Clerkenwell Comes Alive with Installations, Events and Talks for the Opening Day of Clerkenwell Design Week 2022
24 – 26 May 2022
May 2022, London: Opening today, the eleventh edition of Clerkenwell Design Week returns to London across 24th – 26th May. After a two-year absence, the much-loved design festival takes over EC1 – the capital’s most creative district – to celebrate the extraordinary creativity housed across London’s historic Clerkenwell. This year features more exhibitors, showrooms and venues than ever before. Over 140+ world-class design showrooms have partnered with CDW, providing an array of stimulating events, talks and workshops.
Set across three days, CDW is the UK’s leading independent design festival, providing a welcome platform for brands to showcase their products and for the showrooms to open their doors to new audiences. Visitors can expect to see the latest designs, innovations and creative ideas,as well as experiencing hundreds of design-led fringe events, pop-ups, workshops, talks and showroom presentations. This year’s edition features ten exhibition venues, with three new for 2022, as well as Conversations at Clerkenwell – a series of talks in Spa Fields by leading designers and architects tackling topical and newsworthy issues.
INSTALLATIONS
Interface’s installation at Clerkenwell Design Week takes you on a visual journey of the company’s history – from petroleum-intensive flooring manufacturer to global leader in climate conscious design and manufacture. Situated within St John’s Arch, a stone's throw away from Interface’s new showroom in Pennybank Chambers, the installation takes the form of a vortex made from the 100% recycled econyl yarn used in Interface’s carpet tiles.
Multidisciplinary artist, Lois O’Hara has designed CDW’s wayfinding to help visitors navigate around the event. Lois has also collaborated with OnOffice magazine to design exterior murals for a series of installations ‘OnOffice Curates’, which will feature across EC1, as well as worked with Duffy London to produce a special swing-table, which will feature as one of the installations at the show.
Over in Clerkenwell Close, NVBL Architects are presenting the installation Shelter. The London based office wanted to transform the Close into a public square to encourage social and cultural conversation whilst introducing minimal materiality. Returning to basic principles of architecture and the primary structure of shelter, the installation offers a delicate intervention with no disruption to the site, shaping a space where people can sit and gather. The temporary shelter is made of three elements: An inflatable, biodegradable TPU roof sits on a primary structural frame which is anchored down with off-cuts of stone. To respond to the temporality of the pavilion, the structure can be easily assembled & dismantled, and all materials are re-usable & recyclable.
OnOffice magazine are collaborating on another installation during CDW with plant and biophilic design specialist, Plant Designs. The project, titled Plant.Nurture.Bloom explores the importance of planting within urban working environments. The immersive installation is a jungle oasis within the bustling heart of the city for visitors to take a moment of calm and restoration by sitting within the leafiness and reflecting on the wealth of benefits that nature brings to modern life. The concept of green offices is on the rise and it’s not hard to see why, with the average person spending a third of their life at work, it’s more important than ever that we ensure our offices are an environment of positivity and inspiration. Plant Designs are also hosting workshops and demonstrations across the week including exploring how to incorporate biophilia and greenery in the workplace, and how to make a kokodama display.
BVN Architecture and Second Home will also collaborate during CDW. The concept of their installation, WorkPOP, supports the notion work-from-anywhere and experimentation towards pop-up, iterative, workspaces. Visitors are encouraged to experience work, collaboration, discussion and entertainment outside of the traditional boundaries of work + place.WorkPOP features recycled materials and is designed to be modular. WorkPOP also has a circular lifespan and will relocate to the rooftop of Second Home’s workspace in London Fields after CDW, where it will support events and knowledge work for its creative community. During CDW, WorkPOP will host a daily happy hour will also be hosted following a series of curated talks.
Award-winning sustainable acoustic designers BAUX host the global launch of its first ever ceiling product within ‘BAUX Acoustic Lounge’ at Old Sessions House for CDW. The lounge is a low climate-impacted installation, designed by BAUX CO-Founders, Form Us With Love, together with BAUX Creative Director Johan Ronnestam. Acoustic brand Texaa are presenting two acoustic spaces allowing visitors to understand more about the impact of architecture in acoustics through a sound experience that demonstrates how sound influences our perception of space. Texaa’s experts are also hosting a series of special events across the week designed to explore the fundamental importance of acoustics in architecture – including a Classical Coffee every morning and Soul Sound Session every afternoon.
