Everything you need to see at London Design Festival 2025
Between 13-21 September, the capital comes alive with creativity and experimentation, as exhibitions, installations, talks and workshops take over its streets and fill its venues. If you want to know where British design is headed next, read on…
Few design fairs hold the cultural cachet of London Design Festival. Every year, without fail since 2003, when the leaves begin to fall and the evenings begin to draw in, the festival brings together designers, manufacturers and makers, creating a programme as diverse as the city itself. More than 300 events will be spread across ten design districts, each with its own character that reflects the surrounding landscape and community. Together, they create what London Design Festival director Ben Evans calls ‘London’s unparalleled creative energy’. Read on to discover our pick of the best immersive experiences of the week, londondesignfestival.com
‘What Nelson Sees’ by Paul Cocksedge
The festival’s Landmark Projects programme returns, with Paul Cocksedge creating a major installation in Trafalgar Square. The sculpture – a series of intersecting metal tubes – was made in collaboration with Google Arts and Culture. Look through a tube and – thanks to Google’s AI filmmaking tools – you’ll get an unprecedented view of the city from Nelson’s perspective on top of his column. The film will take viewers back in time, showing how London has evolved, before fast-forwarding to the present and into a speculative future. Cocksedge says, ‘I hope this sparks conversation on how cutting-edge technology will shape culture, design and society as our city evolves,’ paulcocksedgestudio.com
Brompton Cemetery Chapel
Responding to the theme ‘A Softer World’ curated by Alex Tieghi-Walker, Brompton Design District’s programme is a celebration of design that feels, connects and softens the world around us. Expect collection launches and events from international design brands such as Cassina and Molteni&C, plus the use of new spaces in the neighbourhood like Brompton Cemetery Chapel. Here, Sonnie Carlebach and Ushara Dilrukshan will bring together twelve performers and artists to produce a piece titled Landscape, Silence, and Night for LDF combining sound, movement and visual work. The public will be able to watch rehearsals before a final performance at the end of the week within the walls of the Grade II listed chapel, brompton-cemetery.org.uk
‘The Listening Room’ by Slowe Living
Need a break from the sensory overload of the festival? Step into The Listening Room, a serene, sound-focused pop-up showroom by Slowe Living, which is an antidote to the fast pace of the festival. Created in collaboration with high-end audio brand KEF, this immersive space offers a chance to slow down and explore Slowe’s latest furniture pieces. Energetic floral interventions are from ikebana artist Junko Popham, drinks are by Two Tribes Brewery, and there will be a rolling programme of guest DJs and design talks (including a conversation with USM Haller), sloweliving.com
‘The Car Boot Sale’ by Slancha and Formd
Slancha and design platform Formd put a contemporary twist on a British weekend staple with The Car Boot Sale, a group exhibition that reimagines the familiar flea market as a stage for emerging design. Opening mid-festival on 16 September at 228 Brick Lane, the show gathers work by sixteen up-and-coming UK designers, each invited to rethink the idea of a car boot sale through material reuse, slancha.com
‘Beacon’ by Lee Broom
Lee Broom’s monumental sculptural lighting creation sits between the postmodern majesty of the Royal Festival Hall and the Thames. The piece takes its name from the 1951 Festival of Britain, heralded at the time as a ‘beacon of change.’ Broom says, ‘I hope the installation evokes a sense of spectacle, but also stirs something deeper: an emotional connection to the power of light, and to the spirit of the Southbank itself.’ Composed of black lamposts, each crowned with a shade made from recycled glass at Brokis’ factory in the Czech Republic, the installation is a modern take on the Victorian Dolphin Street Lamps designed by George John Vulliamy in 1870. As Big Ben strikes, the shades will come to life in an illuminated display, leebroom.com
‘Mirroring Dialogue’ by Tione Trice and Ronan Mckenzie
