Designers including Martino Gamper, Sanne Visser, Bethan Laura Wood, James Shaw and others respond to the theme Make Yourself at Home. London’s first ever design district hosts over 30 events ranging from design graduate showcases to installations and talks by celebrated European furniture designers and leading design brands. Cromwell Place to become festival hub hosting four design exhibitions from the Brompton’s curated programme as well as a series of London Design Festival exhibitions.
Brompton Design District has revealed its programme of design events for London Design Festival 2022. Running from 17 – 25 September, London’s first ever design district will host a range of exhibitions, talks and events showcasing the work of emerging designers as well as celebrating the work of leading designers and brands including Cassina, Molteni&C, Meridiani and others from the UK and Europe. For London Design Festival 2022, the theme for Brompton Design District is ‘Make Yourself At Home’. Recent events have heightened our awareness of home, its importance and fragility in turbulent times. Curated by Jane Withers Studio, Brompton invites designers to reflect on the places we call home and the role of design in transforming these spaces.
No Ordinary Home, Martino Gamper & Friends
Internationally renowned design brands based in the District will share their latest collections including; Cassina, Molteni&C, B&B Italia, Meridiani, Poliform, KARTELL and Tai Ping. Alongside exhibits by leading showrooms in Brompton, the curated programme will showcase work by Martino Gamper and Friends, James Shaw, Sanne Visser, Bethan Laura Wood and others. Also responding to the theme will be Kyiv based design studio NOOM, whose exhibit Ukraine: Design for Real Time presents Gropius Low Chair Military Edition by Kateryna Sokolova. Design graduates from Royal College of Art will also respond to the theme with an exhibition entitled I Was Lost But Now I Live Here and for the first time Brompton Design District has partnered with Disegno to host a programme of talks with leading designers.
Molteni & C Cleo seating system designed by Vincent Van Duysen
Stretching from the V&A to Brompton Road, Brompton is a destination for design; a cluster of global design brands sit within an ecosystem of fashion shops, local cafes, established restaurants and one of the world’s most important cultural quarters. This year the District’s hub will be at Cromwell Place. The arts venue will host four exhibitions from the curated programme as well as a number of other London Design Festival events including INTO SIGHT, a life-sized media platform installation, where Sony Design plays on sensorial effects that transform simple surfaces into an infinite vista through shifting light, colour and sound.
Curated programme highlights include:
Following on from their last outing in 2016 Martino Gamper and Friends are back together to create ‘No Ordinary Home’. This experimental show will centre around objects to hold a plant. Working together as a collective, this project will bring together a group of designers – Tiago Almeida, Attua Aparicio, Jochem Faudet, Lars Frideen, Jon Harrison, Max Frommeld, Martino Gamper, Gemma Holt, Jochen Holz, Max Lamb, Will Shannon, Harry Thaler, Oscar Wanless, Bethan Wood – and will cumulate in a collaborative workshop held during the exhibition turning the ‘home’ into a place to experiment and create with friends.
SEEDS Gallery presents TWO KETTLES, NO SOFA – a new project by James Shaw. Partners designer James Shaw and writer Lou Stoppard explore themes around moving in together. Tastes and desires collide when two households combine to become one. A presentation of Shaw’s design objects is mixed with historical design classics to create a fictive environment which tells the story of a couple negotiating the conflicting tastes and practicalities as they attempt to build a home together. It is a meditation on the sense of self which objects of daily use give us, and the role that physical possessions, habits and compromise play in our relationships. Shaw’s objects and the arrangement of the display have been shaped by a new short story written by Stoppard, which was, in turn, inspired by the way Shaw’s objects look when placed alongside other furniture.
Also at Cromwell Place 1882 Ltd presents Disco Gourds, a new exhibition of ceramic work by Bethan Laura Wood. The collection is focused on sharing – sharing in terms of use as well as in terms of design and skill. Recent events have highlighted the importance of community and the role of design and making as an essential part of that. There has been much discussion around loneliness and Bethan’s belief is that people and community are intrinsic to making a home, be it literal or metaphorical. Bethan’s pieces are intended to be used in the home environment. Without people the pieces, although beautiful objects, lose their meaning and without the people who design and make them, they simply don’t exist.
Studio Sanne Visser presents Extended, a new series of mirrors incorporating human hair on show at 15A Cromwell Mews. The mirrors reflect our sense of comfort and belonging in the hairdressers and barbershops where we get our hair cut; homely spaces of familiarity, sensitivity and relaxation. The eight custom-designed mirrors are made using human hair rope and recycled mirror glass. The materials were collected from eight barber shops and hairdressers in the borough of Kensington and Chelsea as part of Sanne’s residency at the Design Museum.
For the exhibition I Was Lost But Now I Live Here, students and graduates from the Design Products programme at the Royal College of Art present their work, responding to the call to ditch old and unsustainable practices and act as catalysts, facilitators, rebels, even saboteurs. They set off to find new spaces and new callings, away from the familiarity of consumer culture. It takes courage to leave a home and it takes hard work to make a new one, and this is their wish; to find a new place that will inspire us and transform us to become not what we were taught to be but what we ought to be.
