Clerkenwell Design Week is the independent design festival held in London, May 23-25, 2023
The twelfth edition of Clerkenwell Design Week is set to celebrate design in London’s most creative neighborhood, May 23-25, 2023. This year, the UK’s leading independent design festival, one of the world’s leading design hubs, will merge with Design London.
CDW will take place in the heart of Clerkenwell, the neighborhood hosting some of the world’s most creative design and architecture firms. The three-day event will offer a program full of not-to-be-missed events, installations, exhibitions and talks. It will showcase more than 300 design brands and product innovations including upholstery, furnishings, lighting, textiles, materials and surfaces.
The exhibition venues at Clerkenwell Design Week
Design Fields is home to international furniture and interiors brands; British Collection hosts the best of British interiors brands; Detail is dedicated to luxury interiors; Ceramics of Italy houses Italian tile brands. Other exhibition venues are Contract, Light, Project, Elements. Lastly, Platform is the venue devoted to emerging design talent and Old Sessions House is the space for brand pop-ups and activations.
This year’s festival will also feature two additions: The Garden, home to outdoor furniture, and Catapult, home to contemporary design for office, hospitality and retail.
Click here for the updated exhibitor list
Exhibitions, talks, themed events
Another significant aspect of CDW is the increasing number of showrooms that participate in the initiative each year (click here for the full list), offering a vast lineup of thematic events and must-visit exhibitions. Installations, exhibitions, workshops, and panel discussions will feature well-known brands in the industry, both from the UK and international, including Standard, Kohler, Vitra, Cosentino, Gessi, Iris Ceramica; Arper, Solid Nature, Marazzi, Bolon, Parkside. Moreover, places such as The Goldsmiths’ Centre, Paxton Locher House, Cowcross Yards and the Museum of the Order of St John will host several exhibitions, making the atmosphere even more magical.
Some must-see works and installations
Steve Messam, the British designer and artist known for his inflatable installations around the world, presents Gateway, a 6-meter-tall and 15-meter-long blue fabric work featuring 27 giant hand-sewn spikes, at the entrance to the Museum of the Order of St John. Also by Messam is the K2 box installation, a tribute to the original K6, the iconic red telephone booth designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott in 1935.
Mycelium Building Block is an installation made of mycelium blocks and 3D printed timber aimed at promoting organic architecture. Heiter X, a food design studio founded by Estonia-based Helis Heiter, is launching its first sculptural tableware collection in collaboration with Krohwin. The Mound tableware collection is made of raw clay, natural carnauba wax and food industry waste. Recork, on the other hand, is a company specializing in the production of flooring made from 85% natural cork, which is launching its latest rug collection made from cork, wool and cotton in partnership with Portuguese brand Sugo Cork Rugs.
Graphenstone will present its Ambient Pro+ and Grafclean paint ranges made from natural mineral ingredients and graphene fibres; AllSfär will present Fika, the new acoustic panel made with 60% recycled PET. Lastly, Parkside is launching a new tile consisting of over 91% recycled content from the ceramic and glass industry.
Outdoor furniture at Clerkenwell Design Week
Jennifer Newman Studio will have an installation in St John’s Square focusing on outdoor terrace products such as the Alfresco bench and Huddle table. In the meanwhile, successful Italian company Ethimo will present its 2023 collection including the in-house designed Bold table, as well as a series of vases by Studiopepe. On the other hand, British company Case Furniture will display its Eos outdoor collection by Matthew Hilton, while Norr11 will launch the new editions of its popular Studio sofa and Hippo lounge chair.
It’s time to… Conversations at Clerkenwell
Also returning to CDW is Conversations at Clerkenwell, an exciting program of daily talks and meetings featuring designers, architects, and business executives from well-known brands in the industry. The meetings will be held in a theater at Spa Fields specially designed for the event and sponsored by RAK Ceramics. Conversation topics include sound design, color trends for 2024, Scandinavian design, circularity, and the future of wellness in the hospitality industry.
