Review: London Design Fair

We hope that you have already had a minute to watch our highlights video from London Design Festival. Over 3 days our schedule was tightly packed with inspirational events. Here we take a look at what caught our eye at the London Design Fair.

The London Design Fair takes place at the Old Truman Brewery in Shoreditch each year during the London Design Festival, many of you will have enjoyed this event in previous years under the name Tent London. London Design Fair features 500 exhibitors from over 28 countries and includes global brands, independent studios and country showcases such as Design in South Italy, the British Craft Pavilion and Seoul Design Festival. This year the fair had an inaugural show theme of Botany and celebrated their material of the year; Jesmonite. With all this to see in one building, the London Design Fair is a must see stop on any visit to the London Design Festival!

We began our journey around London Design Fair by filming with Jim Biddulph from Material Lab and 4 designers who each worked in a unique way with Jesmonite: Zuza Mengham, Ariane Prin, Katie Gillies and Oriental Grace.  Keep your eyes pealed for our film!  We have discussed Jesmonite several times over recent months, including Jim Biddulph’s interview with Troels Flensted Studio which you can read here.

Throughout the fair there were a series of engaging installations, we loved the giant textile geometric shapes created by Cole & Sons.

There were several stands with designs which celebrate high quality craftsmanship techniques, we were especially drawn to Charles Dedman’s Zapotec Range which is an example of Craft-Tech, where the use of computer controlled CNC laser has updated the technique of marquetry, by cutting the veneer pieces and opening up the possibilities. Craft vs Technology is a topic which we have been discussing recently on Design Insider.

It was impossible not to imagine many of the textiles or ceramics in our own homes. We loved the beautiful arrangements of subscription flowers available from Freddie’s Flowers and it was even tempting to buy new spectacles from Bailey Nelson.

The Scottish Craft & Design Pavilion had a very interesting display, with a very wide variety of materials and processes on show.

Whilst we walked around the fair we enjoyed awarding our ‘Design Insider Loves’ cards to designers including Harriet Speed, Charles Dedman and Olivia Walker. Did you spot them?

What was your favourite part of the London Design Fair? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us at @DesignInsider1

Contact London Design Fair