LONDON Design Festival LDF
I'm genuinely so excited about LDF this year! There’s been a huge growth of interest and new partners. This will be my third Festival, and there’s been a huge development The printed listings will have around 30% more pages meaning more content, more design, and more events across the city!
RACHAEL HYMAS
PHOTOGRAPHY BY SAM FORD
CHAT BY COLLATE FORM
You know we’re fans. Can you tell us a little bit about the set-up?
The festival has four key pillars: Landmark Projects, Global Design Forum, London Design Medals and the vast Partnerships programme. Often, people see the main projects, the big installations, but It's also about celebrating the local communities, and less obvious districts. The partnership programme allows global design creatives and talent to present themselves to a much wider audience
What types of people, businesses, creators, or designers are you noticing more of this year compared to previous years?
One of the main things I'm proud of is the Launch Pad partnership programme. A couple of years ago, it was LDF’s 20th anniversary, and we wanted to focus on the next 20 years, what they’re going to look like, who the next generation is, and how we can help to ‘launch’ them. This year, there are over 90 Launch Pad partners involved in the festival.
It’s good to see you supporting the young folk, LDN is so expensive they need a little help.
The Launch Pad partnership provides a price point that is much more accessible for young entrepreneurs, not-for-profits, charities and students coming out of university. They've got amazing ideas but may not have the finances available to promote themselves – this is an opportunity for them to showcase and shine a light on their work.
What else is going on during the festival dates?
Global Design Forum is the Festival’s curated thought leadership programme, celebrating design and the minds shaping its future. The talks programme returns to the V&A this year celebrating 10 years since it first took place at the Museum.
The programme for 2024 will focus on some of the most pressing and crucial challenges that designers currently face. Daily themes will include Please Design Responsibly; The Healthy City; Resilience and Repair and More than Human. Within these following headers Responses to conflict and disaster; Communication of cultural heritage; Designing through a non-human lens; design for connection; creating resilient, healthy, green cities; redefining the role of the designer; opening up collaboration to move towards critical shared goals, and so many more.
Over 60 speakers from across the global design and creative community will share new perspectives on how design can be more accessible, inclusive sustainable and at the forefront of change
We then have the London Design Medals an awards ceremony that celebrates four individuals or collectives who have done incredible things within their career and have made huge contributions to the design industry. The winners will be announced very soon!
The dinner is always in a unique and prestigious location, It’s a real highlight of the festival and we’ve seen some notable designers celebrated over the years.
The Partnership programme is the vastness of the festival and although I’m a little biased, it’s my favourite part! It's a real melting pot of around 300 separate individuals, businesses, brands, and global organisations who are taking part and putting on their activities during the festival.
The festival provides a platform to showcase their creative thinking – this being the only stipulation.
Districts, did I hear you say 11? That must be “fun” to organise.
So yeah, for this year, we've got 11 Design Districts! Positioned by North, South, East, and West Central so this isn’t a problem at all. The festival features 11 districts. Some are very longstanding, Brompton being 18 or 19 years old this year! We love all the classic Italian events down there, B&B Italia, Poltrona Frau, Cassina, Molteni and a couple of new faces this year.
This year we have central Design Districts of Mayfair, Chelsea and Fitzrovia. North as Dalston to Stokey and South as Greenwich Peninsula and Bankside. East London we have Shoreditch and Walthamstow, also called the William Morris Design Line. Finally, we have West-based Design Districts, which are Brompton, Battersea and Park Royal!
What’s lovely about the Design Districts is that each one has its flavour. Each one has its local community, particularly on the peripheral edges of the city. It's a real mix because you celebrate not only the local partners and community but also some international businesses and individuals taking part in the area.
So, let’s start with Mayfair, I think they're in their eighth or ninth year. It's led by James Malcolm Green, who is truly amazing! Agreed, all James’s are
Haha yes exactly! More recently Anne Laure Pingreoun has also become co-founder of the district. They’ve built something incredible with a mission to unite their local community of businesses whilst also commemorating their heritage, with a focus on collectables. Due to the large number of galleries in Mayfair, there's a real celebration of art, but equally, there are a lot of different entities, like, Sketch, It's an eclectic mix. Also, for this year one of our Landmark projects will be sitting within this District - Liquid Light by celebrated artist collective Marshmallow Laser Feast and Johnnie Walker. The immersive installation will be housed at The Old Selfridges Hotel and will delve into the innovation and craftsmanship of glassmaking.
Mayfair Design District is a real celebration of a lot of the local culture, a lot of the time you're not aware is an area like that. Having the opportunity to walk into some of those galleries that actually, for me personally, I may have been a bit nervous about doing in the past, you know, just wandering in, and not worrying! feels special.
You don’t have to put your monocle on and sling a financial times under the arm to fit in?
That's me, anyway, always carry the FT… That’s my vibe.
Next up is Park Royal Design District, a fairly industrial area filled with lots of artist studios and creatives doing amazing work. One of the buildings called the ‘QueensRollaHouse’, historically where her Rolls Royce would be taken to be stored or serviced, is one of the centrepieces of the District. Other buildings such as EX2, Excelsior Studios, Standard Studios and Gorst Studios will be opening their doors to anyone off the street.
