The annual London Design Festival engages with the creatives and designers that make the capital a buzz of design and inspiration.

Donning our best walking shoes, we visited the various shows that take part during the week and our first stop was the London Design Fair.

Based in the Old Truman Brewery, the normally sparse and pllain walls took on colour, texture and conversations. Our client FLOOR_STORY took a prime slot with its amazing designer collaboration ranges  (had to get a mention in there!).

The first part of the show focused on the trends and key products from around the globe. Crossovers by Adorno highlighted 11 countries, curators and collections from countries such as Norway, Mexico, Belgium andIceland. Each country highlighting some of the traditional artisanal skills that have been used to create modern textiles, lights, furniture and accessories.

New for 2019 the LDF event included a dedicated BathroomGallery. Highlighting an increase in awareness for small space solutions with multiple finishes – no longer do interiors have to stick with the white ceramics of old!

We loved the International Craft Pavilion which really highlighted the growing trend in interiors using artisan products from regional materials and skilled hands. We particularly liked the Branch Objects stand which combined its use of natural materials and Brazilian design roots.

Next stop, designjunction! It was hard to avoid the amazingTalk To Me installation by Steuart Padwick, designed to support the prominent mental health campaign. These two huge wood block figures dominated the skyline near Kings Cross and included audio from celebrities reciting text and poetry to support the important message of talking about mental health and problems.

Walking up to the recently developed Coal Drops Yard area the show was divided into several sections. We particularly liked the Cubitt House for furniture and lighting and the Light Tunnel installation. There’s a great atmosphere at this event as it seems quite a relaxed space and away from the traditional large hall show layout – although it can be very easy to get lost and miss sections.

With time of the essence we hopped over to Olympia to investigate the 100% Design Show. Arriving at the show it was hard to miss theUnderground Volume II installations by Kirkby Design. They took a Victoria Line tube and upholstered it with their new Underground Volume II velvet fabrics inspired from seating fabrics from the 1930s to the present day.

This theme of understanding materials and going back to retro designs seemed a really key element throughout the show, not so muchBauhaus but more Modern Retro Touch.

A visit to the Haberdashery stand proved that the idea of raw shapes and materials aren’t restricted to fabrics and furniture. TheirIntrovert Extrovert launched at the show used simple forms but a real understanding of different glass finishes to create maximum impact.

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