London Design Festival’s vision is to celebrate and promote London as the design capital of the world. In 2017, the Festival welcomed a record-breaking 450,000 individual visitors from over 75 countries. These visitors contributed to an overall 991,000 visits to London Design Festival events with 150,000 people passing through Broadgate each day having the opportunity to see Landmark Project Villa Walala. In addition, London Design Festival helped drive a total of 173,250 visits to the V&A over the Festival period with 22% of those surveyed saying they had never visited the museum before and were driven there by the Festival. Flynn Talbot’s Reflection Room and Ross Lovegrove’s Transmission installations were particularly popular.

London Design Festival Director, Ben Evans says “London and Design go hand in hand. It is part of our story. London Design Festival is a platform for 100s of design stories to be told. Each of them talks to an expanding audience hungry for design ideas and enjoying the quality and diversity of what’s on offer. It all confirms London’s status as the global centre of design."

For the nine days of the Festival, visitors to the V&A will explore a range of special displays and installations throughout the museum, complemented by an extensive programme of events, daily tours, and workshops from Global Design Forum, which in 2017 drew 45 speakers from 13 countries, and 2,800 visitors.

Dr Tristram Hunt, Director of the V&A says: “This year’s programme is bigger and more ambitious than ever, and presents a unique opportunity for leading designers to engage with and respond to the V&A’s world-class collections of art, design and performance. London Design Festival occupies a vital role in London’s thriving design sector, reaffirming London’s position as the world’s leading global design capitals.”

London Design Festival will launch a series of city-wide commissions and installations. Returning for their fifth London Design Festival is The American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC), with a playful, ambitious and immersive Tulipwood structure, which will be the first installation ever to be located in the new Sackler Courtyard at the V&A.

The Festival receives support from the Mayor’s Office and is delighted to continue its long-standing partnership with British Land as Headline Partner.

Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, said: “London Design Festival is a fantastic event which brings together designers from across the globe and demonstrates the capital’s position as a powerhouse for the creative industries. London is known for its creativity and continues to attract the best companies and talent from around the world. I’m delighted to support London Design Festival, which shows that London is open to great ideas, innovation and people from all backgrounds.”