Cult Danish design brand HAY are also presenting at CDW 2022, installing their stylish outdoor furniture within The Long Walk, part of Crypt on the Green, as well as hosting a number of events across the week.
EXHIBITIONS
Spanning across Clerkenwell, CDW’s exhibitions are hosted in distinctive spaces – both purpose built and historical venues – around the area linked by a route running through the centre of EC1. For 2022, there are ten exhibitions – including three new venues - each with a different curatorial focus, ranging from cutting edge international design, to emerging talent, lighting, luxury interiors and the best of British design. New for 2022 is Covered sponsored by RAK Ceramics, an exhibition dedicated to interior surfaces. Forming part of a new festival location in Charterhouse Square, Covered will display the best in surface design and material innovation, and Contract where visitors can view the latest products for commercial interiors. Also new for 2022 is the ITA – Italian Trade Agency who are working in collaboration with the Ceramics Association of Italy to showcase nine brands in a specially built venue next to St John’s Gate.
Clerkenwell’s subterranean House of Detention, previously a prison in the mid-19th century showcases Light + Rising Stars where a host ofnew and upcoming designers are exhibiting alongside leading lighting brands. Highlights include Artemide, Anna Hayman Designs, houseofdotcom, Kinkatou Studio London, Pour, Rankin Rugs among others.
POP, the former cold store turned nightclub is an essential visit, hosting pop-up brand activations and immersive experiences. POP features the latest designs by Case Furniture as well as the 170th anniversary of their Robin Day 675 Chair and contemporary sculptural lighting by Square in Circle Studio and innovative lighting solutions by LEDS C4.
Design Fields at Spa Fields, showcases leading furniture, lighting and product design from around the world. Alongside some of the most exciting home-grown designer-makers, the show presents a diverse range of the best in international contemporary design. Highlights include designer Christian Watson presenting new furniture including the new Edenvale sofa, using new fabric designed by Kirkby Design in partnership with London print & fashion studio Eley Kishimoto, as well as furniture by WOUD, Nor11 and Natuzzi Italia, as well as outdoor pieces by Ethimo.
British Collection, highlighting local brands in the atmospheric Crypt of St James’ Church showcases new works by Another Country, Benchmark, John Eadon and Roger Lewis among others, as well as lighting by Hand & Eye Studio.
SHOWROOMS
Integral to the festival are the local resident design showrooms. With more participating than ever before, Clerkenwell Design Week promises to provide an array of stimulating events from talks and workshops to major installations. From CDW’s humble beginnings with less than 40 participating showrooms back in 2010 to over 140+ confirmed for 2022, this year’s show is truly bigger than ever before.
Fritz Hansen celebrate their 150th anniversary at CDW 2022, with a special installation to mark the event as well as previewing new products. Deadgood will be presenting new launches at CDW 2022, including ReWork. ReWork by David Irwin is a simple yet comprehensive modular seating collection, designed to meet the demand fordynamic, hybrid workspaces. Thanks to its flexible design, ReWork can be easily reconfigured and is suitable for focused work, collaboration or a mixture of both and can add structure to open plan spaces, create a focal point within an interior and define areas as required. The collection is a response to the new working patterns and cultures that are becoming entrenched in the modern workplace.
Sustainability is also running through designs presented in the showrooms at CDW 2022. Arper present new collections Mixu, Kata and Kinesit Met as well as a new edition of its Aston series. Mixu is a sustainable and versatile collection of chairs and stools designed in collaboration with international architectural and design practice Gensler. Kata by Altherr Désile Park is Arper’s first solid wood lounge chair designed with circular sustainability at its core.
