Tuesday from London Design Festival 2024


The Dezeen team is reporting live from London Design Festival, which takes place 14-22 September. Read on for all the coverage from Tuesday 17 September.


 

6:30pm – a night out in Shoreditch

We’re rounding things off today with the District Late in Shoreditch, where Dezeen is hosting a launch party for our Design You Can Feel exhibition in collaboration with ASUS.

Installation by Giles Miller
Design You Can Feel includes works by Giles Miller

Works on show include an agave-fibre stool by Fernando Laposse, a dramatic hanging installation by Giles Miller, biomaterial textiles from Natural Material Studio and furniture made from skyscraper formwork by Niceworkshop.

Niceworkshop  furniture
Niceworkshop has created furniture from formwork

If you run, you might just make it on time to see the end of the panel talk, in which Dezeen’s editorial director Max Fraser is discussing design for tactility together with ASUS’s chief design officer Mitch Yang and the team from Future Facility, who have created a custom piece for the exhibition.

Talk at Protein Studios
Dezeen’s Max Fraser is hosting a talk about the exhibition

We also recommend stopping by at the SCP showroom a few blocks away, where design agency Mitre & Mondays has parked up its Cafe Tolerance van for the night.

It’s the first stop for the travelling cafe, which will pop up at different locations throughout London including Granary Square in King’s Cross and the Material Matters site at Oxo Tower Wharf.

Cafe Tolerance by Mitre & Mondays
Cafe Tolerance is parked up outside the SCP showroom for the night

 

6:00pm – standard pavilion

Rio Kobayashi has collaborated with engineering firm Webb Yates on the designer’s first-ever pavilion and his largest project to date.

As the name suggests, Off The Shelf is made almost entirely using off-the-shelf materials including standard-sized planks of Douglas fir, sheets of polycarbonate and PVC that will be returned to the manufacturers or reused after the installation comes to a close.

Rio Kobayashi
Rio Kobayashi has created a pavilion for LDF. Photo by Jennifer Hahn

Instead of screws or joints that would alter the raw materials, everything is held together using an elaborate post-tensioning system like you might find on a bridge, allowing the pavilion to be easily disassembled.

As well as providing the structure, the Douglas fir planks form shelves on the inside of the pavilion, allowing friends of Kobayashi’s – including artist and plant biologist Cynthia Fan and Dezeen Award-winner Liang-Jung Chen – to display different projects and host event throughout the week

Pavilion at LDF
It was made from standard components. Photo by Jennifer Hahn

The shelves also hold small boulders of Portland stone – held in place using hemp rope and sailing knots – that act as both ballast and decoration.

“I love it when everything is structural,” said Webb Yates co-founder Steve Webb. “I really fucking hate it when something is like a steel frame decorated with something else.”

Pavilion at LDF
Kobayashi collaborated with Webb Yates on the pavilion. Photo by Jennifer Hahn

Kobayashi conceived of the design but was not involved in construction, having recently chopped off the top of his finger in an accident at his workshop (pictured hidden under a crochet cosy made for him by a friend). It was a novel experience for the designer, who usually crafts his wooden furniture by hand.

“I make lots of stuff by myself,” he said. “So this one was quite bizarre.”

I couldn’t really be involved but I put some stars on it,” he joked, referring to some of the graphic details applied in real gold leaf – a reference to the Vienna Secession art movement made famous by artists like Gustav Klimt.


 

5:30pm – Heatherwick, spotted

In West Kensington, Heatherwick Studio’s redevelopment of the 19th-century Olympia events centre was spotted  nearing completion by Jennifer Hahn.

Set to open next year, the redevelopment will see a raised walkway added between the vaulted roofs of the two original Victorian exhibition halls to make them accessible to the public.

Olympia events centre
Olympia is being redeveloped by Heatherwick Studio. Photo by Jennifer Hahn

New additions to the 14-acre side will include the largest theatre to be purpose-built in London since Denys Lasdun’s National Theatre from 1976.

