From 17-25 September, the London Design Festival returns to showcase how London remains at the forefront of creativity, with an eclectic, yet equally talented mix of designers and makers taking part. The Resident picks out 23 unmissable highlights of London Design Festival 2016
Three of the best for London Design Festival in Shoreditch
1Patternity
Dubbed as ‘cult pattern pioneers’, Patternity will host a cross disciplinary spectacle as part of London Design Festival, featuring installations, workshops, industry talks and exciting collaboration launches. They’ll even have a pop-up shop full of all things Patternity, including their brand new book, while roundtable discussions of pattern trends and pattern making techniques take place throughout the day.
28 Redchurch Street E2 7DP; patternity.org
2Linda Bloomfield and Canvas Home
Internationally renowned ceramist, Linda Bloomfield, has partnered with Canvas Home to bring interactive throwing and glazing sessions to London Design Festival. She’ll be whipping up perfectly sculpted, shiny porcelain designs at the Canvas Home showroom in front of viewers, giving them the chance to buy her unique translucent, coloured designs themselves and have them shipped home.
57 Amwell Street EC1R 1UR; canvashomestore.co.uk
3Timorous Beasties
Completing their luxurious, coveted Ruskin collection, Timorous Beasties will launch the final wallpaper patterns for this range. The exhibit, named ‘After Ruskin, Life and Death Wallpaper’, highlights the rapid growth of their trend setting floral and digital damask patterns. New, colossal sized wall coverings and wallpaper panels – Arboreal, Skull Damask and Kaleido Block – will be showcased at the festival, giving viewers first dibs.
46 Amwell Street EC1R 1XS; timorousbeasties.com
Three of the best for London Design Festival in Notting Hill
4Amy Cushing
Amy Cushing is a pioneer in the art circles of Notting Hill, having worked with the Vessel Gallery for over 20 years as well as numerous other projects within the area. Having trained in Public Art at Chelsea, she has practised as a kiln-former of glasswork for 20 years. ‘Most of my portfolio is based upon years of experimenting with melting glass,’ explains Cushing. ‘Everything is highly coloured and everything is about colour sequence and colour complexity.’ She’ll be exhibiting at the Vessel Gallery for LDF: ‘LDF links London’s pockets of creativity together,’ she says, ‘It creates a new community and I love that there’s an annual event to promote that.’
114 Kensington Park Road W11 2PW; 020 7727 8001; vesselgallery.com. See also mosquito-design.co.uk
5Native & Co
Native and Co, a traditional crafts and homeware studio set up by Sharon Jo-Yun Hung and Chris Yoshiro Green, is planning two separate exhibitions for LDF. Firstly, they are showing their finished products and a new tableware launch at Tent London, but at their Notting Hill studio, Hung and Green are working towards an exhibition that details the failures that happen behind closed doors. It will help aspiring designers see that the finished product is not always easy to arrive at. ‘Everything in our products is about the origin and this is something that we will focus on at LDF,’ says Hung. ‘People will be able to see the full process of design. Everything is always done in-house. We want to show people the failures and the stages behind new products.’
116 Kensington Park Road W11 2PW; 020 7243 0418; nativeandco.com
6BoConcept
From one polished brand to another, BoConcept – the popular Danish design brand – is participating in LDF for the first time this year from their Notting Hill store and will be epitomising the festival aspect of the event. ‘London is a vibrant city and the perfect place to celebrate urban contemporary design,’ says interior designer and store manager Ania Porada. ‘We will be launching our 2017 collection with stunning new pieces and will have a party atmosphere in store during the duration of LDF – including a glass of Prosecco to welcome you!’ To ensure these new trends are accessible to the public, for LDF Porada and her team will welcome all visitors with any design tips and offer their free design service in your home or in store.
