A few weeks ago in September myself and Izzy, our graphic designer, had a wonderful opportunity to visit the London Design Festival. Each year event provides the stage for thousands of individual designers and artists, companies, organisations, and nations to come together to celebrate and promote design. The main goal was to get inspiration, see the newest trends, dive into the world of art and just be tourists that soak up a little bit of the fashionable London.
The festival is spread out in design districts across all London. We tried to catch on as much as we could, and I want to show you some highlights from our two days at the LDF.
Firstly, we visited the London Design, a huge show featuring world’s leading and upcoming brands. It was amazing experience illuminating curated selection of cutting-edge furniture, lighting and interior design. We even got free cocktails – what’s not to love!
We continued by popping in Seabird - one of the newest and most beautiful rooftop terraces in London. When I saw it being featured in Elle Decorations, I instantly put that on my list of places to visit! It was one of the LDF destinations with the design book library. We sat down for a quick drink and a few oysters – I couldn’t miss the chance of having some!
In the afternoon we strolled down the South Bank to see OXO exhibitions, Brand Academy, and “The Cube” an artistic installation by Velux that acted like a sanctuary for Londoners to unwind.
The evening we spend in Kings Cross Design District where we visited various independent shops, illuminated garden sculptures and exhibitions. Slightly tucked away, this is such a cool and quirky place to visit!
The second day we have decided to avoid the tube to enjoy the walk and absorb the city. Quick shop in Selfridges followed by Cavendish Square. It was a home to many exhibitions featuring newest sound and light technologies, cast concrete peaces, reworked antique cabinets, neon light installation, wall art and bio-diversative furniture. Quite a busy art epicentre situated in a beautiful urban looking Victorian building.
We continued with a stroll through the Mayfair Design District. How fabulous is the New Bond Street! Exquisite designer furniture shops were welcoming visitors to see the collections that has been specially created in collaboration with upcoming artists. Thanks to LDF we had the opportunity to see and experience the “high end “ – we probably would have never opened the doors of some of those glam places otherwise! Haha
We went for a quick comp shop and a look around in trendy Anthropology store that featured the beautiful collection of plates by Fiona, and of course - Fortnum and Mason store that also had one LDF destinations – The Dancing Bee Hives installation.
We ended our wonderful but busy two days in London with a quick lunch and a wander through Soho and Lester Square. So colourful!
This year the design festival proved a platform sustainable innovation that echo the pressure and need for a change. As a creative nexus we are always keeping an eye out for newness and trends that we can adapt and implement in our business. It was an inspiring trip, and we had a lot to take from it. The change of the scenery and a fresh stream of visual concepts made me super excited and buzzing for what the future holds.
Santa, Creative Lead