We’re here to see the development’s first public art commission, unveiled as part of LDF – more on that in a second.

Olympia events centre
Heatherwick’s signature style is now fully visible. Photo by Jennifer Hahn

 

5:00pm – biomaterial future?

Jane Englefield spotted algae-based trainers and an AstroTurf-style covering made from biomaterial feature at Material Matters at OXO Tower Wharf.

Material Matters
Material Matters is taking place at the OXO Tower. Photo by Jane Englefield

Spread over five floors, the exhibition is a meditation on our relationship with materials. It has returned to LDF to present over 50 designers, brands, makers and manufacturers.

Material Matters
Algae-based trainers were on display. Photo by Jane Englefield

Lighting made from waste orange peel and Portland stone by designer and researcher Alkesh Parmar stole the show!

Lighting at Material Matters
Orange peel lighting was the highlight. Photo by Jane Englefield

 

4:30pm – good news

Great news from King’s Cross, where the vandalised Juicy Booth has been fully repaired and has reopened. Designer Annie Frost Nicholson, who created the installation in collaboration with K67 Berlin and The Loss Project, was upbeat about the reopening.

Juicy Booth
The Juicy Booth has reopened. Photo by John Sturrock

“We have been very upset about the vandalism and the rapid response to fix this and amazing team work with Coal Drops Yard has been truly heartening,” she told Dezeen.

“We look forward to welcoming many visitors on this first leg of the Juicy Booth’s tour.”

Juicy Booth
It was designed as a confessional box. Photo by John Sturrock

According to Nicholson, the booth was designed as a contemporary confessional box – so go along and get confessing!

“We would like to offer a 2024 secular take on the traditional confessional booth, an invitation to leave some of the weight you may be carrying – in this ever complex world – in the booth and emerge lighter,” she explained.

Juicy Booth
Juicy Booth will be open for the rest of LDF. Photo by John Sturrock

 

4:00pm – foraged festival food

Deputy editor Cajsa Carlson and social editor Clara Finnigan enjoyed an unusual lunch at designer Faye Toogood’s showroom earlier today.

Faye Toogood showroom
The showroom had natural decorations. Photo by Cajsa Carlson

The canalside showroom in Camden had been decorated with hanging dried plants, with the room were the designer and her team normally work on projects turned into a dining room for a lunch of foraged food.

Mushrooms on edible soil
Mushrooms on edible soil were on the menu. Photo by Cajsa Carlson

Among the dishes on the menu, foraged by chef Ed Tejada, were Namedo mushrooms on a bed of tasty edible “soil”, as well as courgettes, hogweed and greengage – and even a foraged lunchbox.

Faye Toogood showroom
Faye Toogood showed upholstery in her showroom for LDF. Photo by Cajsa Carlson

The designer also showcased her new upholstered sofa, joking that after having previously made sculptural furniture, she’s now moved into making comfier seating.


3:00pm – super car design!

Features editor Nat Barker dezeen headed to Mayfair, where British sports car manufacturer Lotus dezeen held an unveiling event for its brand new Theory 1 concept car at its Piccadilly showroom – an intense change from the regular LDF offerings.

Lotus Theory 1 concept car at the brand's Mayfair showroom
Lotus Theory 1 concept car at the brand’s Mayfair showroom. Photo by Nat Barker

At the event, a black sheet was removed to reveal an aggressively styled supercar purportedly inspired by Lotus’ famous Espirit.

On the outside, eye-catching details included laser-wire headlights and taillights developed by electronics manufacturer Kyocera and a sensored, illuminating “technology line” running along the door.

But it’s when the doors open that things get really interesting. Lotus has developed a new opening system that sees the doors slide backwards and upwards into a salute.

Lotus vice president of design introduces the Theory 1 concept car
Lotus vice president of design introduces the Theory 1 concept car. Photo by Nat Barker

Inside, the car has three seats, with the driver’s seat centred behind the steering wheel.

