London Design Festival 2026

Details

London Design Festival announced its 24th edition, taking place from 12–20 September 2026. The event is a defining moment for UK design and a cornerstone of the global cultural calendar. Across the city, the event will showcase Landmark Installations, Special Projects, the Global Design Forum, the London Design Medals, Fairs and a Partner Programme across eleven Design Districts.

London Design Festival continues to champion both emerging and established talent, fostering collaboration and innovation across the international design community. London Design Festival 2026 is defined by a strong convergence of global exchange, craft revival and future-facing technologies, with many projects exploring how cultural heritage, material innovation and digital thinking can coexist.

Across installations and exhibitions—from The Pangolin Shield’s reflection on colonial legacies and movement to cross-cultural craft projects spanning China, Japan and the UK, amongst others, and immersive visions of AI-driven and technologically mediated futures—a key theme is the recontextualisation of tradition within contemporary global narratives.

This year places an emphasis on dialogue—between East and West, past and future, human and non-human, physical and digital. This dialogue often foregrounds sustainability, circularity and reflection, positioning London not just as a showcase of design innovation but as a platform for critical global conversations.

2 Landmark Projects
The Point of Unity and Soul by Mykola Kabluka
Presented within the historic setting of St Paul’s, the audiovisual installation, "Soul", and immersive light sculpture, "The Point of Unity", bring contemporary light and media art into dialogue with the Cathedral’s longstanding role as a place of worship, gathering and reflection.
The Pangolin Shield by Studio Saar and Atelier One, supported by Secure
The pavilion, at the heart of the city, encourages visitors to reflect on and examine the relationship between context, innovation and craft. The installation is inspired by the pangolin, the world's most trafficked mammal, whose scales cover their bodies from head to tail.

5 Special Projects
MADE x Barbican
Reviving Craft: Reflection of the Mind, by Sun Media Group
Craft x Tech: Tokai Project
L-Acoustics at the Wapping Hydraulic Power Station
The Speaking Oasis at The Lavery

Institution collaboration:
V&A x LDF26: AWAKENINGS

Global Design Forum
The Global Design Forum will take place from 12-14 September and returns to the V&A South Kensington's Lydia and Manfred Gorvy Lecture Theatre. The forum is guest-curated by Rhiarna Dhaliwal and supported by Programme Partners Bowmore and Sun Media Group, and Session Partners Ithra and L-Acoustics.
The theme of this year’s edition is Worlds in Motion. Across three days, the programme will bring together speakers from a range of disciplines and geographies to discuss new practices and forms of design, those that will inform our way of living – looking at how design is a catalyst for global change.
Highlights include talks from Es Devlin CBE, Liam Young and Natalie Melton. The curated talks programming is free to attend. Book your free tickets now!

Design Districts
London Design Festival will take place across 11 Design Districts that highlight creative clusters spanning London. This year’s edition sees the reveal of a new district in the heart of the city and the evolution of the Shoreditch design offerings.
The eleven districts for the 2026 Festival are: Bankside, Brompton, Chelsea, Dalston to Stokey, EC1, Fleet Street Quarter, Mayfair, Park Royal, Shoreditch Design Week, Blackhorse Creates (formerly known as William Morris Design Line), and the new edition of a Soho district.

London Design Medals
The annual London Design Medals will recognise the contribution made by leading design figures and emerging talent to London and the industry, with four London Design Medals awarded each year: The London Design Medal, Lifetime Achievement Medal, Emerging Design Medal and the Design Innovation Medal.
The winners will be revealed in early September and the medals will be awarded at the Medal Dinner on 14 September.