Curator Tione Trice (Solange Knowles is a client) and fashion designer/ gallerist Ronan McKenzie bring together an eclectic group for this exhibition at The Lavery. Featuring sculptural woodwork by Darren Appiagyei (pictured) and the dynamic visual language of Myles Igwe, alongside textiles and objects from a wider community of artists, the show is a space of collective reflection and connection, bromptondesigndistrict.com
Shoreditch Town Hall
The grand building on Old Street is once again home to a series of installations, including 2LG’s third iteration of their ‘You can sit with us’ project – The Green Carnation. This year they’re presenting an underground salon-style set-up that is a celebration of queer design talent across disciplines. The Royal College of Art also has a presence, with the Design Products cohort of 2025 presenting ‘Slow Moments’ – an exhibition of work by 21 graduating designers that explores the quiet power of material and the pleasures found in slowness and engaging with a well-made, intentional object, shoreditchdesigntriangle.com
‘Unbound: A Salvino Marsura retrospective’ by Béton Brut’
To mark its 10th anniversary, East London design gallery Béton Brut hosts Unbound, the first major retrospective of late Italian iron artist Salvino Marsura. Spanning over six decades of work, the exhibition delves into Marsura’s forged metal forms that blur the boundaries between furniture, sculpture and myth. Expect gnarled tendrils, rootlike protrusions and stalactite silhouettes set against motifs of shackles, chains and barriers, betonbrut.co.uk
Kagoshima: Stories in Craft from South Japan
Hosted by the Japanese design store wagumi, this exhibition returns for the third time to the Oxo Tower Wharf to showcase traditional and contemporary crafts from Japan’s southernmost prefecture, Kagoshima. This year the work of 22 makers is on display, including handmade ceramics, woodcraft and glass that tell stories of Kagoshima’s distinct cultural identity, local landscapes and historical narratives. There’s a special focus on woodworker Shintaro Oku (KOPPA) whose zero-waste approach has earned him recognition across Japan’s contemporary craft scene. He will be leading live wood-carving demonstrations and workshops, wagumi-j.com
‘Supper in the Studio’ by Pinch
After a six-year absence from LDF, British design company Pinch returns with a characteristically refined offering. Taking over the private dining room of The Lavery, a Grade II-listed Georgian townhouse in South Kensington, Pinch will present ‘Supper in the Studio’, a minimalist dining scene full of Pinch treasures. Alongside new products, expect to see items that offer an insight into the brand’s production process including handmade moquettes, tactile samples, found curiosities and design oddities, pinchdesign.com
Material Matters
Now in its fourth edition, the fair has moved to a new venue – the brutalist Space House – where it will bring together designers, makers and manufacturers to explore how materials shape the world around us. As always, there’s plenty of food for thought. We’d suggest making a beeline for crafting plastics (pictured) to discover its 3D-printed colour-shifting stools and Mycoworks to see its mycelium made pieces, materialmatters.design
‘The Phoenician Object’ exhibition
OLIVIAKL is a multidisciplinary practice by architect Olivia Akl that works at the intersection of architecture, art and design. This year, the rising star will be exhibiting recent works from her furniture collection: ‘The Phoenician Object’ at Shoreditch Design Triangle. The collection explores themes of cultural identity through narratives found in architecture, art and everyday rituals, with each object uncovering feminine motifs within traditional East Mediterranean forms, oliviakl.com
Bisazza’s flagship store reopens
The Italian luxury design brand marks its return to London by reopening its flagship showroom at 60 Sloane Avenue in the heart of the Brompton Design District. Designed by architect Carlo Dal Bianco, the new space pays homage to a traditional English colour scheme with vibrant greens and rich purple tones, while columns decorated with gold mosaic tiles, crystal chandeliers and mirrors quite literally reflect Bisazza's refined yet luxurious aesthetic. The showroom showcases the full breadth of the brand’s collections, including the latest ‘Marble’, ‘Marmomosaico’ and ‘Supermarmo’ lines, bisazza.com
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