Each of the seats are upholstered in a robotic textile material developed in partnership with startup MotorSkins. Inflatable pods on the material can pulse to send messages to the driver and their passengers.


2:30pm – back in the saddle

Jennifer Hahn is back in the saddle today (seriously Lime, please sponsor her) but this time in Park Royal, which is home to London’s largest industrial estate.

Jennifer Hahn
Jennifer Hahn is back on the bike

Here, five resident studios have each tackled a different local waste material stream over the last six months and explored how it could be diverted and put to use within the community.

Design firm Blast Studio presented a fibreboard made using waste coffee cups mixed with sawdust from Park Royal joineries and ReCollective investigated how film and TV sets could be repurposed to form structural building elements such as a Larsen truss (and the A-Frames used to display the exhibition).

Park Royal for LDF
Park Royal studios aimed to tackle local waste materials. Photo by Jennifer Hahn

Meanwhile, the Rescued Clay project explored how the clay dug up by developers in the excavation process could be diverted from landfills to provide a sustainable material supply for local potters and ceramicists.

Also on show were products made by young people as part of the Absolute Beginners programme, teaching them how to make basic goods in “radically sustainable ways.

Fibreboard made using waste coffee cups
The exhibition included fibreboard made using waste coffee cups. Photo by Jennifer Hahn

You almost wouldn’t know the products were made by 17 to 21-year-olds – except the vases made from laughing gas cylinders are a dead giveaway.

Vases made from laughing gas cylinders
vases made from laughing gas cylinders were also on display. Photo by Jennifer Hahn

 

1:45pm – Design Everything

Fully recovered from the cat snub, Jane Englefield headed to record store Kindred, which is showing Design Everything – an exhibition of pieces by 19 London-based designers.

Record crate
A minature crate was a highlight. Photo by Jane Englefield

Each practitioner was given the freedom to recreate a functional object, which will become a permanent part of Kindred’s space.

Projects include a petite incense holder resembling the joining of two chunky tree branches, a miniature record crate and a sculptural aluminium coat hanger.

LDF live
A sculptural coat hanger caught Englefield’s eye. Photo by Jane Englefield

 

1:00pm – pit stop

Jane Englefield refuelled at Exmouth Market and after an unsuccessful cat bonding attempt headed back on the LDF road.

Lunch on the go
Lunch on the go. Photo by Jane Englefield

 

12:30am – wax, wax, wax

Design and interiors reporter Jane Englefield visited multidisciplinary collective Wax Atelier’s The Abney Effect – an exhibition showing “new perspectives on oils, waxes, resins, woods and dyes”.

Wax crayons
Wooden crayons were included in the exhibition. Photo by Jane Englefield

Eight artists feature in the show, held at the Wax Atelier workshop in Stoke Newington’s Abney Park.

Highlights include wooden crayons by Studio Playfool and a giant beeswax chandelier that would take 30-40 hours to burn.

Wax chandelier
A beeswax chandelier was the exhibition highlight. Photo by Jane Englefield

 

11:00am – medal time!

The ceremony for the annual London Design Medal took place last night in the newly refurbished Space House, originally designed by Richard Seifert in the 1960s.

Natsai Audrey Chieza
Natsai Audrey Chieza won the Design Innovation Medal. Photo by Max Fraser

Dezeen’s co-CEO Wai Shin Li was on the jury to choose this year’s winners, including Natsai Audrey Chieza and Pat McGrath, who were presented with their medals in an overly-bright and soon-to-be office space on the eleventh floor.

Space House
The awards took place at Space House. Photo by Max Fraser

Editorial director Max Fraser sat next to Eva Jiřičná, herself a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement award in 2018, who remembers when Space House was originally built.

“It was a time when women were told they couldn’t design buildings, only interiors.” Jiřičná, now 85, quipped, “now I’m designing a scheme for 13,000 homes in Czechia!”

