Creativity, innovation and design's power to (re)shape the world are tenets that define the 22nd edition of the London Design Festival. From September 14 - 22, 2024, London will morph into the nerve-centre for all things new and next in the sphere of design, reaffirming the city’s stature as a design nucleus of the world. Building on its foundational mission of platforming creative excellence and collaboration, and catalysing dialogues and a cross-pollination of ideas, the premier design event’s upcoming iteration aspires to instigate perspectives and thought realms geared towards our most current challenges. "The 2024 Festival promises to be another strong year. The lineup is set to offer fresh perspectives and innovative ideas that will captivate and inspire our audiences," says Ben Evans, London Design Festival Director.

A troupe of leading designers, architects and brands are set to come together in the capital city of the United Kingdom, addressing the myriad challenges faced by society through design; sustainability, inclusivity, experimentation, cutting-edge technologies such as AI, and a series of global trends continue to be at the heart of the design festival. Major installation and museum exhibits will adorn the city; London's Design Districts—both renowned and emerging—will bring forth creative clusters across the boroughs of design fair. Material Matters will return to take over the iconic Bargehouse at the Oxo Tower Wharf, and the Global Design Forum will amplify critical discourses between creative pioneers. As the extensive lineup prepares to unfold and take over the city, STIR enlists the best of London Design Festival 2024 - events, installations, exhibitions and workshops that demand a visit.

YUÁN: How long have we known home?

Date and time: September 20 - 22, 2024, 11:00-18:00
Type of event: Exhibition / Installation
Cost: Free
Location: Mayfair Design District
Organiser: It’s a local collective x Semin Hong

Yuán 園 noun
1. an area of land for growing plants
2. a place for public recreation

This immersive exhibition and community programme by It’s a local collective x Semin Hong explores what it means to find ‘home.’ Titled YUÁN: How long have we known home?, the exhibition is a partnership between local and immigrant artists, delving into the idea of origins, the present sense of self, and being. The exhibition space will transform into a sweeping landscape that takes cues from East Asian gardens - spaces for splendour as well as deep thought. YUÁN's garden will feature various forms of art culminating from diverse perspectives, yet, all works are tied together in their exploration of identity and a sense of belonging - inviting visitors to encounter their own perception of home.

तुला tula by blurck x Dasein Lab

Date and time: September 14 - 22, 2024, 9:00-18:30
Type of event: Product launch / presentation
Cost: Free
Location: Dalston to Stokey Design District
Organiser: blurck and Dasein Lab

Architecture, design and research agency blurck teams up with multidisciplinary design studio Dasein Lab to launch their first line of chair designs. Dubbed Tula, a Sanskrit word meaning ‘equilibrium’ or ‘balance,’ the furniture designs abide by the principles of ethical sourcing and circular economies. Reclaimed scaffolding planks acquired from London intersect with locally salvaged stone in Delhi to create screwless and flat-pack furniture. The collection, soon to be showcased at the London Design Festival, pushes the limitations of materials, restoring them with minimal intervention.

SPECTRUM by 2LG Studio x Hart Shoreditch

Date and time: September 14 - 22, 2024, 10:00-22:30
Type of event: Exhibition / installation
Cost: Free
Location: Shoreditch Design Triangle
Organiser: Hart Shoreditch

The Hotel Hart Shoreditch and London-based interior design practice 2LG Studio will partake in the design festival with SPECTRUM, an exploration of colour using the hotel’s spaces. The characteristic play of colours anchors the studio’s oeuvre. On the occasion of their 10th anniversary, the imaginative sensory experience will dive into human connections to colour - what they evoke and inspire. In the Shoreditch Design Triangle, the immersive installation will feature collaborators such as composer Quentin LaChapele, digital artist Lucy Hardcastle and 3D printing pioneers, Sheyn.

