware brand Cubitts then handcrafted in its King’s Cross workshop. The designs are displayed in Islington during the festival before being auctioned to benefit the arts charity Create.
Photo by Charlie Round Turner.
After winning the 2023 London Design Festival’s Emerging Design Medal, POoR Collective returns to Brompton Design District with the Together We Rise artwork featuring 100 vibrant flags suspended from the ceiling at Battersea Power Station. The project is a dynamic exploration of the sun’s movement, encouraging visitors to engage with its ever-changing palette and many faces throughout the day. Poor – Power Out of Restriction – is a London-based social enterprise dedicated to developing communities within the built environment and driving positive social change.
Photo by Ed Reeve.
Barbie DreamHouses have been, in part, inspired by the architecture of Greater Palm Springs and midcentury modernist style. From here, Mattel, Inc.’s Barbie® and Californian tourism agency Visit Greater Palm Springs tasked multidisciplinary designer Nina Tolstrup of Studiomama to create three playful Pavillions of Wonder at The Strand in central London. The interactive installations invite visitors to explore pink-hued structures with kaleidoscopic patterns and desert landscape-inspired settings
Photo by Pearson Lloyd.
From dip beeswax paper vases to responsible plastic bags, menstrual cups, 3D printed shoes and glass optical fibres. At Yorkton Workshop, Luke Pearson and Tom Lloyd of Pearson Lloyd curated an exhibition bringing together forty projects exploring the idea of “well-made” tackling climate change. “Because materials, processes and production techniques impact the environment!”
Render of Vert – Courtesy of Diez Office.
Global warming and rising temperature task architects to rethink urban development and tackle diminishing biodiversity in cities. To raise awareness of this challenge, the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) teamed up with German designer Stefan Diez and urban greening specialists Office for Micro Climate Cultivation (OMC°C) to create Vert, a luxurious pavilion featuring over twenty thriving plant species. Finished with red oak glue laminated timber, the installation offers shelter doubling as a gathering space for community engagement.
Photo by Studio Omelette.
Studio Omelette presents the exhibition Reclaimed: The Silo Collection at The White Building. The showcase brings together 22 talented London-based potters, each contributing unique ceramic pieces to the collection. Discover an innovative glaze crafted from used wine bottles.
At the OSMO building in Battersea Design District, designer Gensuke Kishi launches Still Life Flower Vase, a work created as part of an up-cycling project to reuse leftover stone materials. The contrast created by leaning glass filled with fresh plants against the decadently crushed up-cycled stone evokes the transience and preciousness of natural stone, a finite material.
Manta Pilti Cabinet by Trent Jansen – Courtesy of Mint Gallery and London Design Festival 2024.
Mayfair gallery Mint presents Boundless, an exhibition showcasing cutting-edge design addressing global issues, featuring works by established innovators alongside emerging talents. Trent Jansen’s striking works, inspired by Australia’s landscape and First Nations cultures, blend cultural richness with avant-garde innovation. Studio Waldemeyer‘s installations harness LED technology to create mesmerising effects. The exhibition also highlights luxury glass creations by Wonderglass and introduces groundbreaking works by graduate designers.
Nic Webb’s artwork x Sarah Myerscough Gallery – Photo by Leroy Boateng, courtesy of the gallery.
In Brompton Design District, Sarah Myerscough Gallery presents an exhibition exploring the rich material intelligence involved in working with wood. On display are cutting-edge pieces by Nic Webb, Peter Marigold, Studio Amos, Gareth Neal, and Kasper Hamacher. Intersecting craft, design and material research, their works emerge from innovative approaches to process and technique.
Photo via IG, follow @rocalondongallery and @oliverheathdesign.
Roca London Gallery presents Bio-Spaces: Regenerative, Resilient Futures, an experiential, multi-sensory exhibition encouraging a more nature-based approach to design. Within the water-inspired spaces by Zaha Hadid Architects, visitors are immersed in the world of biophilic design, exploring biodiversity and biomimicry, biomorphic design, bio-based materials and bio-regenerative design. “Human beings thrive in spaces that are in harmony with the natural elements and systems of our planet,” according to the Planted platform curating the exhibition.
Courtesy of 83 Riverton Street.
At 83 Rivington Street, in the Shoreditch Design Triangle, ten emerging designers offer a glimpse into the creative journey, from concept to realisation, showcasing prototypes, sketches, and development artefacts. From furniture to ceramic, textile, glass and architecture, the Proof of Concept exhibition celebrates self-initiated designs and products that never reached the market alongside existing works, showcasing the craftsmanship, ingenuity, and perseverance behind each creation.
CMYK Searchspace by Kai Lab.
At the Art House, Acrylicize presents the Light in Motion exhibition featuring the work of twelve independent designers, artists and engineers harnessing materials and cutting-edge technologies to convey ideas about light, space, time, movement and perception. Kai Lab’s CMYK Searchspace allows you to create the perfect hue by turning any combination of four dials. Will Laslett presents a kinetic light work inspired by the behaviour of sunlight falling through the foliage of trees.
GUMMY skecth by Toogood.
Toogood opens the doors to its working studio in Camdem, where British designer Faye Toogood and her team share their daily creative process. Among the brand-new furniture designs on display is also the sculptural, upholstered seating collection called Gummy.
