London Design Festival

The Festival is made up of over 400 events and exhibitions staged by over 300 partner organisations across the design spectrum and from around the world. The Festival also commissions and curates its own programme of Landmark Projects, Projects at the V&A, and Special Commissions throughout the city.

Festival audiences are significant, with an estimated direct audience of over 600,000 people from over 75 countries in 2019.[1]

Over 2,000 international design businesses took part in the 2019 London Design Festival including exhibitors: 100% Design, Decorex International, designjunction, Focus, and London Design Fair (previously known as Tent London) at the Design Destinations.

For the nine days of the Festival, visitors to the V&A explore a range of special displays and installations throughout the museum, complemented by an extensive programme of events, talks, keynotes, daily tours, and workshops. In 2019 Global Design Forum drew 50 speakers from 18 countries, and 2,800 visitors.

'MultiPly", Waugh Thistleton Architects at the V&A, 2018

Since 2009 the Victoria and Albert Museum has been the central hub for the London Design Festival, celebrating twelve years of partnership in 2020.

In 2019, twelve Design Districts participated in the Festival and a Design Route - Bankside, Brompton, Chelsea, Clerkenwell, King's Cross, Marylebone, Mayfair, Paddington Central, Pimlico Road, Shoreditch, Victoria and West Kensington - offering a programme of events, exhibitions, talks, workshops and tours.

London Design Medal Winners 2018: Hussein Chalayan, Eva Jiricna and Grace Wales Bonner pictured with London Design Festival Co-Founders Sir John Sorrell and Ben Evans. Not pictured is Neri Oxman.

Each year a Jury composed of established designers, industry commentators and previous winners choose recipients of The London Design Medals across four categories. Winners are chosen from a wide range of design disciplines and awards for their exceptional contribution to their field.

The London Design Medal categories include:

• London Design Medal
• Design Innovation Medal
• Emerging Talent Medal
• Lifetime Achievement Medal

“While there are no shortage of design awards, we wanted to do it differently.” says Festival Director Ben Evans CBE. “So we took the Nobel Prize route – there’s no shortlist, just a winner. So that means there’s no losers either.”[2]

The London Design Medal is designed each year by jewellery designer Hannah Martin. The Medals feature a London bird, the Cockney Sparrow, in flight.

Previous winners are Dame Vivienne Westwood, Tom Dixon, Daniel Charny, Ross Atkin, Neri Oxman, Hussein Chalayan, Grace Wales Bonner, Eva Jiricna, Es Devlin, Paul Priestman, Margaret Calvert, Julian Melchiorri, Sir David Adjaye, Kenneth Grange, Bethan Laura Wood, Daan Roosegaard, Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby, Marjan Van Aubel, Peter Brewin and Will Crawford, the Bourellec brothers, Nicolas Roope, Roland Lamb, Lord Richard Rogers, Daniel Rybakken, Dieter Rams, David Constantine, Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, Jane Ni Dhulchaointigh, Rosario Hurtado and Roberto Feo, Vidal Sassoon, Sir Ken Adam, Peter Saville, Marc Newson, Sir Paul Smith, Dame Zaha Hadid, Thomas Heatherwick, Sir Terence Conran, and Ron Arad.