Ten must-see installations at London Design Festival 2024
In the run-up to this year’s London Design Festival, we have selected ten installations, exhibitions and other standout projects taking place across the city from 14 to 22 September.
Held over nine days, London Design Festival (LDF) will be located across 11 districts spread throughout the capital.
The 22nd edition of the festival will include a wide-ranging programme, from workshops, talks and tours to open studios and product launches.
See Dezeen Events Guide’s digital guide to London Design Festival 2024 for more information on the many events taking place all over the city.
In the meantime, read on for what to expect from the programme’s highlights:
Top: photo courtesy of Material Matters
Vert by Stefan Diez
Designer Stefan Diez has created Vert, an installation finished with red-oak glue laminated timber, which will feature a biodegradable net packed with 20 plant species.
Diez designed the project with the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) and urban greening specialists OMC°C to promote city biodiversity and provide a gathering space for community engagement during the festival.
Parade Ground, Chelsea College of Arts, 16 John Islip St, London SW1P 4JU
Design You Can Feel by ASUS Zenbook and Dezeen
Dezeen has collaborated with electronics brand ASUS to curate Design You Can Feel, a major exhibition for LDF. Participants including Natural Material Studio and Giles Miller will showcase works examining materiality, craftsmanship and AI.
In particular, the exhibition will investigate Ceraluminum – an innovative material by ASUS used to make its Zenbook laptop. Design and research studio Future Facility has created a specially commissioned piece made from Ceraluminum for the show.
Protein Studios, 31 New Inn Yard, London EC2A 3EY
Photo by Genevieve Lutkin
Toogood Openhouse by Faye Toogood
For the first time at LDF, designer Faye Toogood and her team will open their studio doors for an open-house event that offers a glimpse into their daily creative processes.
The team will present two new furniture collections, including Gummy – Toogood’s first upholstered seating designed with chubby curves.
Studio Toogood, 150 Royal College Street, London NW1 0TA
Photo courtesy of Pearson Lloyd
Well Made: What It Means Today by Pearson Lloyd
Industrial design studio Pearson Lloyd will present Well Made: What It Means Today – an exhibition of pieces by over 40 design voices exploring the criteria required to achieve creative, sustainable and quality products.
Jasper Morrison, Erwan Bouroullec and Lilli Hollein are among the contributors.
Yorkton Workshops, 1-3 Yorkton Street, London E2 8NH
Pavilions of Wonder by Nina Tolstrup
Designer Nina Tolstrup of Studiomania has created three Barbie Dreamhouse-style pavilions for the Strand in central London.
Created in collaboration with Barbie and Californian tourism agency Visit Greater Palm Springs, the structures intend to explore how California’s iconic mid-century modernist architecture has influenced the many toy houses of the world’s most famous doll.
Strand Aldwych, London WC2R 1ES
Photo courtesy of Material Matters
Launched in 2022, design think tank Material Matters will return to LDF with a varied programme exploring the significance of materials and how they influence our lives.
Five floors of central London’s Bargehouse gallery will be taken over by an exhibition of products and installations made of unusual materials – from mud and orange peel to seaweed, bioplastic and collagen.
Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf, Barge House Street, London SE1 9PH
Photo courtesy of Mitre & Mondays
Cafe Tolerance by Mitre & Mondays
Design agency Mitre & Mondays has converted a Bedford Rascal van into a mobile coffee shop called Cafe Tolerance. The van will travel to different locations, including Granary Square in King’s Cross and Material Matters’ site at Oxo Tower Wharf.
Throughout the festival, Cafe Tolerance will invite visitors to engage with the idea of tolerance and what it means to them. Mitre & Mondays will record conversations between participants and use the research as the starting point for a future video and audio essay, which will question how design can respond to the issues raised.
All of the proceeds from coffee sales will be donated to London homeless charity Hackney Night Shelter.
Find Cafe Tolerance’s daily location via Mitre & Mondays’ Instagram.
Reclaimed: The Silo Collection by Studio Omelette
Local design firm Studio Omelette has partnered with restaurant and brewery The White Building to create an exhibition of ceramics made from repurposed waste. The exhibition will take place at Hackney zero-waste restaurant Silo.
Twenty-two London-based potters will present a range of functional designs and hand-crafted sculptures. Each piece has been finished with a distinctive ceramic glaze made out of used Silo wine bottles, developed by ceramicist Lucia Ocejo.
Silo, Unit 7 Queen’s Yard, The White Building, 1st Floor, London E9 5EN
Photo courtesy of The Conran Shop
New Perspective by Stella Smith for The Conran Shop
Design retailer The Conran Shop will present an installation called New Perspective at its flagship store, exploring the dynamic between art and design and how the two can enhance each other, addressing form, materiality and processes.
Curated by Stella Smith, founder of art advisory platform Izena, the project will showcase work from emerging designers.
The Conran Shop, 16 Sloane Square, London SW1W 8ER
Proof of Concept
Ten emerging multidisciplinary designers and studios will take part in Proof of Concept – an exhibition created to reveal the evolving stages of the design process, from concept to realisation.
Prototypes, sketches and scale models will feature alongside finished designs to highlight the myriad challenges involved in creating products, furniture, ceramics, textiles and architecture.
83 Rivington Street, London EC2A 3EY
The images are courtesy of London Design Festival unless stated otherwise.
The London Design Festival takes place from 14 to 22 September 2024. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
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