London Design Festival 2022: highlights to catch

Hitting its 20th year, London Design Festival returns with what feels like the first year where it’s back to having a full roster of events – after a couple of years of pandemic impacted programmes.

Every year has a standout installation and this year prize billing goes to Sony Design’s immersive installation ‘Into Sight’ at Cromwell Place. The walk-in piece is a chance for Sony to showcase its new LED screens but it’s the feeling of being surrounded by colours and your own reflection that will set social media afire, with the display and the sounds reacting to visitors' movements. It will obviously draw parallels to Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Rooms, and with good reason will be just as popular.

Cromwell Place is situated within the Brompton Design District whose theme this year is ‘home’. The venue definitely has a homely feel to it with beautiful displays focused on sustainability and personalising our living spaces – something we all gained a greater appreciation for when we were locked down during the pandemic.

Brompton Design District

SEEDS gallery has a green display of plants, all housed within ceramic creations by Martino Gamper and other selected designers, Bethan Laura Wood has created ceramic pieces and a sofa inspired by terrazzo patterns, while in another gallery at the venue, James Shaw has created furniture using recycled plastic frames that are colourful and a lot stronger than they look.

The nearby V&A has also gone low key this year and it feels overshadowed by its neighbour Cromwell Place. However, it does have one standout in the live glassblowing studio of Omer Arbel in the central garden, where flea market found antiquities will be melted down to create new fragile sculptures that are designed to fracture as they cool and set.

The West End’s highlight is Sabine Marcelis’ marble swivel chairs in St. Giles’ Square. They are solid creations so it’s surprising to visitors who plant themselves down and then realise they may be spun. And they are a great contrast to the Brutalist Centre Point tower that looms over them.

As with previous years the festival also incorporates existing exhibitions, and it presents the last chance to catch the beautiful dream-like JeeYoung Lee exhibition at Now Gallery on Greenwich Peninsula, where boats float within a sea of suspended yellow gingko leaves.

London Design Festival’s programme of exhibitions and events runs until 25 September.