Notting Hill, 18-24 Westbourne Grove W2 5RH; 020 7792 4111; boconcept.com
Three of the best for London Design Festival in Greenwich and Deptford
7South East Makers Club Design Trail
To celebrate the final weekend of the London Design Festival 2016, the South East Makers Club invites all design enthusiasts to follow a trail through the creative streets and studios of the area. The journey begins at the Deptford Market Yard where you can see a joint exhibition with furniture designer Sebastian Cox and photographer Yeshen Venema. Then head to Cockpit Arts’ to meet top designer-makers like Eleanor Lakelin, before a ceramics exhibition at Simple Shape in Brockley, a programme of talks at Lewisham Art House, Curzon Goldsmiths for The Crafts Council’s Real to Reel craft films, the Bussey Building in Peckham for a Design Market, and Vanguard Court where renowned ceramicists like Chris Keenan open their studios. Round it all off with a disco at The Fat Walrus pub on Saturday and a A Designer Pub Quiz, hosted by Tom Odell and The South East London Journal at Nines in Peckham on Sunday.
londondesignfestival.com
8Greenwich Gets Graphic
As part of the London Design Festival, The Ben Oakley Gallery will be playing host to hands-on screen printing sessions, so you can create your very own take on images created by international artist Ray Richardson and Ben Oakley himself. Other graphic pop-up exhibitions will also be taking place at M1 Fine Art, The Flood Gallery and Greenwich Printmakers.
Greenwich Market SE10 9HZ; greenwichmarketlondon.com
9Urban Street Art in Durnford Street
Also as part of Greenwich Gets Graphic, three street artists will create live installations. Watch the works of Fret – one of south east London’s youngest street art superstars – evolve during the weekend of 24 and 25 September, alongside the works of Rugman and Lou Ireland. You can of course, as ever, meet the makers at Greenwich Market, with local designer-makers showcasing their best work for London Design work.
greenwichmarketlondon.com
Five of the best on the Brixton Design Trail, part of London Design Festival
10Brixton Street Gallery
Squire & Partners architects are returning to the Brixton Design Trail with an interactive outdoor installation drawing on the David Bowie-inspired ‘Rebel Rebel’ theme. The walls flanking Stockwell Avenue will be transformed into a large canvas with original art by both well-known and undiscovered street artists.
Stockwell Avenue SW9 9SY; brixtondesigntrail.com
11Crafty Fox Market
The Crafty Fox Market is coming to The Dogstar in Brixton as part of the Design Trail on 17-18 September, and will also be making its way to Peckham on 8-9 October. You can shop at leisure and discover design-led, handmade products sold directly to you by the makers. As well as being sustainable, it’s seriously fun, with cakes and cream teas from The Tea’s Knees and the addition of DJs and workshops.
389 Coldharbour Lane SW9 8LQ; craftyfoxmarket.co.uk
12Animali Domestici
Animali Domestici Italian Arts and Design, which sources 20th century and contemporary Italian design classics, has been based in Brixton for three decades. For the duration of the 2016 festival, their courtyard, showroom and garden will be open, and the team invite you to explore their visually stunning ceramics, glassware, textiles and wooden pieces. It’s a true Aladdin’s Cave for lovers of design.
1 Saltoun Road SW2 1EN; 020 7733 5304; animalidomestici.co.uk
13Spiders & Straw
This installation, created by artist Karolina Merska, is hosted by BRIXI and Bobbin & Bow. It showcases her Polish folk art – pajaki – which is traditionally created to commemorate family celebrations using materials to hand including straw, feathers, dried peas and paper. The giant centrepiece pajak will hang high in Brixton’s covered arcade for the duration of the design festival.
Coldharbour Lane SW9 8PR; bobbinandbow.com
14Design Unboxed
The recycled shipping containers of Pop Brixton will be participating in design week this year, exploring everything from fashion to furniture and graphics to architecture. A week long series of events will encourage participation in workshops, discussions and performances – so get crafty and hone rusty design skills with hands-on workshops, attend fashion shows, create your own artwork or debate design with expert panels.
49 Brixton Station Road SW9 8PQ; 020 7274 2902; popbrixton.org
Three of the best in the Islington Design District
15Molly Meg
Modern, design-led children’s store Molly Meg has created a whimsical exhibit inspired by everything to do with the ocean in collaboration with BigStuffed from Paris. The store on Essex Road will be transformed into an underwater wonderland, complete with giant sea creatures and workshops that will be held throughout London Design Festival to encourage little ones and their parents to get creative.