Material Matters 2024

Date and time: September 18 - 21, 2024, 10:00-18:00
Type of event: Trade / Consumer Fair
Cost: Paid
Location: Bankside Design District
Organiser: Material Matters

Returning to the iconic Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf on London’s Southbank for its new edition, Material Matters will include five floors of product designs, site-specific installations, curated exhibits and an elaborate talks programme. Over 50 seminal brands, designers, manufacturers and organisations will come together at the fair to celebrate the sheer potential of materials, looking into the many ways in which the design industry can align with the fundamentals of a circular economy through material intelligence.

‘Board of Dinner’ XAI for Empathy project

Date and time: September 17 - 20, 2024, 11:00-21:00, and September 21-22, 2024, 10:00-21:00
Type of event: Exhibition / installation
Cost: Free
Location: Bankside Design District
Organiser: Deep Food X Joseph Wan

What role can Explainable AI (XAI) play in an empathetic future? XAI for Empathy project reimagines AI, often deemed opaque, as an empathetic force. Creative collective Deep Food and Joseph Wan (MA student in Data-Driven Design at the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht), is set to present Board of Dinner, an interactive installation featuring a ‘multiple agent AI’-powered Menu/Recipe Generator. The XAI is developed to be customisable and transparent in its thinking process. During the experience, the visitor will elect a board member, witness a transparent 'board meeting' process, get inspiration for their next meal, and understand the choice of human values through the lens of AI.

Greenwich Peninsula Art Trail

Date and time: September 14 - 22, 2024, open 24 hours
Type of event: Tour / design trail
Cost: Free
Location: Greenwich Peninsula
Organiser: Greenwich Peninsula

The Greenwich Peninsula Art Trail will encompass 19 striking installations from established artists such as Damien Hirst, Morag Myerscough, Allen Jones and Ian Davenport, together with emerging creatives such as Marwan Kaabour, Studio Morison and Kitty Joseph. The experience will begin at the NOW Gallery, where one can receive a physical map that guides visitors through each artwork and allows them to appreciate their diversity. The trail ushers people down to the river, where a piece by Kitty Joseph awaits alongside other creations by Damien Hirst and Quantum Cloud by Antony Gormley.

Craft x Tech at the V&A

Date and time: September 14 - 22, 2024, 10:00-17:30
Type of event: Exhibition/ installation
Cost: Free
Location: Brompton Design District
Organiser: V&A Project

Craft x Tech, an initiative aiming to interweave traditional Japanese craft and contemporary technology, is led by design studio Tangent and the Craft x Tech Tohoku Association, with Maria Cristina Didero  as the curatorial director. The inaugural edition will stage a unique repository of artworks that speak of history in tandem with the future of materials and techniques. The participating craftspeople hail from the six territories of the Tohoku (north-east) region of Japan: Tsugaru-Nuri lacquerware (from Aomori prefecture), Kawatsura-Shikki lacquerware (from Akita prefecture), Nambu-Tekki ironware (from Iwate prefecture), Sendai-Tansu cabinet making (from Miyagi prefecture), Oitama-Tsumugi textile (from Yamagata prefecture) and Aizu-Hongo-Yaki pottery (from Fukushima prefecture). Several designers such as Sabine Marcelis, Azusa Murakami and Alexander Groves (Studio SWINE), and Michael Young will collaborate with the master craftspeople.

Juicy Booth

Date and time: September 14 - 22, 2024, 11:00-20:00
Type of event: Exhibition/ installation
Cost: Free
Location: Coal Drops Yard, mezzanine level (opposite COS), Stable St
Organiser: Annie Frost Nicholson

This sensory booth by Annie Frost Nicholson and The Loss Project in collaboration with K67 Berlin allows one to tackle and release the nuanced and layered emotion of shame. Juicy Booth is a safe space to type in a confession and shed the associated shame or guilt, thus embracing vulnerability. The lighting design is realised by Norman Wassmuth, sound design by Kaan Bulak and the interior design by About Space Berlin. The system assesses the users’ emotions with coordinates corresponding to a colour spectrum. The soundscape and sensory lighting take them on a journey of catharsis, following which visitors can scan the range of support materials curated by The Loss Project.