LANDMARK PROJECTS AND COMMISSIONSALPHABET KELLENBERGER-WHITE SUPPORTED BY BRITISH LAND BROADGATEKnown for their playful approach to typefaces, Kellenberger-White has designed a new series of alphabet chairs, supported by Festival Headline Partner British Land. An experiment in folding metal to create a typographic system, the chairs are informed by research into László Moholy-Nagy, Marianne Brandt and Wilhelm Wagenfeld. The result is an alphabet of 26 chairs. Other influences for this usable typeface include Bruno Munari’s photos ‘Seeking Comfort in an Uncomfortable Chair’ (1944), Max Bill and Hans Gugelot’s Ulm Stool (1955), as well as Bruce McLean’s ‘pose’ works of the 1970s.Each chair is in a different colour, chosen from a specialist paint manufacturer used for industrial metalwork – from International Orange (used for San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge) to Cornflower Blue (the colour of Middlesbrough’s Transporter Bridge). The alphabet will be installed in front of Exchange House in Broadgate which is built on an exposed steel bridge spanning the tracks of Liverpool Street Station.Chief Executive, Chris Grigg, says: Design is integral to everything we do at British Land. Our partnership with London Design Festival celebrates the world’s leading designers and we are delighted to once again support the Festival.”TIME FOR TEASCHOLTEN AND BAIJINGS SUPPORTED BY FORTNUM & MASON FORTNUM & MASON, PICCADILLYScholten & Baijings will create a contemporary tea installation in the first floor of the historic Fortnum & Mason flagship store in Piccadilly. Visitors will be invited to immerse themselves in the daily tea party, held throughout the nine days of the Festival. Using more than 80 products, designed by companies from across the globe, Scholten & Baijings will deliver a unique take on the ritual of tea, set on a six-metre-long table.Fortnum’s iconic Eau de Nil colour provided the inspiration for the installation, with all furniture and products designed by Scholten & Baijings bearing the distinctive green hue. The marble floor and tables in Eau de Nil will be produced by the Italian marble manufacturer Luce di Carrara. Long green wool Colour Block curtains will be woven in the United Kingdom for Maharam, the American textile company, and special, green upholstered chairs will be furnished by the brands HAY, Moroso and Karimoku New Standard. Moreover, in collaboration with Fortnum & Mason, 1616 / arita japan and Maharam Accessoires Japan, an exquisite porcelain tea set has been developed just for this occasion and produced in the Japanese Arita region, renowned for its fine porcelain since the 17th century.PROJECTS AT THE V&ACelebrating ten years with the V&A as the official London Design Festival hub, this unique collaboration sees iconic spaces within the Museum transformed each year by an extraordinary collection of specially-commissioned installations and displays by international contemporary designers.Head of London Design Festival at the V&A, Victoria Broackes, says:‘Museums are often viewed as keepers of the past, but the London Design Festival at the V&A programme demonstrates the V&A’s commitment to the contemporary and to inspiring the future. This year the programme explores new technologies, sound, digital design and gaming, tying into the V&A’s current exhibitions Videogames: Design/Play/Disrupt and The Future Starts Here. It’s exciting to offer a wide programme to all our visitors, encompassing all that design offers, and indeed will offer as we move into the future.’MULTIPLYWAUGH THISTLETON ARCHITECTSSUPPORTED BY THE AMERICAN HARDWOOD EXPORT COUNCIL and ARUP THE SACKLER COURTYARD, V&ALondon Design Festival have collaborated with Waugh Thistleton Architects, the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) and ARUP to create MultiPly, an interactive modular maze-like installation in The Sackler Courtyard at the V&A, that will encourage visitors to re-think the way homes and cities are designed and built. This pavilion will delve into two of the current global challenges - housing and climate change - and will present the fusion of modular systems and a responsible choice of materials as a vital solution.This three-dimensional permeable structure will be built out of a re-usable panel system made with 60 cubic metres of American Tulipwood, and it will explore ways in which modular architecture can be developed and enjoyed. “The structure will lead people a merry dance up and down staircases and across bridges exploring space and light,” says architect Andrew Waugh. “The experience will provide previously unseen framed glimpses of the V&A and the courtyard below.”DAZZLESTUDIO FRITHSUPPORTED BY BLOOMBERG PHILANTROPIES ROOM 131A, V&ALondon Design Festival is collaborating with 14-18 NOW – the UK’s design and cultural programme for the First World War centenary - on a commissioned project inspired by the First World War concept of Dazzle. The project will see Room 131A at the V&A being ‘dazzled’ throughout the nine days of the Festival.The idea of ’dazzle’, an experimental camouflage painted on to the surface of ships, was pioneered by British artist Norman Wilkinson, who prepared numerous designs for vessels, including US merchant ships, targeted by