The Dezeen team reports on the 21st edition of the London Design Festival in the British capital (September 16-24). Read on for all the coverage as of Monday, September 18.
5:00 pm The soap hands, in collaboration with cosmetics brand Walde Seifen, are part of Ryo Kobayashi’s exhibition Manus Manum Lavat at the Brompton Design District.
For his first solo exhibition, Ryo Kobayashi worked with a variety of artists and designers to create a “joyful living space” in one of the galleries of a Grade II listed Victorian townhouse on Cromwell Place.
The display also included colorful geometric speakers manufactured in collaboration with Austrian speaker manufacturer Wiener Lautsprecher Manufaktur – Amy Peacock
Find out more details about Manus Manum Lavat in Dezeen’s events guide ›
4:00 pm Time Is Running Out is the name and message of this exhibition at One Hundred Shoreditch, showcasing 24 different plastic-free watches made in collaboration with emerging designers.
In the global climate crisis, we need innovators more than ever
The watches have been designed to remind us of the urgent need to limit global warming to the crucial 1.5 degree threshold set out in the Paris Agreement, while showcasing the fossil-free materials that can help us achieve this.
Made from wood fibers and a range of different biomaterials from seaweed to hemp paper, each watch has been given a different face by a roster of up-and-coming designers.
The organizations Plastic Free and OMSE said, “The next six years are all we have to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.”
They added: “Time is running out. Now, in light of the global climate crisis, we need innovators more than ever.” Jennifer Hahn
Read the full story ›
3 o’clock Event Guide Editor Sophie Chapman reports from the Mycelium Unearthed exhibition in Hoxton, by UK-based Osmose Studio.
The exhibition displays design items, furniture and accessories made from mushroom mycelium and other organic materials, including benches, lampshades and bowls.
The studio encouraged visitors to touch the designs on display, highlighting the unique textures created when using the mycelium.
In addition to the exhibition, the studio holds workshops that enable visitors to create their own mycelium objects.
Find out more details about the Mycelium discovery in Dezeen’s events guide ›
02:00 For its exhibition The Farm Shop, Fels Gallery collaborated with Grymsdyke Farm, a research facility and experimental manufacturing workshop located in the countryside near London.
They invited 18 designers to participate in a residency there over the summer and use the site’s tools and materials to create furniture or household items.
Objects include a bench made by Marco Campardo from a fallen walnut tree and linen aprons by Nathalie Bagnaud dyed with plants from the farm and covered with beeswax from local beehives – Rima Sabina Aouf
Find out more details about The Farm Shop in Dezeen’s events guide ›
1:00 pm British designer Tom Dixon took Dezeen deputy editor Cajsa Carlson on a guided tour this morning around his Hypermobile exhibition at the London Design Festival.
Collectives are much more interesting than trying to defend your brand
The brand has invited a number of other design brands to its Coal Drops Yard space in North London for a collaborative exhibition.
“My view is that the pandemic has taught us that working together is more interesting than trying to defend your brand,” Dixon told Dezeen. He said the branding also aims to attract visitors to the King’s Cross area.
“Previously, Argent, the real estate developer here, was sponsoring a center and they decided not to do that this year,” Dixon said.
“So we and the LDF decided that it would be a shame to lose this status to the LDF centers and we just spoke to our friends and asked them if they wouldn’t do more, which really allowed us to maintain this status of Kings Cross importance through the LDF.”
Among the brands on display across eleven arches and spaces in the Coal Drops office are Zaha Hadid, Teenage Engineering and Cozmo, as well as AI designer Tilly, who has created five products for the Hypermobile exhibition.
Dixon also unveiled a new permanent broadcast studio as part of the tour, which his label will use to create recorded content in the future using new microphones designed by Teenage Engineering – Kajsa Carlsson
Find out more details about the Hypermobile in Dezeen’s events guide ›
12:00 pm Following the preview from Friday’s press tour, Dezeen’s design editor Jennifer Hahn has written a full report on Andu Masebo’s work – which is on display at the V&A.
Read the full story ›
11:30 am Dezeen junior correspondent Amy Peacock visited an exhibition of graduates of the Royal College of Art’s Design Products program.
The exhibition is divided between two dedicated spaces in Cromwell Place, part of the Brompton Design District, and includes an exhibition of objects and a workshop for transparent processes.
The students invited visitors to compose their own music for the event using interactive instruments. Veronika Politović, also a violinist, creates “playable sculptures” made of black-stained pine and brass strings.
Song Jun Yoo displayed a series of music boxes, including a voice recorder and cymbals that visitors can play with to “experience their auditory senses.”
Find out more details about the Back of House exhibition at Cromwell Place in Dezeen’s events guide ›
11:00 am British design studio Zaha Hadid has unveiled the Nth Display System, a prototype of a modular furniture system that was inspired by natural forms created by erosion, at the London Design Festival.
The studio designed two prototypes of the modular structure, which has an undulating shape based on geological phenomena such as erosion and layering – Kajsa Carlsson
Read the full story ›
10:00 AM To mark the tercentenary of Christopher Wren’s death, LDF has captured the architects’ most significant building – London’s iconic St Paul’s Cathedral – with a light installation by Spanish artist Pablo Valbuena.
Unveiled with a special organ performance on Friday night, Aura consists of a 20-metre-long ribbon of light, suspended from the center of the dome and pulsating to reflect sounds reverberating throughout the space in real time.
“Everything seems very simple,” Valbuena told the gathered reporters. “I promise it’s not that simple.”
This is only the second time LDF has held in St. Paul during the festival’s 21-year history, according to festival founder Ben Evans.
Previously, designer John Pawson installed the largest lens ever made by crystal brand Swarovski in the building’s southwest tower for LDF 2011.
John Pawson’s views of St Paul’s Cathedral ›
“We are very fortunate to be back here, in what I believe is the most important and beautiful building in London,” Evans said. Jennifer Hahn
09:00 Dezeen editor Tom Ravenscroft and design editor Jennifer Hahn report on the preview day for the 21st edition of the London Design Festival on Friday 15 September.
Dezeen Events has created a guide to London Design Festival 2023, highlighting key events at the festival this year.
Designer shows and installations, brand launches, talks and panel discussions take place across the city.
After years of exploring the merging of biotechnology with design, Natsay Audrey Chiesa and Christina Agapakis have launched what they describe as “the first biodesign lifestyle brand.”
The brand, titled Natural Phenomena of Life (NPOL), will take the form of an online platform to sell items manufactured with the help of bacteria, algae, fungi, yeast, animal cells and other biological agents.
Tune in today for more from Tom Dixon, Ando Masebo and Zaha Hadid.
Follow Dezeen live: London Design Festival to keep up with all the latest and, tTo keep you up to date, Dezeen Events Guide has created a guide to London Design Festival 2023, highlighting key events at the festival.
Read about everything that happened on opening day (Friday, September 15) ›
Dezeen Events has created a guide to London Design Festival 2023, highlighting key events at the festival. Check out Dezeen’s events guide for the latest information you need to know to attend the event, plus a list of other architecture and design events taking place around the world.
All times are London time.
Main image by Jennifer Hahn.