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Clerkenwell Design Trail highlights sustainability at LDF 2022
Bolon’s presentation at the festival
Image: Courtesy of London Design Festival 2022
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Clerkenwell Design Trail highlights sustainability at LDF 2022

The Clerkenwell Trail, one of the 12 design districts at the London Design Festival, presents new collections and iterations by various furniture, product and bathroom brands.

by Almas Sadique
Published on : Sep 20, 2022

The 20th edition of the London Design Festival is here to light up our autumn lulls. This design fair, taking place in London from September 17 to September 25, 2022, presents, across 12 districts and two fairs, a diverse line-up of product design and art presentations, events, installations, talks, design exhibitions and much more. Ascribing to its vision of celebrating and promoting London as the design capital of the world, the event platforms designers, galleries, and creative brands, all of which come together to strengthen the city’s identity as a design metropolis. "Over the last 20 years, the festival has had incredible depth of penetration and success in bringing people together and distilling new ideas," says Sir John Sorrell CBE, Chairman, London Design Festival about the design week. LDF 2022 brings together showcases that present new creative ideas, highlighting the role of design and inching closer to a more sustainable economy. One of the various design events taking place at the city-wide fair is the Clerkenwell Design Trail, a two-day event organised by Clerkenwell Design Week and London Design Festival, and dedicated to hosting furniture, lighting, kitchen, and bathroom brands.

In addition to the 12 Design Districts, of which Clerkenwell is a part, another event organised to shine a light on existing problems through the Global Design Forum. It is the British design festival’s thought leadership programme that aims to bring together various leaders from the creative industry to facilitate an exchange of ideas and solutions for today’s pressing issues. “On our 20th anniversary we want to take stock and move forward to ensure the Festival continues to support the design community, commissions and showcases new ideas, and reflects on the key issues from technology to sustainability to wellbeing so that the next 20 years are as fruitful as the past 20,” says Ben Evans CBE, Director of London Design Festival.

Carl Hansen & Son’s presentation
Carl Hansen & Son’s presentation Image: Courtesy of London Design Festival 2022

The Clerkenwell Design Trail, open to the public on September 20 and September 21, 2022, features engaging events within a short walking distance. With showrooms spread across the area, visitors can stroll through the historic lanes while browsing through the latest product launches and installations. Some prominent showcases at Clerkenwell this year include Carl Hansen & Søn’s talks and product presentations, VitrA’s immersive colour installations and a virtual reality bathroom experience, and Arper’s showcase of their latest collections, namely the Shaal modular sofa by Doshi Levien, the Ghia tables by Altherr Désile Park, Aerie table by Peter Kunz, June 02 chairs by James Irvine and Oell side table by Jean-Marie Massaud. Two brands that present products centred around carbon reduction include Modus Furniture and Forbo. While Modus Furniture, a furniture design brand based in the United States, presents Edge Free, a modular seating platform for workspaces designed by Pearson Lloyd using plant-based alternatives instead of fossil fuel-based foams, Forbo puts on display a carbon-dioxide neutral floor covering.

STIR enlists a few presentations from the Clerkenwell Design Trail that bring forth new narratives to the design festival.

VitrA’s RGB colour experience with artworks by Carnovsky

RGB colour experience with artworks by Carnovsky
RGB colour experience with artworks by Carnovsky Image: Courtesy of London Design Festival 2022

Using art and design duo Carnovsky’s artworks, VitrA London is hosting an immersive colour experience which experiments with the interaction between colour in light and print form. Carnovsky's artwork initially appears to be a jumble of interconnected lines, forms, and colours, but when red, green, and blue filters are applied on top, the various levels of the artwork become apparent. Carnovsky is made up of Silvia Quintanilla and Francesco Rugi, two artists and designers based in Milan.

Dekton’s new collection 'Onirika & Kraftizen' by Cosentino

Dekton 'Onirika & Kraftizen' by Cosentino
Dekton 'Onirika & Kraftizen' by Cosentino Image: Courtesy of London Design Festival 2022

Cosentino launches a new collection made out of Dekton, a stone made out of a special combination of quartz, glass and porcelain. The new collection, Onirika & Kraftizen, is an ultra-compact and carbon-neutral series of stone tiles. Onirika represents the fantastical journeys that we often take in dreams, where the boundaries between what’s real and what’s not disappears. Kraftizen, on the other hand, pays homage to the skilled artisans and the methods they developed over the ages. While Onirika comprises Neural, Awake, Trance, Lucid/Morpehous, Vigil/Daze, and Somnia, the Kraftizen series consists of five straightforward and adaptable colours, namely Umber, Albarium, Argentium, Nacre, and Micron, the collection presents elegant and authentic pieces that are timeless.

New collection by Knoll

Presentation by Knoll
Presentation by Knoll Image: Courtesy of London Design Festival 2022

The international brand, known for its iconic home and office products, exhibits its latest collections alongside classics by illustrious designers such as Florence Knoll, Mies van der Rohe, Eero Saarinen, and Harry Bertoia. The placement of the contemporary design furniture pieces against classic designs serves as a celebration of the brand’s consistent commitment to delivering high-quality products for regular usage over the decades.

Morgan’s ‘Celebration of Design Excellence’

Morgan’s showcase for LDF
Morgan’s showcase for LDF Image: Courtesy of London Design Festival 2022

At the occasion of completing 30 years, Morgan hosts the exhibition Celebration of Design Excellence from September 20 to September 23, 2022. The event hosts a new collection by Tim Rundle and an art installation Offcuts, by British artist Olly Fathers, with lighting design. by Bert Frank. The event also presents the opportunity to win one of Tim Rundle’s chairs at the event.

Bolon’s focus on sustainability

Bolon’s presentation at LDF
Bolon’s presentation at LDF Image: Courtesy of London Design Festival 2022

Sustainable vinyl flooring brand Bolon hosts a sustainability discussion at their showroom in Clerkenwell during LDF. Led by the Head of Sustainability and Co-Founder of Greenpeace Sweden, Håkan Nordin, the event will highlight the importance of the practice and the brand’s role in furthering this practice. Nordin also joins the Life in Plastics talk at the Material Matters show at the festival.

Fritz Hansen’s celebration of their 150th anniversary

Fritz Hansen at London Design Festival 2022
Fritz Hansen at London Design Festival 2022 Image: Courtesy of London Design Festival 2022

Fritz Hansen, an interior design brand from Denmark, celebrates its 150th anniversary by transforming its London showroom into a replica of the well-preserved historic Suite 606, a preserved room that is closed to the public in the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen, Denmark. The hotel was envisioned and designed by architect and designer Arne Jacobsen. It was the first hospitality building to have been designed entirely by a sole designer, and is, hence, iconic. Everything from the exterior facade and interior colour schemes to the furniture pieces and accessories was built by Jacobsen. The exhibition at Fritz Hansen’s showroom, centred around the brand’s journey in hospitality design, features the chairs originally designed by Jacobsen for Suite 606. Several new designs from the brand’s new Autumn 2022 collection will also feature at the exhibition.

The Clerkenwell Design Trail will remain on view from 20-21 September 2022.

Everything you need to know about London Design Festival 2022. Celebrating its 20th year, the festival takes over the city of London with installations, exhibitions, and talks from major design districts such as Brompton, Shoreditch Design Triangle, Greenwich Peninsula, Design London, Clerkenwell Design Trail, Park Royal, Mayfair, Bankside, King's Cross, William Morris Line, and Islington.

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