Event Report: Clerkenwell Design Week 2025
Clerkenwell Design Week steps up its game year on year, and it’s a joy to witness. With new locations, fresh partnerships and collaborators, and ever more showrooms joining the fold, CDW 2025 showed no signs of slowing down.
Could Clerkenwell Design Week be on the cusp of challenging Europe’s major design events? Perhaps not quite yet, but it certainly has the competition in its sights. This Event Report captures the standout moments from across the festival, from installations and product launches to key themes in the talks programme.
Whether you joined us in Clerkenwell or couldn’t make it this time, the report offers a curated round-up of what you might have missed, celebrates what you loved, and highlights the conversations shaping the future of commercial interiors.
Let’s dive into the details!
This Event Report is sponsored by manufacturer and distributer of innovative high-performance interior materials, Vescom.
When your mission is to uncover every product launch, catch all the must-see installations, absorb panel insights, and connect with the commercial interiors community, Clerkenwell Design Week can feel like an impossible task. And perhaps that’s the point. Clerkenwell Design Week has grown beyond the bounds of one editor’s notebook or one camera SD card. Looked at from this perspective, deeper curation feels essential. But maybe that’s the wrong lens!
Rather than trying to experience it all, we should be asking: how does Clerkenwell Design Week measure up on the international stage? Could it rival its European counterparts? Not yet, but it’s making bold moves in the right direction. The festival’s continued expansion in scale must be matched by excellence in every experience. As it sets its sights on attracting an international audience, for the exhibitors’ benefit, the bar must be raised even higher across every venue, activation, and collaboration.
As ever, the festival was a vibrant celebration of our sector: a showcase of talent, insight, and innovation, and yes, a welcome chance to enjoy a party or two. Thank you to Vescom for hosting our team on Tuesday evening with their usual style and warmth.
The appetite to learn and share knowledge was unmistakable. From Conversations at Clerkenwell curated by Katie Richardson, to [d]arc thoughts and Design Dialogues by Sandow, the talks programme continues to grow in strength and scope. Coupled with packed showroom schedules, this year proved that skill-sharing and sector insight remain key drivers for visitors.
Product launches, as ever, offer a measure of industry confidence. While Milan may still take the global lead, Clerkenwell Design Week remains the key moment for UK market introductions. British brands increasingly favour Clerkenwell Design Week as their primary launch platform, rather than waiting for the autumn events. In this report, we spotlight many of these new launches, along with emerging product directions. A notable trend? The continued popularity of reworking existing collections or relaunching iconic designs, often reimagined for circularity and contemporary production.
And then there’s the walking. You can’t help but hit an ambitious step count during Clerkenwell Design Week. But your efforts are often rewarded, whether it’s rounding a corner to discover a bold installation, or stumbling upon a brand activation that stops you in your tracks. The festival’s large-scale artistic commissions brought both joy and provocation.
So while Clerkenwell Design Week might feel like a mountain to climb at times, it’s also a mirror, reflecting where our industry is and where it’s heading. And if this year’s energy is anything to go by, it’s heading somewhere bold, ambitious, and ever more global!
