London Design Biennale 2025

Details

London Design Biennale's fifth edition, ‘Surface Reflections’, will take place this year from 5 to 29 June 2025 at Somerset House, London. The Biennale international exhibition champions the importance of design in contemporary life and culture, inviting exchange and collaboration from leading institutions and figures across the world. It inspires visitors through a journey of world-leading design, innovation, and creativity. The global gathering brings together the public with curated international pavilions and special projects accompanied by a programme of events, thought-leadership talks, performances and workshops – showcasing today’s designers and ideas that will change our world.

This year’s Artistic Director, Dr Samuel Ross MBE, founder of A-COLD-WALL* and SR_A, has set the theme of ’Surface Reflections’, which invites participants, through the medium of design, to explore how expressions of who we are are shaped.

Alongside the pavilions and special projects, Eureka, an initiative that spotlights the ground-breaking creative thinking from university research departments, will return to London Design Biennale this year, bringing a selection of interdisciplinary projects demonstrating the breadth and role of design and innovation in creating better futures.

The 2025 edition launches with a new visual identity by world-renowned design studio Pentagram. Using ‘Surface Reflections’ as a starting point, the design team based the identity on the concept of celebrating these hues of human experience. The clean lines and sculptural forms of the bold and colourful geometric design evolve to evoke architectural forms and jewel-like lustre, creating a sense of place and symbolizing how shared global experiences can create a societal moment of unity.

The fifth edition continues the Biennale’s mission to demonstrate how design can better the world we inhabit whilst broadening our understanding of design’s role in addressing challenges and identifying solutions. Exhibitors will share perspectives and solutions to some of the global issues that face humanity today, exploring areas from the urban environment to preservation of cultural heritage, environmental sustainability to post-conflict recovery.

The first exhibitors announced are: Argentina, Hong Kong, Poland, Malta, Nigeria, Oman, Peru, Japan, a pavilion from Uzbekistan, Lebanon and Romania. A number of independent projects have also been announced: Rachel Botsman will unveil ‘Roots of Trust’, Melek Zeynep Bulut will present ‘The Recursion Project’, Eco-Vision Plan will share a film ‘Rainforest Succession – Lamiam’, Oparanze Congress will showcase ‘The Forever Now’ and World Monuments Fund Britain and English Heritage will present ‘Coastal Connections’. The first Eureka projects to be announced include a collaboration between Northumbria University and UCL as well as presentations from King’s College London and VCUarts Qatar.
World Monuments Fund and English Heritage present a collaboration about conserving coastal heritage, sharing knowledge and solutions across borders to address the common challenges of managing treasured places in dynamic environments.

Projects
Argentina – Sur Andina
Eco-Vision Plan – Rainforest Succession – Lamiam
Hong Kong – Human-Centred Design: Visuospace
Japan – Paper Clouds: Materiality in Empty Space
Melek Zeynep Bulut – The Recursion Project
Malta – URNA
Nigeria – Hopes and Impediments
Oman – Memory Grid
Oparanze Congress – The Forever Now
Poland – Records of Waiting
Romania – Inner Reflections, Outer Worlds
And more

Global Design Forum
As part of the London Design Biennale programme this year, the Global Design Forum hosts a series of talks and panel discussions under the title ‘Design and the Invisible’. The programme will feature a multidisciplinary community of creative practitioners and thinkers who will shine a light on the hidden global forces shaping design and the world, exploring how they can be challenged through design, creativity and collaboration.