Housewarming: Museum Late

Date and time: September 17, 2024, 18:00-21:00
Type of event: Museum Late
Cost: Free
Location: Shoreditch Design Triangle
Organiser: Museum of the Home

At the London Design Festival 2024, the Museum of the Home will launch a new season of Museum Lates with the celebration of stories and histories in their new gallery, Rooms Through Time: 1878-2049. The event will include a stirring lineup of discourses, tours, music and workshops, all exploring the seven new Rooms Through Time: A Terraced House in 1878, A Tenement Flat in 1913, A Bedroom Upstairs in 1956, A Terraced House in 1978, A High Rise Flat in 2005, A Terraced House in 2024 and A Converted Flat in 2049: The Innovo Room of the Future. Visitors can meander through two centuries of design evolution, changing trends and evolving perspectives - from Victorian floral motifs to speculative design in 2049.

BLOND LABORATORY

Date and time: September 16, 2024, 10:00-17:30, September 17 - 21, 2024, 10:00-18:00, September 22, 2024, 10:00-14:00
Type of event: Exhibition / installation
Cost: Free
Location: Shoreditch Design Triangle
Organiser: BLOND

Following its debut in Milan earlier this year, BLOND LABORATORY, a touring exhibition by industrial design studio BLOND is set to make an appearance in London. For the design exhibition, seven global designers respond to the BLOND ARTEFACTS initiative, a collection of found everyday objects. Hirotaka Tako (Sony), John Tree (John Tree), Jon Marshall (Pentagram), Form Us With Love, Julie Richoz (Julie Richoz Studio), Maddalena Casadei (Maddalena Casadei Studio), and James Melia (BLOND) contribute designs to the show, taking inspiration from objects no longer in production.

Design District: Your Route to Creativity

Date and time: September 18, 2024, 9:00-18:00
Type of event: Workshop / demo
Cost: Paid
Location: Greenwich Peninsula
Organiser: Greenwich Peninsula

Design District, London's hub for the creative industries, will welcome the audience for a day of workshops and open studios. The event will lay bare the inner workings of the 150,000 square feet site and offer an opportunity to tour through the 14 architecturally unique buildings and creative companies perched within - through the 'route to creativity'. In the curated event, visitors can endeavour into a variety of creative experiences ranging from ceramic, floral, and design workshops to specialist food and beverage options at the Bureau and Canteen. 

Pavilions of Wonder by Nina Tolstrup of Studiomama

Date and time: September 14 -22, 2024, open 24 hours
Type of event: Exhibition / installation
Cost: Free
Location: Strand Aldwych
Organiser: Mattel, Inc.’s Barbie® and Visit Greater Palm Springs

Pavilions of Wonder by Nina Tolstrup of Studiomama is a landmark project to be presented by Mattel, Inc.’s Barbie® and Visit Greater Palm Springs. The groundbreaking installation on the Strand Aldwych will showcase a fusion of vibrance of the Barbie DreamHouse and Greater Palm Springs' iconic mid-century modernism through three interactive pavilions. While Barbie celebrates its 65^th anniversary this year, the Greater Palm Springs enjoys a rich design and pop culture legacy. Amidst lush gardens and kaleidoscopic effects, each pavilion will morph into an immersive experience celebrating the longstanding design icons.

In its 22nd edition, the London Design Festival—including its 11 design districts, partners and the design fair Material Matters—stirs the city with a dynamic programme of installations, exhibitions, workshops, talks and more. Follow STIR at London Design Festival 2024, as we continue to bring the best of the festival's offerings along with our own initiatives across the city, including our partners Shoreditch Design Triangle, Mayfair, the Global Design Forum, and more across Brompton, Battersea, Chelsea, Dalston to Stokey and Bankside.