Modular sofa company Cozmo present a special edition sofa jacket designed by Raw Edges, using Kornit’s game-changing digital fashion and textile production technology. Inspired by handmade tailoring and playful paper cut-outs, the LDF special edition jacket is produced on demand by Kornit’s sustainable digital printing technology, perfectly matching the print to sofa shape and pattern.
Two Kettles, No Sofa James Shaw presented by SEEDS Gallery
Speaking at the announcement of this year’s programme for Brompton Design District curator Jane Withers said: “Recent events have propelled many of us to think more deeply about the idea of home and what it means to us. Each of us has a unique definition of home, whether it is the place we grew up, the people we feel most comfortable with, or simply a safe space. Home can be in the mind, or in the metaverse. Brompton’s curated programme explores what it means to make a home, how spaces can be designed to evoke a sense of comfort or inspiration, and some of the places that make us feel at home. This year we’re excited to host exhibitions and events in our new festival hub in Cromwell Place. This includes the return of Martino Gamper whose exhibition 100 Chairs in 100 Days at Brompton Design District in 2007 is a landmark in the designer’s career. It feels fitting as we join the 20th anniversary celebrations for LDF that alongside established names like Martino we are able to host emerging design talent.”
Alongside the curated programme, Brompton Design District will see design partners based in the District host a series of designer talks and exhibitions. Highlights include:
A multimedia installation by celebrated designer Vincent Van Duysen hosted by Molteni&C in its flagship store on Brompton Road. Also in celebration of the Brompton Design District theme ‘Make Yourself At Home’, Molteni&C has organised a panel discussion on Thursday 22 September. The festival will also be an opportunity to present the new collections, on display for the first time in London.
To coincide with London Design Festival 2022, Slamp’s first flagship store in the United Kingdom, Slamp London Knightsbridge will open its doors. The store will showcase the brand’s most iconic collections, from those designed by Zaha Hadid, to those which best suit contract projects and offer striking architectural solutions. Described as a multi-sensory experience that touches every emotion, Slamp London Knightsbridge promises to be an exciting new addition to Brompton Design District.
This September, Tai Ping will launch an exclusive new range of crafted rugs under its new prêt-à-porter label, Studio by Tai Ping, at an installation in its flagship showroom.
The Meridiani store in front of the V&A, reconfirms the brand’s lifestyle with a pure, timeless range marked by rounded, organic shapes. The brand showcases the latest collection, first introduced at the Salone del Mobile in Milan last June: the René sofa and the Jasper writing desk.
Poliform presents the first chapter of „Incontri”, a project that leads the company to meet and open up to new worlds. The first encounter is with the world of photography and, in particular, with Paolo Roversi.
For the first time Brompton Design District is delighted to partner with Disegno Magazine to host a series of thought-provoking talks exploring the theme of Make Yourself At Home. The programme will be an opportunity to hear in person from leading international and emerging designers.
Speaking ahead of the presentation of her exhibition at Brompton Design District designer Sanne Visser said: „For Extended I wanted to reflect our sense of comfort and belonging in the hairdressers and barbershops where we get our hair cut; homely spaces of familiarity, sensitivity and relaxation. The eight unique mirrors to be exhibited at the London Design Festival as part of the Brompton Design District (quite literally) reflect the eight hairdressers and barbershops I have worked with local to Kensington, using waste human hair I collected in the past few months. In responding to this year’s theme ‘Make Yourself at Home’ chosen by Jane Withers Studio for the District I hope visitors embrace this extended idea of what home is but also understand how materials closer to home could have a valuable environmental and social impact by extending their lifetime.
About Brompton Design District
The BROMPTON DESIGN DISTRICT is a partnership between leading international brands, independent retailers, local restaurants and cultural institutions.
Initiated by South Kensington Estates, a company with a history woven into the fabric of the district for over 200 years, the Brompton Design District was established in 2007 becoming London’s first Design District. Together with a cluster of design retailers and local cultural institutions, the District is a space where new design can flourish. Brompton Design District has revitalised the area as a place where people come together to share, enjoy and learn about design in its broadest sense; including through culture, fashion and food.
It is the leading District during the annual London Design Festival with a dedicated programme of temporary exhibitions. In 2022, these will showcase new design under the theme ‘Make Yourself at Home’. Brompton’s programme, curated by Jane Withers Studio, has played host to pioneering and innovative contemporary exhibitions. The combination of temporary exhibitions, set in an area of London known for its iconic, international design brands, adds energy and dynamism and has earned Brompton the reputation as a leading international design destination.
bromptondesigndistrict.com // @brompton_design_district
About London Design Festival
Established in 2003 by Sir John Sorrell CBE and Ben Evans CBE, London Design Festival celebrates and promotes London as the design capital of the world. London Design Festival has since earned the reputation as a key calendar moment of London’s autumn creative season, alongside London Fashion Week, Frieze Art Fair and the London Film Festival, attracting the greatest thinkers, practitioners, retailers and educators to the capital, in a citywide celebration.
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