Yinka Llori Studio is also based there, and he's doing a great activity alongside BUILDHOLLYWOOD that focuses on getting young children into design and have a better understanding of how to be creative. In his own words, he aims to “engage young dreamers in the world of art and design”.
I think many people have yet to discover the area of Park Royal and to see all of the design taking place in the area. Brands and design studios such as Bill Amberg, Yinka Ilori call it their home all year round!
That’s amazing to highlight, because, yeah, when you're flipping through the listings, you may not look at Park Royal and go definitely THAT ONE! but maybe you should. I know it’s difficult to suggest highlights and be unbiased/neutral – but, what would you say readers should see?
Top five, top ten things going on, honestly speaking, it's tricky to do, I would go slightly rogue and say, some incredible things are going on in more established Design District, such as Shoreditch. There's such a mix of entities. Rapha will be celebrating its 20th anniversary at Truman’s Brewery with ‘Past Forward’, an exhibition looking at the moments and ideas that defined the brand, and looking forward to what the future of cycling could hold…
Duncan spoke in-depth, yeah, about all of that
So yeah, Dalston and Stokey, we love as well - led by Abi Meats who owns a Rude Studio, it’s super cool. Alongside Karen Sims of Know and Love. Abi founded the ‘Dalston to Stokey Design District alongside other supporters in the local area last year, so this is their 2nd birthday.
This district emphasises sustainability and hyper-local focus, with many companies designing and producing locally or sourcing from Hackney. There will be a great mix of exhibitions, open studios, workshops, talks, performances, and parties. Abi also designs a great map which provides guests of the festival with a 2–3-hour walking tour of the area to experience the vibrant culture of Hackney!
BIG credit to Duncan and Elena from Shoreditch Design Triangle, because they've given a lot of advice and support. I love the community aspect behind the festival, a few people are willing to support and guide others, which makes the whole festival a wonderful experience to be part of. out
I have to say, although we said we're not going to talk about Shoreditch Design Triangle, I do need to shine a light on Hart Hotel and 2LG’s collab! They’ve created an immersive exhibition using the hotel’s spaces to bring an inclusive exploration of colour to life. ‘SPECTRUM' will be an imaginative, sensory journey, exploring human and personal connections to colour.
Another one to see is the William Morris Design Line in Walthamstow… inspired by William Morris’s belief in art ‘made by the people and for the people’, the William Morris Design Line was created by Wood Street Walls in 2020, as part of the Local Trust's Creative Civic Change Programme in collaboration with William Morris Big Local. It helped establish a community-led design route through Walthamstow. Similar to Park Royal, this Design District is opening doors to spaces that typically aren’t open to the public such as Blackhorse Workshop.
When we were discussing themes earlier on, I have to say Bankside Design District is one to put in your itinerary! They are focusing on graphic design and typeface. There will be a great lineup of talks and events… for me, the Type Tasting event sounds so fascinating.
It’ll also be home to Material Matters, which is the sole Design Fair for the festival, which is running from the 18th until the 21st which is the Wednesday until the Saturday of the festival.
Brompton Design District is the location of our Global Design Forum and main Festival Hub which is the V&A. An icon of LDF which doesn’t need much of an introduction, just make sure you’re there on Thursday evening… it’ll be buzzing as always! Design Museum, Sarah Myerscough Gallery, Transport for London and more will be there, so it’ll be a great mix of local showrooms, design pop-ups and exhibitions.
Battersea Design District launched last year, one of our major festival commissions there with Poor Collective, which will be amazing. They’re a design practice that works with young people to create tangible outputs in their local environments. Their project in collaboration with the Battersea Power Station will be one to see!
Greenwich Peninsula is always a great one to hop along to, with the NOW gallery and the Greenwich Peninsula Art Trail 19 installations from renowned artists including Damien Hirst, Morag Myerscough...
Fitzrovia Design District will again host their Food Trail which was such a hit for 2023! They will also have activities by RIBA, Calligaris, Charles Burnand Gallery, and Fisher & Paykel to name a few…
And then Chelsea Design District, a fairly young design district but one that has grown massively since its inception last year. We’ve got one of our Landmark Projects based here for 2024 too! American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) will present Vert at the Parade Ground at Chelsea College of Art, designed by leading industrial design practice Diez Office in partnership with climate farming experts OMC°C.
As you can tell, I’m having real problems selecting favourites when there is so much going on. I think the main challenge will be seeing everything!!
EVENTS
Chosen by Collate
ARAM
Product Launch / Presentation
Flokk
Exhibition / Installation
Dagmar
Open Studio / Showroom
William Morris Design Line
Tour / Design Trail
Blackhorse Lane Ateliers
Tour / Design Trail
Bill Amberg Studio
Exhibition / Installation
Material Matters
Exhibition / Installation
The Conran Shop
Exhibition / Installation
Kettal
Exhibition / Installation
Cassina UK
Tour / Design Trail
Pentagram
Exhibition / Installation
Relay Design Projects
Exhibition / Installation
Material Matters
Trade/Consumer Fair
Proof of Concept
Exhibition / Installation
The Hoxton
Shop / Market
MillerKnoll
Open Studio / Showroom
Proof of Concept
Exhibition / Installation
