Our 15 highlights ahead of London Design Festival 2015

London Design Festival is just around the corner and as ever, there’s so much to see that it can feel like your brain’s imploding in a sea of red, white and chairs. So we’ve done some of the legwork and picked out 15 things we can’t wait to see and do across the capital for LDF 2015.

1. Robin Day, Works in Wood, V&A, 19 – 27 September This exhibition marks the centenary of the furniture designer’s birth, and was designed by Assemble (more on that here) to show his love of using wood. While better known for his iconic Polypropylene stacking chair, Robin never strayed too far from his upbringing in High Wycombe, where beech woods and timber furniture factories were plentiful. We’ll see how Robin used wood in his commercial work alongside personal projects for the family home and “writings that reveal his deep attachment to nature and strong environmental concerns,” according to the V&A.
2. Alex Chinneck, A Bullet from a Shooting Star, Greenwich Peninsula, 19-27 September We’re longtime admirers of Alex Chinneck’s work here at It’s Nice That, whether we’re watching his wax house melt or having our minds blown by his Covent Garden floating house. For LDF he’s gone EVEN BIGGER, creating a spectacular work that makes it appear that 35 metre-high electricity pylon has shot straight from the ground. A Bullet from a Shooting Star comprises 450 pieces of steel and 900 engineered connection points, all constructed from a combined length of 1186 metres of steel weighing 15 tons. Alex says: “For the London Design Festival I wanted to take on my biggest challenge to date – one that could only be realised through collaborative design and problem solving.”
3. Anna Lomax, Luxury Goods, KK Outlet, 4 – 26 September Irrepressibly inventive set designer Anna’s love of a “genuine fake” is at the heart of this show, which presents new and older works that explore what “luxury” really is. Influences include London, poundshops and impossible opulence, so we’ll be seeing an Aladdin’s cave of neon, prints, holograms, terrazzo marble and brass.
4. Listening Room with The Wire and Postcard Teas, Vitsoe, 19 – 27 September If like us you love weird sound art, Dieter Rams and drinking tea, you’re in for a treat if you pop over to the Vitsoe showroom on Bond Street. The store is working with experimental music magazine The Wire on an installation of new sound works, which you can enjoy/be mildly terrified by while gazing at the calming range of Dieter Rams furniture in the space.
5. Ghostsigns & Better Letters, various venues, 19-21 September Last summer we found ourselves meandering the streets of east London, gazing up at buildings and trying to make out the words on them. No, it hadn’t been another heavy night at Vogue Fabrics: we were on one of Sam Roberts’ fascinating Ghost Walks tours. His fascinating perambulations look at the typography and graphic design of yore through searching for “ghost signs”, the remnants of old advertisements that can still just about be made out on walls. For LDF, Sam is bringing his tours to the Bankside Design District through tours and workshops.
6. 100% Norway, Tent London, 24—27 September One of our absolute highlights of last year’s LDF was seeing some very enthusiastic dudes bashing a shed on the opening night of Tent London. They turned out to be from 100% Norway, and felt that hitting bits of their showcase with other bits was the perfect way to show them off. It really was – like Stomp for homeware, but actually good. They’re back at Tent this year and with a new focus on manufacturing and showing work from 33 new and more established designers. We can’t wait to see what bonkers stuff they’ll get up to this year.
7. Laetitia de Allegri and Matteo Fogale with Johnson Tiles, Mise-en-abyme, V&A, 19-27 September Our pal Matteo and his design partner Laetitia have worked with British tile manufacturer Johnson Tiles to create an installation on the bridge over the Medieval and Renaissance galleries at the V&A. Its cheery title translates as “placed in the abyss,” and will take the form of a huge transparent acrylic arch for visitors to pass through. The designers say: “What we wanted from the start was to create an experiment. Something that was not just a piece of design to look at but also an experience for the visitor. We tried to match the work with the materials, themes and colours at the location and so took the inspiration from the V&A itself.”
8. Clinic, Gig Poster Power, Saffron Hill, 21-25 September Billed as “a defence of design and music” (not sure they need one after our Art + Music feature, eh, eh?) creative agency Clinic is creating an exhibition looking at gig posters past and present, and celebrating its association with the record industry.
9. Heartbeat: 100,000 balloon installation. Charles Pétillon, Covent Garden until 27 September In recent times Covent Garden has played host to more than just men on sticks pretending to be levitating Yodas and hoardes of lost, flustered teenagers.