ArtLyst gives their top ten lowdown on what’s hot at this years festival
The London Design Festival launches tomorrow (17 September -25 September ) with over 300 great design events to engage with all over the capital. The Festival is both a cultural and a commercial event. The programme ranges from major international exhibitions to trade events, installations to talks and seminars, from product launches to receptions, private views and parties. The majority of events are free of charge – enabling visitors to participate, listen, learn, commission and make purchases. The Festival is funded through a combination of public and private sources. The Mayor Of London’s office provides grant funding for the Festival; Arts Council England have been long term supporters of the Festival. Private funding (approx 60%) is raised through sponsorship of Festival projects alongside a small range of London Design Festival products and services delivered throughout the year.
1) Size + Matter:
A scultpural installation by David Chipperfield Architects that exploits the unique qualities of glass made panels made using Sefar’s metallic interlayer whose opacity and reflectivity appears to alter depending on the position of the viewer. Southbank Centre
2) Industrial Revolution 2.0:
Murray Moss V&A The exhibition is a collaboration with Belgian industry pioneers Materialise, who use cutting-edge laser and digital technologies applied to what is known as ‘additive manufacturing’ to ‘print’ three-dimensional objects.
3) V&A and Me:
Designer Maps by Johnson Banks
If you are unfamiliar with the museum, this one is for you. Five well-known creative individuals Annie Lennox, Lulu Guinness, Tom Dixon, A.S Byatt and Judi Dench has handpicked their favourite areas of the V&A which the Johnson Banks Studio have turned into exclusive ‘tour maps’. Follow in their footsteps for a special, personal tour through the V&A.
4) Tent London
22 – 25 September Truman Brewery Tent London is one of the largest design trade shows taking place during the London Design Festival each September. Now in its fifth year at the Old Truman Brewery, Tent London presents over 200 international exhibitors, showing the very latest in contemporary interior products – furniture, lighting, ceramics, textiles, materials and accessories.
5). 100% Design at Earls Court
Finally here is an event with the air of a ‘proper’ design festival in the style of Milan. Housed in Earls Court, the trade show 100% Design will show off the latest wares by 400 leading designers and manufacturers. Highlights include the launch of Sir Terence Conran’s Bibendum light and David Chipperfield’s Piana folding chair for KI. For the first time, Vitra, Knoll and Established & Sons will be present. (22-25 Sept).
6) The ‘Funnel Sculpture’
in the foyer of Ramboll’s London office illustrates some of the new possibilities in engineering design created by advances in computational intelligence. It has been designed for beauty, buildability and efficiency of structural performance and forms part of the Evolutionary Design Exhibition hosted by NLA at The Building Centre.
7) Treasure trove
26 of the UK’s most innovative and internationally renowned contemporary designer-makers producing fashion, art, furniture, textiles, jewellery and ceramics.
8) Google Design Lectures
Design as Performance at the V&A The first ever LDF Google Design Lectures are bound to provoke. Four teams will be given challenging briefs and told to develop new processes and products in public view. The teams will develop ideas on stage, call on audience participation and ask expert advice. Charlotte Jarvis and J.Paul Neeley will present Nudge Nudge, a discussion of whether design changes how we behave. (17, 23, 24 Sept)
9). Lego Greenhouse
in Covent Garden
Award-winning Brit designer Sebastian Bergne must have had fun playing with the iconic bricks. Specifically commissioned by Lego for LDF, Bergne created a fully functioning greenhouse in the North East Piazza of Covent Garden. In memory of the former fruit and veg market, the greenhouse contains real, rather than Lego, plants and vegetables. By night, it is lit from within. (15-25 Sept)
10) Tom Dixon:
Multiplex at the Dock 19 September – 25 September 10am – 6pm, Mon – Sat; 10am – 8pm, Thurs; 10am – 4pm, Sun A creative hub for design encompassing a series of working environments across the entire Portobello Dock site.