14 unmissable exhibitions at London Design Festival 2022
Discover creative design concepts addressing climate change, pollution and politics at this year’s LDF
To celebrate its 20th anniversary, London Design Festival will breathe new life into the city from 17 to 25 September. With an impressive programme of exhibitions, installations, talks and workshops across 12 London districts, this year’s festival reflects on major global issues – and the crucial role craft can play.
Here are 14 must-see shows that place making centre stage, and our pick of five talks and workshops to immerse yourself in.
Material Experiments: Omer Arbel Office, from the V&A
Set up camp in the V&A’s John Madejski Garden as Canadian multidisciplinary artist Omer Abel embarks on a nine-day glass-blowing performance continuing his sculpture series titled 113. During the performance, Abel will melt down common copper and glass antiquities, exploring the relationship between the materials and creating 113 unique artefacts.
17 to 25 September at the Victoria & Albert Museum, South Kensington
Mokoro, from the V&A
The multimedia exhibition Mokoro, meaning ‘mother’ in Swahili-English slang, celebrates womanhood through the eyes of 25 young female artists from the Warembo Wasanii art studio in Kenya. Using materials sourced entirely from landfill, these women challenge the limits of waste to push upcycled fashion to dizzying new heights. Expect diaper sack skirts and can-lid corsets.
17 to 25 September at the Victoria & Albert Museum, South Kensington
Ukraine: Design for Real Time, from NOOM
The Ukrainian design studio NOOM considers the country’s design past and present – including the changes necessitated by war. Their existing Gropius Chair, created during peacetime, forms the basis of a new Gropius Low Chair Military Edition, now covered in the camouflage netting woven by volunteers on the rear and front lines of war.
17 to 25 September at Cromwell Place, South Kensington
First Impression: Elevating the Everyday, from Charles Burnand Gallery
Glass and ceramics harmonise at Charles Burnand Gallery’s inaugural LDF exhibition, with works from emerging and established artists like Loewe Craft Prize shortlister Fredrik Nielsen and graduate silversmith Callum Partridge. Material differences are referenced and emotional parallels celebrated – with a big nod to the UN’s International Year of Glass.
17 to 25 September at Charles Burnand Gallery, Fitzrovia
Beyond Industry
Glass artist Juli Bolaños-Durman and furniture designer David Gates are among those participating in Beyond Industry, an exhibition by art and design commissioning platform Fels. The group show will explore the influence of industrial development on designers today, showcasing assemblage techniques and intriguing applications of materials, collage and stripped-back functional objects.
Two Kettles, No Sofa, from SEEDS
Ever been bamboozled by a housemate’s taste? In a new narrative installation, designer James Shaw and writer Lou Stoppard chronicle a couple negotiating the big move. Everyday possessions sit alongside Shaw’s design objects, which often begin life as discarded plastics, while Stoppard’s short story brings the dramas of domestic co-existence to life.
17 to 25 September at Cromwell Place, South Kensington
Material Matters 2022
Based on the hit podcast of the same name hosted by former Crafts editor Grant Gibson, this new design fair brings together brands, designers and makers at the iconic Bargehouse at Oxo Tower Wharf. From a site-specific installation by gallery Ruup & Form, to Beatrice Mayfield’s textile works, the goal is to celebrate material innovations and their role in circular economies. Our current editor Debika Ray will chair a discussion about architecture and craft on the event's final day.
Wood Metal Plastic Wall Shelf, 2020, by James Shaw, who is creating new work for LDF Green Chair, 2021, by James Shaw
R for Repair: London x Singapore, from DesignSingapore Council, National Design Centre and V&A
Throwaway culture is out, repair culture is in – or at least, so we hope. Co-curated by Hans Tan Studio and Jane Withers Studio as a London x Singapore exchange, R for Repair shows how ingenuity can help cherished but broken objects take on new life and meaning.