Max Fraser
Max Fraser and Eva Jiřičná. Selfie by Max Fraser

 

10:30am – protest design

Given the state of global politics, it comes perhaps as no surprise that more than one show at this year’s LDF is focused on the design of protests.

While architecture Studio Bark is taking over the V&A’s Gallery 127 with its take on “protest architecture” (see Dezeen’s live blog from the opening day), the Praxis N16 workshop in Stoke Newington is hosting an exhibition of placards, posters and architectural interventions by 16 different studios.

Protest architecture LDF
Protest design was the theme of the exhibition at Praxis N16. Photo by Jennifer Hahn

Many of the textile works featured in the group show grapple with the brutality of the ongoing Israel-Palestine war, including a traditional keffiyeh scarf embroidered with graphic images by documentary photographer Jenny Matthews and the Grief Quilt for Palestine, which invites participation as an act of solidarity and collective grieving.

Protest design
The exhibition included banners, placards and architecture. Photo by Jennifer Hahn

Make sure you visit the courtyard to see one of the towering bamboo tensegrity towers developed by design collective Project Bunny Rabbit for Extinction Rebellion, which can be rapidly deployed but are difficult to remove – and were famously subject to a police raid.

Bonus points if you spot Praxis N16’s resident feline.


 

10:00am – danishes, of course

Dezeen deputy editor Cajsa Carlson swung by Danish design brand Hay’s London showroom in Shoreditch to see the brand’s latest news and get a taste of Copenhagen.

Trainers were shown along matching pyjamas
Trainers were shown along matching pyjamas. Photo by Cajsa Carlson

Among the new pieces on show were the brand’s first trainers, launched with ASICS during the 3 Days of Design festival in Copenhagen, in two new colours – purple and brown. At the showroom, these were shown with matching pyjamas, making it easier to dress for getting from the bedroom to the boardroom.

The brand also gave a sneak peek of its relaunched X-Line chair, a high-tech design by Danish designer Niels Jørgen Haugesen from the late 1970s.

In Hay’s version, the original steel-coloured chair sits alongside new iterations in a variety of muted hues that can be combined for a fun effect.

Hay has relaunched Niels Jørgen Haugesen's stackable X-Line chair
Hay has relaunched Niels Jørgen Haugesen’s stackable X-Line chair. Photo by Cajsa Carlson

It wouldn’t be a Danish day without some danishes!

At Hay, they came from authentic bakery Ole & Steen and consisted of stænger – braided sweet soft dough pastry, filled with vanilla custard and cinnamon paste topped with icing. It made it easy to pretend to be in Copenhagen.

Danish pastries offered a taste of Copenhagen
Danish pastries offered a taste of Copenhagen. Photo by Cajsa Carlson

 

9:30am – and we are back

We are back reporting on this year’s London Design Festival (LDF). Dezeen’s design editor Jennifer Hahn, design and interiors reporter Jane Englefield, social editor Clara Finnigan and editorial intern Douglas Jardim are on the ground in London reporting live.

LDF Live
Reclaimed: The Silo Collection exhibition was included in Monday’s Live

Catch up on what happened on Monday here including the Reclaimed: The Silo Collection exhibition, a Yinka Ilori pop-up shop (picture top) and a sneak preview of our Design You Can Feel exhibition, which opens today.

To keep you up to date on all the festival activities Dezeen Events Guide has created an LDF guide, highlighting the key events at the festival this year.


To stay up to date, follow Dezeen live: London Design Festival, taking place from 14-22 September 2024. Dezeen Events Guide has created a LDF guide, highlighting the key events at the festival. See Dezeen Events Guide for all the latest information you need to know to attend the event, as well as a list of other architecture and design events taking place around the world.

Read about everything that happened on the opening day (13 September) and Monday (16 September).

All times are London time.

The lead image is by Clara Finnigan.





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