111 Essex Road, Islington N1 2SL; mollymeg.com
16Aria and TWO.SIX
during the festival, an eclectic fusion of past, present and future in the form of seamless, high quality design. Bringing the intense passion, bright colours and vibrancy of the Portuguese culture to London, these two brands are cooking up a multicultural visual feast in the form of superior, contemporary furniture design.
Barnsbury Hall, Islington N1 1PN; ariashop.co.uk
17Islington Design District Trail
Visitors will be able to walk the Islington Design District Trail from Amwell Street south of Angel, through to Camden Passage and along Upper Street, to discover new designers, special product launches and one-off exhibitions and events.
islingtondesigndistrict.com
The best of the rest of London Design Festival’s Design Districts
18Brompton Design District
In 2016, the Brompton Design District celebrates a decade as London’s most pioneering and innovative programme of contemporary design. Since 2006 Brompton has been the location for an internationally recognised series of exhibitions. Set in a historic district among a cluster of iconic design retailers and global brands, the collaboration between these businesses and the pop-up programme in empty shops and other buildings has, over time, allowed Brompton to forge its reputation as London’s leading destination for design. Brompton Design District alumni include Martino Gamper, Tom Dixon, Faye Toogood, Raw Edges, Michael Anastassiades, Glithero and Arabeschi di Latte.
bromptondesigndistrict.com
19Bankside Design District
After a successful debut last year, Bankside Design District – spanning from Borough Market to OXO Tower – returns to London Design Festival with exciting events and activities lined up to showcase the creative industry within the area, from workshops to walking tours, exhibitions and outdoor installations. Activity confirmed for 2016 includes a pop-up sign painting school at Borough Market hosted by legendary US sign painter Mike Meyers and Better Letters, a showcase of independent designers by Designersblock, open studio at Buster + Punch and calligraphy workshops from Paul Antonio.
banksidedesigndistrict.co.uk
20Shoreditch Design Triangle
The Shoreditch Design Triangle is a true celebration of the area, hosted by the creative companies who work here. It blends together a range of product launches, exhibitions, installations, workshops, talks and tours which will run throughout the festival. Running consecutively for eight years, the event has gained a reputation as one of the largest and most exciting Festival Districts, with a host of design-led events making it possible to spend a whole day wandering around the area on foot. Truly collaborative and harking back to the days when the Hoxton and Shoreditch area was reinvigorated by the Young British Artist movement, the event revels in the true spirit of creative London
shoreditchdesigntriangle.com
21Chelsea Design Quarter
Chelsea Design Quarter is one of London’s freshest and most eclectic interior design hubs where classic and contemporary sit cheek by jowl. With the largest and most diverse selection of established interiors specialists concentrated in one area, this Quarter is located in and around the southern end of King’s Road running along Lots Road to Imperial Wharf. Participating Partners will be staging a range of special events ranging from demonstrations and workshops, TO talks, new product launches and exhibitions throughout the week.
chelseadesignquarter.co.uk
22Clerkenwell Design Quarter
Now in its fourth year Clerkenwell Design Quarter brings together all the multi-disciplinary components of this historical area: from showrooms and pop-ups to restaurants and bars. A new blog tour of Clerkenwell will reveal hidden studios and design gems; exclusive content, interviews and launches, and the Clerkenwell Design Quarter map will guide you through the best contemporary design along the way. Participants delivering events as part of the Clerkenwell Design Quarter will host exhibitions and one off events to highlight new collections in furniture, lighting, jewellery, textiles and products.
clerkenwelldesignquarter.com
23Queens Park Design District
The Queens Park Design District, based on the areas surrounding Londsdale Road, Salusbury Road and Kimberly Road, has become a key creative hub for the area with its small community of design businesses, studios and makers. For the third year running, the Partners of Queens Park Design District come together for the London Design Festival with a unique showcase of design and craft through a roster of open studios, workshops, talks, installations and events. In the Objects of Design showcase, a celebration of community creativity through a street-exhibition, each studio will create a playful installation or object that represents their work and creative style. On Thursday, join QPDD for a fairground of design celebrations where we bring the party to Lonsdale Road.
queensparkdesigndistrict.co.uk