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From solar theta waves to dance you can taste and a bronze diplodocus – the best of London Design Festival 2024

All the design disciplines, all over London

By Anki Delfmann - September 24

The London Design Festival is once again promoting the city as a global hub for creativity. The 2024 festival runs from September 14th to 22nd, showcasing a vast variety of design-related activities and exhibitions spread across the city. One of the things that draws me back to this event every year is the plurality of design disciplines, so enjoy some highlights of LDF 2024 ranging from lighting to architectural, research, craft, product, industrial, material, exhibition, landscape, and graphic design!

Around Somerset House

The Sun, My Heart by Marjan van Aubel

My favourite escape from the busy streets of central London at LDF this year was tucked away in the New Wing at Somerset House. A symphony of light and sound backed by NASA's solar recordings, The Sun, My Heart by Marjan van Aubel invites viewers into a state of deep relaxation by triggering the brain's theta waves. The installation comprises of 77 of the designer's pill-shaped Sunne solar lights, suspended in space evoking the sun's daily journey, and influenced by visitors via a tactile sensor. Van Aubel's work aims to bridge sustainability, design, and technology, challenging us to envision a sun-powered future. In van Aubel's words: "We need beauty and design to make us want to change things. We need to feel it inside."

The Sun, My Heart by Marjan van Aubel at Somerset House

The Sun, my heart by Marjan van Aubel at Somerset House

Video: The Sun, My Heart by Marjan van Aubel at Somerset House

Pavilions of Wonder by Nina Tolstrup of Studiomama

On one rather cloudy day, the Landmark Project Pavilions of Wonder by Nina Tolstrup of Studiomama was a nice contrast against the gray surroundings of The Strand. Presented by Mattel Inc.'s Barbie® and Visit Greater Palm Springs, three small pop-up Dream Houses celebrate Barbie's 65th anniversary. Visitors can explore a lush desert garden, a geometric kaleidoscope pavilion, and porthole-framed miniature scenes featuring the famous doll herself in structures inspired by celebrated architects such as E Stewart Williams, Albert Frey, and Richard Neutra.

Discover: Design stories, one of the Pavilions of Wonder by Nina Tolstrup

Dream: Infinity Garden, one of the Pavilions of Wonder by Nina Tolstrup

Discover: Design Stories, one of the Pavilions of Wonder by Nina Tolstrup

Reflect: Playful Pauses, one of the Pavilions of Wonder by Nina Tolstrup

Brompton Design District

The district around Exhibition Road and South Kensington Station is home to multiple cultural and educational institutions of global significance, as well as a host of show rooms scattered in between. Brompton Design District showcases a colorful mixture of student exhibitions, lectures, and emerging as well as established brands.

Brompton Design District

Global Design Forum

The Global Design Forum at the V&A put a focus on current challenges for designers, grouped into daily topics: Please Design Responsibly, The Healthy City, Resilience and Repair, and More than Human. Design thought leaders from across the globe engaged in inspiring discussions on how to design for the human experience, how the role of designers is changing, and how design can help tackle our world's most urgent challenges.

Matthew Blair, Magali Thomson, Jeremy Myerson, Catherine Max and Nic Monisse talk about Cleaning up Urban Air

Rama Gheerawo, Liang-Jun Chen, Shawn Adams, Danah Abdulla, Priya Khanchandani talk about Designing Responsibly

Hannah Marshall, Tobias Rylander and Melek Zeynep Bulut talk about Changing the Human Experience through design

Victoria and Albert Museum

Scattered throughout the vast museum on Exhibition Road, the V&A curated a series of contemporary installations exploring global cultures and material investigations through craft and origins. Stand-out pieces told stories of connection: through communal cooking in West Africa, screenshots on the SIM cards of refugees, and the exploration of the vices and virtues in the Sikh faith.

Communion by Giles Tettey Nartey is a communal pounding table inspired by the practice of making Fufu in West Africa

Memories in Motion by The Sim Project combines glass jewellery craft with screenshots to tell stories of displacement

Sitting with your Virtues and Vices by Arjun Assa at the V&A explores Sikh architecture, spirituality & craft.

Curious Habits: Design as Learning by RCA MA Design Products

The exhibits of the Royal College of Art are a reliable spot to go for inquisitive and inventive product design, with this year's show titled Design as Learning. Some of the more interesting projects included dance accessories you can taste and wear in your mouth, innovative fermentation and herbal oil distilling devices for the home, spinal health technology that makes you look like an Anime superhero, and dynamic furniture.

Curious Habits: Design as Learning by the MA Design Products students of the Royal College of Art

Zest by CheJu Tsai allows you to taste the way you dance

GreenHome Fermentor by Qinxiao Wu converts kitchen waste to cleaning products

AphroHerb by Wang Huangyutian is the journey from personal hair loss to enabling everyone to distill herbal oils at home

YunJian Aspirations Series by Jialu Hou integrates traditional Chinese aesthetics with contemporary health technology

70% Furniture by Mingchuan Yang challenges traditional furniture by embracing a more flexible approach to daily living

RE BAR by Fabio Hendry

Max Radford Gallery showed Fabio Hendry's new sculpture series, RE BAR. In his studio Hot Wire Extensions, the Swiss designer and material researcher uses rebar nets, typically hidden in buildings, to create visually striking pieces. He bonds 3D-printing powder onto the rebar, forming intricate structures that have an intriguing, almost organic, skeletal feel.

ReBar by Fabio Hendry of Hot Wire Extensions is made with natural white marble sand, waste nylon powder & copper.

Serpentine Pavilion

The 23rd Serpentine Pavilion in Kensington Gardens, Archipelagic Void by Minsuk Cho of Mass Studies, is a constellation of 5 unique structures. Each one has a different purpose: a gallery, an auditorium, a library, a play tower, and a tea house. The structures surround a central void, drawing in natural light and connecting it to the park. The pavilion references Korean houses and their central courtyards for gathering and activities.

Archipelagic Void by Minsuk Cho of Mass Studies is the 23rd Serpentine Pavilion in Kensington Gardens

Natural History Museum Gardens

Landscape design has unfortunately not often been on my radar for London Design Festival so far. With hot topics like greener cities being discussed at the Global Design Forum across the street this year, the new gardens designed by J&L Gibbons outside the anyway striking Natural History Museum were a very welcome real-life application of the theoretical, and a favorite amongst all the people swarming around Exhibition Road. It features palm trees, wildlife ponds with dragon flies, and a full-size bronze Diplodocus called Fern.

The Natural History Museum Gardens by J&L Gibbons

Fern, the Natural History Museum Gardens' full-size bronze Diplodocus supported by Kusuma Trust

Notting Hill

Karel Martens x Pentagram x Liberty

As one of the few exhibitions around Notting Hill, Pentagram London opened its holy halls to visitors. The iconic studio has been providing the branding and visual identity for London Design Festival since 2007, and this year also collaborated with Karel Martens and Liberty to showcase the design process and outcome of the sell-out capsule collection for SS24, including bags, scarves and a range of fabrics.

Karel Martens x Pentagram x Liberty – an installation of design process and outcomes at Pentagram's London studio