LDF is everywhere: your expert guide to the best events, workshops and parties at the London Design Festival 2018
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Spot the markers around town, including a huge red resin lion in Trafalgar Square; alphabet chairs in Finsbury Avenue Square, EC2; a towering timber climbing frame in the new V&A courtyard in SW7 and free fun in Somerset House courtyard, WC2.
LET’S PARTY: DRINKS ON THE HOUSE
Celebrating 200 years, Heal’s is generously offering two bars, a DJ and creative demos over three floors for the festival on Thursday, September 20, 6pm-9pm (Heals, 196 Tottenham Court Road, W1).
Also on the 20th, from 5.30pm to 9pm, The Conran Shop showcases exclusive new tech at a Pinterest party with drinks and DJs.
London Design Festival 2018: where to go and what to see
Use your phone for codes and tags, access product info, then share ideas globally. Buttonhole an assistant if you’re stuck.
Installation open until October 13 (The Conran Shop, Michelin House, 81 Fulham Road, SW3).
LATE NIGHTS IN THE DESIGN DISTRICTS
There are 11 design districts this year, with shops, galleries and showrooms offering drinks, music and general goodwill.
They are listed at londondesignfestival.com with “food partners” offering discounts of up to 20 per cent when you show your red festival guide.
Save your website diary with My Festival clicks. Check Instagram for action on the night.
The two best design districts have been going the longest: Shoreditch has been at the cutting edge for 10 years and is definitely tops.
Visit from Tuesday September 18. SCP in Curtain Road, EC2, is a lynchpin.
For serious design buffs, Brompton Design District, from Thursday, September 20, is more cerebral.
The information point, with coffee, is at Fernandez & Wells, 8 Exhibition Road, SW7.
DEMONSTRATIONS AND WORKSHOPS
Workshops are free unless stated, though there may be a charge for materials and/or food.
- The Brunel Apartment: all day at 63 Charlotte Street, W1, September 19 & 20. Free interior design sessions with Heal’s.
- The Odd Chair Company: 45 Pimlico Road, SW1, Sept 17. Have breakfast, see/do upholstery, £14.
- Soane Britain design showroom: 50-52 Pimlico Rd, SW1, September 18 at noon. Meet owner Lulu Lytle’s rattan weaver — it’s a dying art.
- Carl Hansen: 5.30pm-9pm at 48A Pimlico Road, SW1, September 17. Danish master weaver makes a classic chair in the new flagship store. With drinks and nibbles.
- Archipelago Textiles: Unit 1.07, Oxo Tower Wharf, SE1, September 17-19. Your hand at the loom — weaving workshops with artist Doreen Gittens, £5.
- Clerkenwell Round Shop: 20 Clerkenwell Green, EC1, September 15-23. Featuring three rooms with theatrical ideas for interiors and workshops. September 15 is scented candles (£20); September 16 & 20 is macramé hanging plant holders (£10); September 21 is “pinch” pots.
- The Old Bank Vault: 283, Hackney Road, E2, September 15-23. Revive old chairs, (yours and theirs) with Ella Doran/Urban Upholstery. Hone your skills at a cushion workshop (£33) on Sunday September 16 at 10am or 2pm.
- Donna Wilson Pop-Up Shop: 32 Charlotte Road, EC2A.London’s nicest knitter celebrates 10 years at the needles with exuberant talks and workshops. September 17 and 18 it’s live weaving. September 22, learn to hand-embroider you own botanical cat — and much more. Some sessions free, some from £15.
- T2: 292 Regent St, W1, September 17, 19 and 21 from 5.30pm. Aussie tea specialist with exotic masterclasses for tasting and brewing.
- South East Makers Club, Deptford: September 14, supper club; Sept 16, walking tour and workshop, mapping Deptford with ink and pen, plus the designer pub quiz; September 14-16, join The Workshop Room, Carriage Ramp, Deptford Market Yard, SE8, plus selling fair.
TALKS AND TOURS
Design festival tours of the Victoria & Albert Museum in Cromwell Road, SW7, run September 15-23 at noon, 2pm and 4pm daily, plus 6pm and 7.30pm on Friday. Duration one hour. Meet at London Design Festival desk.
Tickets for the Global Design Forum at the V&A are £10/£15, or £30 for the day.
September 15/16 is the graphics weekend, while September 17 considers “disrupters”, radicals and pioneers; September 18 is a retail “experience”; September 19 covers sensory design, with Ilse Crawford advocating “universal pleasure”; September 20 it’s housing futures, with speakers including Sir Richard Rogers on social housing; September 21 focuses on values.
Digital design weekend, September 22/23, is free, all day. Cutting-edge projects explore artificial intelligence, human-machine relationships and potential future world. Meet artists, designers, engineers, technologists —and the robots — with workshops, talks and events.
Brompton Talks: explore “material consequences” with designers, critics and specialists.
Q&A, Robert Kime, 190 Ebury St, SW1, September 17. Jasper Conran and interior designer Robert Kime share their stories. Drinks 5pm-8.30pm, talk at 7pm. Just turn up.
Drawing for design: Cox London, 194 Ebury St, SW1, September 17, 5pm. With sculptor-maker Christopher Cox and interior designer Sophie Elborne. Free.