What to see at the London Design Festival

The top ten highlights worth a visit

With nine days and 300 design events sprawling across the capital, there is too much to keep track of at
London Design Festival which opens this Saturday (17-25 September). It is more than just furniture; look out for a Lego greenhouse, a 500-metre red dress and a giant lens. Read on for our ten festival favourites.

1. ‘Perspectives’ at St Paul’s Cathedral

Probably the highlight of the entire festival is John Pawson’s installation in St Paul’s. The baroque majesty of the cathedral is given a temporary facelift with an enormous lens at the bottom of the Geometric Staircase and a gigantic convex mirror positioned at the top. The result is extraordinary. Pawson’s Swarovski lens allows visitors to view more than their naked eyes ever could. (19-25 Sept)

2. ‘REDDRESS’ at the Finnish Institute in London

This interactive installation of a colossal dress designed by Aamu Song brings a whole new meaning to Chris de Burgh’s Lady in Red song. It took 238 people to create the dress that stands at three metres high and measures 20 metres in diameter. A storyteller will climb into the enormous dress (created with 550 metres of fabric) to entertain the audience who will sit in its cavernous pockets. (22-25 Sept)

3. Google Design Lectures – Design as Performance at the V&A

The first ever LDF Google Design Lectures are bound to provoke. Four teams will be given challenging briefs and told to develop new processes and products in public view. The teams will develop ideas on stage, call on audience participation and ask expert advice. Charlotte Jarvis and J.Paul Neeley will present Nudge Nudge, a discussion of whether design changes how we behave. (17, 23, 24 Sept)

4. Oxo Wharf Tower

LDF is a great excuse to get down to this Southbank riverside location to enjoy the design shops and restaurants. There will be two design exhibitions ‘Choices’ and ‘Creative Connections’ and 26 design studios during LDF. Special mention goes to Miranda Watkins who will showcase her new collection of contemporary barware, tabletop and lighting in Spin exhibition (22-25 Sept). Meanwhile, Teresa Collins will exhibit the original paintings and drawings that inspired the Little & Collins Rugs (22-25 Sept).

5. ‘Timber Wave’ by Amanda Levete Architects at the V&A

Causing quite a storm at the Cromwell Road entrance of the museum, ‘Timber Wave’ has received much attention already. The 12-metre tall spiral of latticework cascades down the steps of the entrance to the V&A in celebration of LDF’s residency at the museum. The 3-dimensional tightly curved spiral is made from American red oak using lamination techniques normally used in furniture making. (17 Sept – 15 Oct)

6. V&A and Me: Designer Maps by Johnson Banks

If you are unfamiliar with the museum, this one is for you. Five well-known creative individuals Annie Lennox, Lulu Guinness, Tom Dixon, A.S Byatt and Judi Dench has handpicked their favourite areas of the V&A which the Johnson Banks Studio have turned into exclusive ‘tour maps’. Follow in their footsteps for a special, personal tour through the V&A.

7. Pimlico Road Design District

Don’t expect Pimlico Road’s LDF debut to be modest. Interiors and furniture experts John Coote and Gabriel Bernardi are using the festival as an excuse to open their new flagship Coote and Bernardi on Pimlico Road. Other highlights on the street include the bizarrely named show ‘Boned in England’ in Jamb featuring 200 handcrafted bone china light works by Emily Johnson (17-23 Sept). Also worth a visit is Plus One Gallery for its Celebrating 10 Years of Hyperrealism Today (16 Sept – 1 Oct).

8. Lego Greenhouse in Covent Garden

Award-winning Brit designer Sebastian Bergne must have had fun playing with the iconic bricks. Specifically commissioned by Lego for LDF, Bergne created a fully functioning greenhouse in the North East Piazza of Covent Garden. In memory of the former fruit and veg market, the greenhouse contains real, rather than Lego, plants and vegetables. By night, it is lit from within. (15-25 Sept)

9. 100% Design at Earls Court

Finally here is an event with the air of a ‘proper’ design festival in the style of Milan. Housed in Earls Court, the trade show 100% Design will show off the latest wares by 400 leading designers and manufacturers. Highlights include the launch of Sir Terence Conran’s Bibendum light and David Chipperfield’s Piana folding chair for KI. For the first time, Vitra, Knoll and Established & Sons will be present. (22-25 Sept).

10. Brompton Design District

Peel yourself away from the V&A and potter down the Brompton Road to experience a galaxy of exhibitions and pop-ups. Royal College of Art students are working with Simon Hasan to create temporary displays in Fendi’s new Sloane Street store. Over at the Marion Friedmann Gallery, the exhibition Enlightened Waste unveils light objects using waste packaging such as a chandelier made using 1,500 plastic bottles.

Annie Deakin is interiors writer for sofa and interior design website mydeco.com.