London Design Festival 2023 on the rise: optimism, textures and materials rethought

2023-11-14 21:00:54

This is how the London Design Festival resumes, following a hiatus caused by the pandemic and its subsequent not very busy year.

In this 2023 edition of LDF, held in mid-September in London, England, the important fair on the world calendar reopened, bringing encouraging interventions to public spaces, in an optimistic tone.

It seems that design has an antidote to respond to the current threats that the world is experiencing, and it involves playfulness, through spaces that inject energy into us and bring happier colors to squares.

Spirit of Place installation | Simone Brewster | Photo: Ed Reeve

Interventions around the city

Instalação Bringing Home to the Unknown, no Regent’s Park Pavilion | Foto: Luke O’Donovan

Around the city, if on the one hand we saw installations such as Bringing Home to the Unknown, at Regent’s Park Pavilion, and Spirit of Place, by Simone Brewster, as well as a pink tree in front of the iconic Victoria & Albert museum, on the other hand there was a focus on tradition.

Installation of ‘Hana Mikoshi’ at Victoria & Albert | Photo: Disclosure

Aura, inside St Paul’s Cathedral, blended time, sound and light to create a live installation that transforms the sounds present in the Cathedral into a pulsating line of light projected on an architectural scale.

Aura, St Paul’s Cathedral | Photo: Ed Reeve

With engineering support, ‘Aura’ listened to the sound, voices and music generated in the church and materialized them into a spectral and three-dimensional aura.

Inside the LDF

Without being guided by creating trends, as designers naturally do in Milan, Italy, London is guided by larger issues, such as materiality, reflected in spaces like Material Matters.

Beran Table Lamp, by Bert_Frank, at Material Matters | Photo: Disclosure

This is where we see the directions that materials are taking, such as more rustic textures – such as wood and tapestries presented with impact.

Planted by Tanja Kirst, at Material Matters | Photo: Disclosure

There is also a slight move towards nature, with stones, natural materials and others rethought. Plastic and jeans, which have caused so much harm to the world and are widely seen in landfills, have also emerged as the basis for creations in a fun atmosphere, with new meanings. It’s nothing new, but it’s becoming more and more popular on the design stage – so keep your eyes open.

Smile Plastics – Classics Collection Profile Shapes, na Material Matters | Foto: Divulgação

Inspirations bigger than trends: diverse stories

Creation by Bert Frank at Material Matters | Photo: Disclosure

Instead of telling the public to look for “trends,” however, founder Ben Evans points out other sides. “The London Design Festival is a platform for hundreds of design stories to be told. Each speaks to an audience hungry for ideas and the quality and diversity of what they offer. This confirms its status at the global design center.”

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