Global bathroom brand, VitrA are opening the doors to their brand-new space, VitrA London – the 5600 sqft flagship in Clerkenwell designed by TP Bennett. VitrA London are showcasing the company’s latest collections, including a new launch by Tom Dixon. Leading Spanish company, Kettal is another new brand participating as part of CDW 2022, presenting its latest outdoor furniture and workspace products in its new showroom space, including the new Ringer collection by Michael Anastassiades and Giro collection by Vincent Van Duysen.
Fritz Fryer Lighting are also participating for the first time at CDW 2022 in their brand-new showroom. Originally opened in 1982, Fritz Fryer gained a favourable reputation in antique light restoration, in the quaint Herefordshire market town of Ross-on-Wye. Now the company is known for its unique, high quality contemporary lighting, which it designs, makes and sells with components sourced almost exclusively in the UK. The company are giving visitors a first look at brand new products for CDW as well as offering events in the design hub within the new space. Another new showroom at CDW 2022 is British brand, William Hands. Known for its high-quality craftsmanship, the company will present its new Fairmont Seating series by Tom Rawlings.
Other new showrooms include natural stone specialists, SolidNature and RAK Ceramics, who have both opened new spaces in Clerkenwell in time for CDW 2022. RAK Ceramics’s new 8000sq ft showroom called the RAK Ceramics Design Hub is at 100 St John’s Street, hosting a number of events over the three days. SolidNature are celebrating their opening with an installation by Squire & Partners.
CONVERSATIONS AT CLERKENWELL
Conversations at Clerkenwell is a series of daily talks which seek to explore a broad range of topics, drawing upon insight and opinion from creatives, business leaders and both established and emerging designers. Always underpinned by the issues of the day, the diverse sessions encompass trends, opinions, and presentations from a wide selection of creative disciplines and design-led sectors. The programme for 2022 is curated by Katie Richardson and hosted in an auditorium sponsored by Equitone.
Tom Dixon in conversation with journalist Bethan Ryder opens Conversations at Clerkenwell 2022, setting the tone for 3 days of insightful, engaging, and colourful conversations. Further highlights include a talk with Grimshaw – the lead architecture practice of the Elizabeth Line (which also opens today) presenting an architectural overview, ‘Queer Spaces’ with Adam Nathaniel Furman and Joshua Mardell, alongside contributors to their recent title for RIBA Books, sharing examples of such spaces in a discussion on LGBTQIA+ life, past and present and ‘Materials Matter’, a discussion on responsible design and the importance of materials, in the fight towards a circular and sustainable future featuring Sean Sutcliffe of Benchmark, Nicole Meier of UltraFabrics, Fredrik Franzon of BAUX and chaired by Roddy Clark, journalist for The FT and Forbes.
FRINGE
The CDW Fringe programme offers a multitude of events, from exhibitions and talks to installations and workshops as local businesses open their doors to CDW visitors. Carrying on Clerkenwell’s long history of making, EC1 is packed with cutting-edge architects to traditional craftspeople.
London Metropolitan Archives, which holds an archive of London’s history dating from 1067, will host Magnificent Maps of London during CDW. This free exhibition explores London's history in maps and includes a unique opportunity to see the first surviving map of the city, showing London in the 1560s.
The recently restored London landmark, Old Sessions House will soon have a private work club, which launches this summer. Led by one of the local team, visitors can attend a 30-minute tour of The Old Sessions House and Work Club membership concept.
Curated eyewear company, Cult Vision will share Yair Neuman's designs from DELEREX™ as part of the Fringe programme. Focusing on the theme of vision, Yair's DELEREX™ range includes lights and eyewear frames made entirely from discarded lenses from the eyewear industry.
Fedrigoni Paper are to host a free, interactive daily workshop introducing the creative benefits and application of foiling. The workshop will allow you to design and create your own artwork, then frame it using their new Pop-Up Frame kits.
Demonstrations and a workshop by members of The House of Upcycling will be taking place within POP on the mezzanine above dancefloor 1 in fabric London. These include a gilding demonstration by Jo Edge of Reclaimed & Reloved, a decoupage workshop by Kata Roberts of Studio Twentyseven, and Fabric to Flora, a demonstration by Tracey Horan of Dolly Fixtures. Booking is not required for the events.
-Ends-
Chloe Boucouvalas
Judith Fereday