17 to 25 September at the Victoria & Albert Museum, South Kensington
Connecting threads – the yarns, patterns and the Sanquhar, Scotland design story, from Shaw Contract
In 2011, carpet giants Shaw Contract acquired a facility in the Scottish town of Sanquhar – home to the famed geometric knitting patterns. This LDF it is paying homage to the connection between craft and commercial production, weaving stories around design, patterns, yarn and their new EcoSolution Q100 fibre – all made with 100% recycled materials.
20 to 21 September at Shaw Contract London Showroom, Clerkenwell
A Proposal of Contemporary Design Based on Korean Traditions through Furniture and jewellery, from YJ Studio
Korean crafts meet William Morris’ 19th-century patterns in this bold collection of chair and jewellery designs. Butterfly-like chairs with intricate lacquer inlay trace the seasons and highlight the richness of cultural hybrids, while bamboo bracelets combine soft white porcelain with the exhibition’s ‘Maximalist Design’ theme.
Claylarks, from The New Craftsmen
Gathering, celebrating and interacting with craft objects is the name of the game at Claylarks – an exhibition inspired by a collective mudlarking expedition. In response to their haul, the New Craftsmen’s makers created works that centre around clay traditions and how they have shaped our daily lives for thousands of years. Among them are Viv Lee, who will present a collection of monolithic tables, while Sophie Wilson has created tygs – a type of three-handled mug popular in the 16th and 17th centuries.
3D Printed Designs with Living Organisms, from Blast Studio
London life is both the inspiration and source material behind Blast Studio’s latest furniture and sculpture series. Experience their dream of a city made from its own waste, with lamps, tables and columns made using an algorithm inspired by tree trunks, then 3D-printed using waste coffee cups, cardboard packaging and mycelium.
23 to 25 September at Blast Studio, Acton
Leather from British Pastures, from Grady + Robinson
Grady + Robinson are spearheading the production of leather from regenerative farms, in turn helping designers prioritise high welfare animals, ecosystems and communities. Visit to see objects, material and imagery that tell a new story about agriculture and design. You can read more about Grady + Robinson in Yasmin Jones-Henry’s feature uncovering the future of leather in the upcoming Autumn/Winter issue of Crafts.
19 to 25 September at Rochelle School, Shoreditch
Sketch Art & Design
Among a trio of installations at Mayfair restaurant Sketch are a display of works by designer Bethan Gray, who will use a painted backdrop to unveil new objects, including glass lights blown by Murano-based atelier Baroncelli; a desk featuring intricate marquetry by Oman-based artisan group Shamsian; woven rugs by CC-Tapis, which works with makers in Nepal; and thrown vessels made in collaboration with Stoke-on-Trent-based 1882.
Talks and workshops
Talk: Challenging Identities – Fluidity, Fantasy, Fashion, Design and Film
Multi-award-winning costume designer Sandy Powell will discuss her inspirations and the fundamental relationship between design and identity.
17 September, 4:40-5:30pm at the Victoria & Albert Museum, South Kensington
Workshop: Batik Clothing Customisation Workshop with Ken Kweku Nimo
Learn how to use melted wax and fabric dyes to create beautiful prints and patterns from Africa in Fashion author Ken Kweku Nimo, who has 35 years of batik-dyeing experience.
24 September, 3-6pm at The Africa Centre, Southwark
Workshop: Mycelium Textile Workshop with Helena Elston
Join Helena Elston for an interactive demonstration of the benefits of mycelium in fashion, and her unique process of decomposing textiles safely back into the earth using fungi. You can also take home a sample to grow your own.
25 September, 11am-1pm at Standard Studios, Acton
Talk: Remaking Tradition – Craft in the Modern World
Emma Crichton-Miller, Michael Anastassiades, Vikram Goyal and Zoe Moskofoglo will explore the value of indigenous craft practices, and how makers are giving them new purpose.
19 September, 4:40-5:45pm at Nehru Centre, Mayfair
Workshop: Marbling at Solid Floor with Rupert Bevan
Rupert Bevan will introduce you to the colourful art of marbling – and showcase his new wallpaper collection in the Solid Floor showroom.
20 September, 11:30am-4pm at Solid Floor EAST Showroom, Shoreditch
