Metropolis’s 8 Highlights from London Design Festival 2019
From public space installations to carnival costume displays, this year’s events ran the usual, unconstrained gamut.
Courtesy Studio Stagg
Fall is upon us, which means London is back to work, back to school, and back to exhibiting cutting-edge design work. The 17th edition of London Design Festival (LDF) sprung into action last Friday at its hub, the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum, launching a dizzying array of exhibitions, installations, talks, and workshops across the rest of the city. Unlike other festivals and biennials that have proliferated around the world, LDF avoids setting a particular theme, which in turn generates an eclectic body of work that varies in content (and, it should be said, quality). This year, the festival’s scope encompassed works dealing with topics including anarchist posters, vegan wool, public toilets, Mardi Gras Indians, ocean plastic, and more. Metropolis scoured the city from the high design to the lo-fi, coming up with these eight highlights from the 2019 festivities.
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Stir It Up - Paddington Printshop Posters 1974 -1990
“Occupy Empty Houses Now” and “Send the racists home” aren’t typical LDF slogans, but then Stir It Up isn’t a typical LDF display. The exhibition at London Print Studio displayed some of the works produced by the radical team at the Paddington Print Shop, which supported activist and community groups in the local area between 1974 and 1990.Courtesy London Print StudioStir It Up - Paddington Printshop Posters 1974 -1990
“Occupy Empty Houses Now” and “Send the racists home” aren’t typical LDF slogans, but then Stir It Up isn’t a typical LDF display. The exhibition at London Print Studio displayed some of the works produced by the radical team at the Paddington Print Shop, which supported activist and community groups in the local area between 1974 and 1990.Courtesy London Print Studio -
Stir It Up - Paddington Printshop Posters 1974 -1990
In addition to their social-historical value, the display is a rich feast of late-twentieth-century graphic design styles.Courtesy London Poster StudioStir It Up - Paddington Printshop Posters 1974 -1990
In addition to their social-historical value, the display is a rich feast of late-twentieth-century graphic design styles.Courtesy London Poster Studio -
Sea Things by Sam Jacob
Sea Things was a 13-foot cube suspended within the Cromwell Road entrance hall of the V&A Museum. The interior surface of the cube’s top side showed a three-minute animation, which illustrated the increase in ocean plastic from the year 1907—when the use of commercial plastic begun—to 2050, when it is estimated that the volume of ocean plastic will exceed that of marine life.Courtesy Ed ReeveSea Things by Sam Jacob
Sea Things was a 13-foot cube suspended within the Cromwell Road entrance hall of the V&A Museum. The interior surface of the cube’s top side showed a three-minute animation, which illustrated the increase in ocean plastic from the year 1907—when the use of commercial plastic begun—to 2050, when it is estimated that the volume of ocean plastic will exceed that of marine life.Courtesy Ed Reeve -
Sea Things by Sam Jacob
Simply illustrated and neatly executed, Sea Things was a soberingly successful piece by the British architect Sam Jacob.Courtesy Ed ReeveSea Things by Sam Jacob
Simply illustrated and neatly executed, Sea Things was a soberingly successful piece by the British architect Sam Jacob.Courtesy Ed Reeve -
Black Masking Culture: Big Chief Demond Melancon of the Young Seminole Hunters
These Mardi Gras Indian suits stand triumphantly illuminated in the V&A’s Tapestries Gallery, depicting, respectively, scenes from Ethiopian history and the enslaved African prince Bras Coupé.Courtesy Ed ReeveBlack Masking Culture: Big Chief Demond Melancon of the Young Seminole Hunters
These Mardi Gras Indian suits stand triumphantly illuminated in the V&A’s Tapestries Gallery, depicting, respectively, scenes from Ethiopian history and the enslaved African prince Bras Coupé.Courtesy Ed Reeve -
Black Masking Culture: Big Chief Demond Melancon of the Young Seminole Hunters
The illustrations are formed by the delicate beadwork of Big Chief Demond Melancon, a contemporary artist and performer with extensive roots in the Black Masking Culture of New Orleans. Melancon is one of the founding teachers at Material Institute, a new design school established by Assemble in the Louisiana city.Courtesy Ed ReeveBlack Masking Culture: Big Chief Demond Melancon of the Young Seminole Hunters
The illustrations are formed by the delicate beadwork of Big Chief Demond Melancon, a contemporary artist and performer with extensive roots in the Black Masking Culture of New Orleans. Melancon is one of the founding teachers at Material Institute, a new design school established by Assemble in the Louisiana city.Courtesy Ed Reeve -
Robin Hood Gardens by Do Ho Suh
First shown (albeit in unfinished form) as part of the V&A’s controversial Robin Hood Gardens display at last year’s Venice Biennale, Do Ho Suh’s portrait of the East London housing estate is now showing across a 65-foot screen at the museum. To create this breathtaking study of decay, demolition, and displacement, the South Korean artist employed drones and buggies to film exterior shots on the estate, while lingering shots inside its flats highlight the intricate personal lives of those who have been displaced as part of the area’s regeneration.Courtesy Ed ReeveRobin Hood Gardens by Do Ho Suh
