The London Design Festival returns for its 16th year this week, boasting an ambitious and eclectic programme of landmark projects, installations and events across the city from the 15th September to 23rd 2018. Cementing its position as the design capital of the world, London Design Festival will host more than 400 events across 11 different design districts. To ensure you’re clued up on where to go and what to see, we’ve compiled a guide of five of the best events and installations that are not to be missed.
MultiPly by Waugh Thistelton Architects
Thistleton Architects’ maze-like structure aims to challenge two current problems in today’s world – the need for housing and the growth in climate change. Visitors to this free exhibition at the V&A Museum’s Sackler Courtyard, will have to climb up it and cross bridges to peer out the top. The imposing installation, which is made of sustainable cross-laminated timber panels, aims to highlight the potential that material has and also points out the future of modular, changeable design.
When:
15-30th September 2018
Where:
The Sackler Courtyard at the V&A, V&A Museum, Cromwell Road, Knightsbridge, London SW7 2RL
Info:
Free Event
Alphabet by Kellenberger-White
The alphabet is one of the first things we all learn so it seemed only right to begin this London Design Festival preview with Kellenberger-White’s installation in Finsbury Avenue Square. The well-known 26 letters of the alphabet, made of folded steel and painted in a variety of bright colours chosen from a specialist paint manufacturer, will be popping up in Broadgate in the form of individual chairs. The work of Kellenberger-White, the studio known for its playful approach to typefaces, is designed so that visitors can interact with it – as well as taking a seat of course, they are encouraged to make words and express themselves through letters.
When:
15th – 23rd September 2018
Where:
Finsbury Avenue Square, Broadgate, London EC2M 3WA
Info:
Free Event
Out of Character: A Project by MUTT
In 1812, John Soane wrote ‘Crude Hints towards an History of my House,’ a strange text in which he imagined his home as a ruin centuries into the future, inspected by visitors who speculate on its origins. Soane suggested that the visitors to the museum have been inhabited by four characters; a Lawyer, a Monk, a Magician and an Architect. Fast-forward two hundred years and these characters have been brought to life by MUTT as unique architectural compositions. Marrying ornament, rich colour palettes and shape, these 3D forms will breathe a playful new life into a space which has remained untouched since its creator died 180 years ago.
When:
15-16th & 19-23rd September 2018
Where:
Sir John Soane’s Museum, 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3BP
Info:
Free Event
Please Feed The Lions by ES Devlin
Trafalgar Square will be blessed with a brand new lion thanks to designer ES Devlin, who has spent a year working with Google Arts and Culture on the project, to create a fluorescent big cat which uses technology to create poetry. Visitors are invited to ‘feed’ words to the lion, which will appear as LED lights in its mouth by day and light up Nelson’s column at night. The new big cat will be joining the four original lions, which have remained in pride of place in the square since 1867 and each way around 7,000 kilograms.
When:
18 –23rd September 2018
Where:
Trafalgar Square, London, WC2N 5NJ
Info:
Free Event
Head Above Water by Steuart Padwick
For the next week London’s South Bank has a new resident in the form of a breath-taking 9-metre-high sculpture by British designer, Steuart Padwick. Head Above Water looks out across the Thames with panoramic views of St Pauls and the iconic city skyline as part of the DesignJunction takeover of London Design Festival. Beyond its striking standpoint, Pedwick intends the sculpture to stand as a symbol of hope, bravery, compassion and positive in support of Time to Change’s campaign to remove the stigma of mental illness.
When:
15th – 23rd September 2018
Where:
Queens Stone Jetty, South Bank
Info:
Free Event
In other design news, check out the decaying 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California that makes up part of Daniel Arsham’s new 3018 exhibition in New York.