enemy U- boats. Drawing on avant-garde artistic movements such as Cubism and Vorticism, as well as animal camouflage, these bewildering shapes and angles were designed to confuse the enemy as they struggled to make out the dazzle ships against shifting waves and clouds.Dazzle will be the culmination of the Dazzle Ship series co-commissioned by 14-18 NOW and Liverpool Biennial.MEMORY & LIGHTARVO PART AND ARUPBRITISH GALLERIES, ROOM 52B, NORFOLK HOUSE MUSIC ROOM, V&AEstonian born, Arvo Pärt, is the most performed contemporary composer in the world, whose life and music represent a drive for freedom and invention against the odds. This installation – a rare collaboration for Pärt – was specially conceived for the V&A’s Norfolk House Music Room and was inspired by Arvo Pärt’s famous words about his music: “I could compare my music to white light, which contains all colours. Only a prism can divide the colours and make them appear; this prism could be the spirit of the listener.”Curated by Clare Farrow with Eva Woode in collaboration with Arup’s design team, Arvo Pärt’s words will be brought to life in this multi-sensory installation, in the form of a transparent curved screen representing the prism dividing colours in Pärt’s description; a “viewing and listening bench”; and the music of Arvo Pärt himself, including “Spiegel im Spiegel” (Mirror in the Mirror) and “Für Alina”.A FOUNTAIN FOR LONDONMICHAEL ANASTASSIADESSUPPORTED BY THE LONDON FOUNTAIN COMPANY V&A AND BROMPTON DESIGN DISTRICThas largely disappeared from the city’s public spaces.BRITISH LAND CELEBRATION OF DESIGN MEDAL EXHIBITION 2018 MEDAL WINNERSBRITISH GALLERIES, ROOM 55, CLORE STUDY AREA, V&AFor the 4th year running, to correspond with the British Land Celebration of Design, London Design Festival will present an exhibition featuring work by the four London Design Medal WinnersThe Medal Exhibition illustrates the breadth of work and scale of achievement of each of the winners and celebrates the bestowed awards: Emerging Talent, Design Innovation, London Design Medal and Lifetime Achievement.For the second year, the exhibition will be located in the Clore Study Area at the V&A.OTHER INSTALLATIONS AT THE V&A WILL INCLUDE:o TheArtofMusicintheDigitalAge:Aseriesofworld-firstdesignsbymusicianandtechnology innovator Beatie Wolfe supported by Nokia Bell Labso ThePatentLibraryattheV&A:AnopenandhackablepatentlibrarycreatedbytheInstituteofPatent Infringemento ‘TheTransubstantiationofKnowledge’:Amixedrealitysite-specificinstallationbyRachelAra,V&A Research Institute Artist in Residence, supported by the Andrew W. Mellon FoundationThe London Fountain Company presents a prototype for a new drinking water fountain designed by MichaelAnastassiades and launched in the Brompton Design District and at the V&A. The first fountains will be sited in the V&A’sJohn Madejski garden and in a public space in South Kensington at the initiative of South Kensington Estates. The LondonFountain Co has been set up by publisher and collector Charles Asprey and curator Jane Withers to reduce disposableplastic bottle use by providing free drinking water. The legacy project aims to revive the drinking fountain culture thatGLOBAL DESIGN FORUMGlobal Design Forum will return to the V&A as part of London Design Festival. Global Design Forum is a week-long celebration of design and its power to change the world. A series of talks, discussions and workshops the Forum lifts the lid on the most innovative thinking in the world of design today. Visitors will be inspired by pioneers that are changing the way we design and live, refreshing their thinking and rebooting their understanding of the power and potential of design as a force for good.In 2017, 45 speakers from 13 countries shared their perspectives on designing for how we live today, and the world we want to inhabit tomorrow. Previous speakers include Camille Walala, Es Devlin, Brent Huberman, Paul Priestman, Michael Beirut, Zaha Hadid, Jaime Hayon, Peter Savile, Thomas Heatherwick, Faye Toogood, Edward Barber & Jay Osgerby.DESIGN DISTRICTS, DESIGN DESTINATIONS AND DESIGN ROUTESAs a citywide event, London Design Festival is an essential platform for the capital’s major tradeshows taking place across London, including: 100% Design, Decorex International, designjunction, Focus/18 and London Design Fair. These shows feature work from a local and international network of both new and established exhibitors.In 2018, there will be ten official Design Districts from East to West; North to South. Design Districts are areas where there are distinct concentrations of design activity and events that can be traversed easily on foot. Each District is organised locally and independently via the platform of London Design Festival. This year will see four new design districts taking part in the Festival; Fitzrovia Design District, Marylebone Design District, Regent Street and St James’s Design District, and West Kensington Design District.They join Bankside Design District, Brompton Design District, Clerkenwell Design Quarter, Mayfair Design District, Pimlico Road Design District and Shoreditch Design Triangle.In addition, we are delighted to welcome Paddington Central Design Route as a new Design Route alongside Brixton Design Trail.