First shown (albeit in unfinished form) as part of the V&A’s controversial Robin Hood Gardens display at last year’s Venice Biennale, Do Ho Suh’s portrait of the East London housing estate is now showing across a 65-foot screen at the museum. To create this breathtaking study of decay, demolition, and displacement, the South Korean artist employed drones and buggies to film exterior shots on the estate, while lingering shots inside its flats highlight the intricate personal lives of those who have been displaced as part of the area’s regeneration.Courtesy Ed Reeve -
Designing in Turbulent Times by Central Saint Martins, LVMH and Maison/0
Presenting a selection of graduate projects from across Central Saint Martins, Designing in Turbulent Times tackled some of the most pressing issues facing humanity today. Pictured: an environmental warning system that notifies the public of changes in pollution, by Jessica Duggan.Courtesy Jessica DugganDesigning in Turbulent Times by Central Saint Martins, LVMH and Maison/0
Presenting a selection of graduate projects from across Central Saint Martins, Designing in Turbulent Times tackled some of the most pressing issues facing humanity today. Pictured: an environmental warning system that notifies the public of changes in pollution, by Jessica Duggan.Courtesy Jessica Duggan -
Designing in Turbulent Times by Central Saint Martins, LVMH and Maison/0
Other highlights included a vegan wool made entirely from discarded pineapple leaves by Nathalie Spencer and a series of public toilets for the south London neighborhood of Peckham, which Mark Freeman says he designed to “re-establish public conveniences as valued pieces of civic infrastructure.” Pictured: It Was Better Tomorrow by Benjamin Ben Moyal.Courtesy Benjamin Ben MoyalDesigning in Turbulent Times by Central Saint Martins, LVMH and Maison/0
Other highlights included a vegan wool made entirely from discarded pineapple leaves by Nathalie Spencer and a series of public toilets for the south London neighborhood of Peckham, which Mark Freeman says he designed to “re-establish public conveniences as valued pieces of civic infrastructure.” Pictured: It Was Better Tomorrow by Benjamin Ben Moyal.Courtesy Benjamin Ben Moyal -
Walala Lounge by Camille Walala
French-born, London-based designer Camille Walala’s lounge has brightened up the pedestrianized South Molton Street, with an installation that spreads her characteristically bold graphics across a series of flags and benches.Courtesy Studio StaggWalala Lounge by Camille Walala
French-born, London-based designer Camille Walala’s lounge has brightened up the pedestrianized South Molton Street, with an installation that spreads her characteristically bold graphics across a series of flags and benches.Courtesy Studio Stagg -
Walala Lounge by Camille Walala
With their strong echoes of Memphis Group designs, the seats even manage to spruce up the street on a typically rainy London afternoon, thanks to this self-professed “purveyor of positivity.”Courtesy Studio StaggWalala Lounge by Camille Walala
With their strong echoes of Memphis Group designs, the seats even manage to spruce up the street on a typically rainy London afternoon, thanks to this self-professed “purveyor of positivity.”Courtesy Studio Stagg -
Please by Seated by Paul Cocksedge
Planted in Finsbury Avenue Square, in the heart of London’s financial district, Please Be Seated was quickly adopted as a vital social space by surrounding office workers. The structure was built from reused (and reusable) scaffolding planks, which covered walkways and benches as they undulated in three loops—A great place to enjoy a lunch break amidst some of London’s most garish architecture.Courtesy Mark CocksedgePlease by Seated by Paul Cocksedge
Planted in Finsbury Avenue Square, in the heart of London’s financial district, Please Be Seated was quickly adopted as a vital social space by surrounding office workers. The structure was built from reused (and reusable) scaffolding planks, which covered walkways and benches as they undulated in three loops—A great place to enjoy a lunch break amidst some of London’s most garish architecture.Courtesy Mark Cocksedge -
Beazley Designs of the Year at the Design Museum
Each year, the Design Museum celebrates the previous 12 months in design, and this year’s edition displays 76 projects across six categories curated by Beatrice Galilee. Among the architecture projects included are 6a’s MK Gallery in Milton Keynes and Hildrey Studio’s ProxyAddress project, which helps homeless people in the U.K. access support services with a nominal address. Other standouts include a flushable and biodegradable pregnancy test by Lia, infographic work by Mona Chalabi which illustrates the lack of diversity in major art galleries, and Pernilla Ohstedt’s design of the showcase itself, which reinterprets exhibition materials from the museum’s previous show via a series of Matta-Clark–esque cuts.Courtesy Design MuseumBeazley Designs of the Year at the Design Museum
Each year, the Design Museum celebrates the previous 12 months in design, and this year’s edition displays 76 projects across six categories curated by Beatrice Galilee. Among the architecture projects included are 6a’s MK Gallery in Milton Keynes and Hildrey Studio’s ProxyAddress project, which helps homeless people in the U.K. access support services with a nominal address. Other standouts include a flushable and biodegradable pregnancy test by Lia, infographic work by Mona Chalabi which illustrates the lack of diversity in major art galleries, and Pernilla Ohstedt’s design of the showcase itself, which reinterprets exhibition materials from the museum’s previous show via a series of Matta-Clark–esque cuts.Courtesy Design Museum
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Categories: Arts + Culture, Design
