London Design Festival 2023 marked its 20th anniversary last year, so this year’s event, which wrapped up recently offered not only the chance to step into a fresh new decade, but also provided a time to reflect on its significant influence on the design world.
LDF has strengthened London’s status as a global hub for commerce, culture, and tourism and has also played a pivotal role in enhancing the U.K.’s image as a creative place. Spanning all corners of London from Greenwich to St. Paul’s, overall, London Design Festival 2023 was a huge success.
One of the main elements of LDF 2023 was Material Matters, which returned this year after a successful inaugural event in 2022. Material Matters Fair occupied all five floors of the iconic Bargehouse at Oxo Tower Wharf on London’s Southbank, showcasing products, site-specific installations, learning areas, plus an extensive talks program.
The headline sponsor for Material Matters was award-winning lighting manufacturer Bert Frank. Founded a decade ago with a mission to merge engineering and timeless aesthetics, Bert Frank operates a small workshop in Birmingham with every item created by blending time-honored production techniques with state-of-the-art technology and carefully sourced materials. Taking inspiration from industrial aesthetics, Art Deco elements, and the design sensibilities of the mid-20th century, Bert Frank pays homage to the rich heritage of British design. The result is a collection of striking lighting designs that epitomize enduring quality, constructed to last a lifetime.
At Material Matters, Bert Frank took the opportunity to showcase its never-been-seen before Rinato range, which is inspired by early 20th-century glass holophone refractors and Art Deco geometric forms. It combines solid brass, steel, glass and refined leather details to produce a classic mid-century design for the contemporary market. The Beran Table Lamp sat on top of leather offcuts from the making process. This was part of its showcase of different byproducts from the production process. In addition to the first glimpse at the new Rinato collection, the Beran Drop Chandelier 3 took center stage. The Drop Chandelier blends three big alabaster stone diffusers in a linear formation.
Humanscale was another of Material Matters’ exhibitors, showcasing one its newest additions, the Path chair designed by Todd Bracher. Humanscale says Path is the world’s most sustainable and inclusive task chair on the market, adapting to everyone by responding to the individual user’s body and movements. The chair itself contains almost 22 pounds of recycled materials, made up of plastic bottles, ocean plastic, industrial plastic waste and recycled materials. Exclusively made for Path, the Form Sense Eco Knit is a 3D knit textile, with the recycled yarn made of approximately 68 recycled plastic bottles per chair.
Also present at Material Matters was Flokk a house of brands that has sustainability at its forefront, ensuring the lowest possible carbon footprint through the production process. During the show’s talks program, Flokk’s Chief Design Officer and Senior Vice President shared his view that “there are no solutions, only trade-offs” when it comes to tackling climate change. .
Another exhibitor making a difference in terms of how we consider the environment and the circular economy was Smile Plastics. Founded in the 1990s, by engineer Colin Williamson and designer Jane Atfield, and later revived by Adam Fairweather and Rosalie McMillan, the firm employs new processing techniques and low-energy manufacturing technology that enable rapid, high-volume production of 100% recyclable panels. This year, Smile Plastics was commissioned for the reception desk of Material Matters, which was crafted using the company’s Heron wash material, in collaboration with Make Relief and created by Will Atkins.
Also at the show, Crafting Plastics! studio showcased its expertise in cross-disciplinary research and development through an installation that introduced indoor surfaces that possess the capability to detect and respond to their environment. The project envisioned a future where everyday products are both non-toxic and lifelike.
All in all, Material Matters provided a new platform for engagement, collaboration and inspiration for the design and architecture community. Material Matters analyzed ways the design industry can address issues surrounding the circular economy and featured a total of 40 world-renowned brands, designers, creators, manufacturers, and organizations.
Over in Shoreditch, the Collective threw open its doors at its Charlotte Road headquarters. Among the brands it represents, it is the exclusive U.K. distributor of the brand Woven Image which provides acoustic solutions to meet the demands of our changing interior spaces and is a pioneer of PET panels, produced from 60% recycled plastic.
Lighting was a sector extremely well represented in this part of London with Lee Broom presenting new editions of acclaimed lighting pieces alongside a selection of the brand’s iconic designs in the flagship showroom on Rivington Street, which now spans the entire frontage of the Electra House building.Tala also drew in the crowds to its new base on the corner of Rivington Street, its first permanent home in Shoreditch.
Longtime Shoreditch Design Triangle supporter SCP was filled with exciting concepts too. Its Soft Power, exhibition of sustainable design featured new upholstery designs by Matthew Hilton, Philippe Malouin, Donna Wilson, Wilkinson & Rivera and Terence Woodgate. These ranges of sofas and armchairs are all made by hand at SCP’s specialist upholstery factory in Norfolk, England. This year, for the first time ever, all of the SCP designs on show were foam free. Foam, being petrochemical based, is the key unsustainable material in modern upholstery, and SCP believes it has to be removed from products to ensure they are truly sustainable. Elsewhere in its Curtain Road base, SCP invited Carl Clerkin and Alex Hellum back to continue the Sons of Beasley experiment, this time, focusing on making chairs and stools, items that are notoriously difficult to make at a price that anyone can afford. Visitors enjoyed a fully equipped live workshop where Carl, Alex and friends made things by hand from offcuts, components and materials donated by various furniture manufacturers. At the rear of the ground floor the cheekily named “SCPeep Show” could be found featuring lighting, furniture and images with an outré feel courtesy of the mysterious “Federation of Furniture Fanciers.”
Vitra meanwhile presented the ACX chair, a lightweight, sustainable design by Antonio Citterio with the home office in mind. The ACX also had strong sustainability credentials with the construction, materials, production, logistics and maintenance all designed to have the smallest possible carbon footprint.
Over on Brick Lane, the London Design Fair at the Truman Brewery had its much-anticipated return to the international design calendar combining cutting-edge design, brands, international pavilions, and makers. Highlights included You Can Sit With Us: Jordan and Russell from 2LG presented a series of new pieces that re-imagined existing connections in the design world. It was a clever curation of pieces by friends of 2LG, old and new — with a selection of designers invited to bring their unique voices together with “a seat at the table.” 2LG Studio showed new work with Granite And Smoke, L.Ercolani Design, Sheyn and Custhom. Elsewhere, the Gencork and Blackcork Lounge space showcased the power of cork, a material that designs the space between light and shadow, close and open, ceiling and floor, walls and furniture, combining beautiful textures with acoustic properties and environmental friendliness.
Other projects dotted around London of note were the Aura installation by Pablo Valbuena at St. Paul’s Cathedral that responded to sounds, voices and music and Halo by Studio Waldemeyer which created two complementing layers of light within the St. Stephen Walbrook Church. Both places of worship were designed by Christopher Wren and were part of the 300th anniversary of his death. Spirit of Place by Simone Brewster boasted five large-scale sculptures portraying Amorim’s cork forest near Herdade de Rio Frio in Portugal while the OpenWork installation focused on the world’s rigidity with a layout generated by the chime of the auditory surfaces that perform as a musical instrument.
All in all, LDF’s themes were celebrating power of the diversity of design, the urgency of sustainability, the impact of technology, and the power of collaboration. We can’t wait for its return next year.
Additional reporting by Yasmin Bird.