With the festival less than a fortnight away, the London Design Festival at the V&A team are caught up in an exciting flurry of activity.
We thought we’d take a moment to surface and give you a taster of what there is in store!
The London Design Festival is an annual event, held to celebrate and promote London as the design capital of the world, and as the gateway to the international creative community. This is the Festival’s eleventh year and its fifth year here at the V&A.
As Festival Hub, the V&A is host to a variety of ambitious installations and a busy events schedule. Below we have detailed just enough to whet your appetite!
We think 28.280 by Omer Arbel, supported by Bocci, will be particularly spectacular. There’s no way you’ll miss it – it is an enormous, custom-made chandelier which will be suspended from the Cupola – the highest point in the Museum.
The piece will be installed over two nights. The first night will involve the mammoth task of building the rigging in the dome and hoisting the chandelier into place; the second will be spent painstakingly affixing each of the 280 individual glass pendant lamps. 28.280 will illuminate the Grand Entrance and Gallery 141, Ceramics, from 14 September all the way through to 21 November.
28.280 by Omer Arbel. © Bocci 2013
God is in the Details, supported by Swarovski will take you on a voyage of discovery through the V&A’s collections. A group of influential designers have each chosen an object they find particularly interesting. Swarovksi have then made specialist lenses which will magnify a detail in the object’s design.
The result will be an especially lovely journey through the V&A’s collections, giving you the space and time to consider a handful of objects, their stories, the intricacies of their design, and the reasons why they were particularly fascinating for the designer who chose them. Among the designers are Paul Cocksedge, Tom Dixon, Amanda Levete, Faye Toogood, Stephen Webster and Osman Yousefzada. God is in the Details will be in the Museum from 14 – 22 September.
God is in the Details for Swarovski during the London Design Festival 2013, © David Levene
One of the most unusual and delightful displays is The Dinner Party / True-to-Life Design by Scholten & Baijings, which will be in the beautiful Norfolk House Music Room from 14 – 22 September. The Dinner Party is a theatrical installation, depicting an abandoned feast. Every object on the dining table is made from glassware, ceramics, polished steel, textile, furniture or carpet, and yet they look good enough to eat! A fun and adventurous example of what design can achieve.
True-to-Life Design by Scholten & Baijings, Photography © Inga Powilleit
On the events side of things, there will be a huge variety of hands-on workshops. On 14 and 15 of September two of Panerai’s top watchmakers will run watch-making sessions and on 17 September there will be a fun, interactive masterclass called Playing with your Food. AVM Curiosities director Tasha Marks, supported by Grey Goose Iconoclast of Taste, will weave food history with practical activities, equipping you with the knowledge to explore food as an artistic medium!
There will also be a host of thought-provoking talks. On 14 September British designer and brand consultant Michael Johnson will ask the question Are Museums Waking Up to Branding? Then on 20 September Suneet Singh Tuli’s talk, Designing the Internet Revolution for the next 3 billion, will discuss how affordable technology has the potential to eradicate poverty, educate billions and revolutionise computing as we know it.
Our Artists in Residence, Julia Lohmann and Keiko Masumoto, will also be holding Open Studios throughout the week. Julia works with seaweed, an unusual, beautiful and sustainable material and Keiko explores Japanese ceramics.
Many of the events are free and drop in. However, some have limited capacity and spaces can be booked in advance. For more information on this year’s festival and on all our displays and events, visit the London Design Festival on the V&A website
Have a great festival!
LDF Team @ the V&A
