Clerkenwell Design Week (CDW) returns from 20th-22nd May 2025 with its largest edition to date, captivating visitors with an exciting lineup of installations, brands, exhibitions and talks across 15+ venues and 160+ local design showrooms.
Leading this year’s festival is a major new public artwork by British artist Alex Chinneck, set in Charterhouse Square. This special commission marks Chinneck’s return to sculpting with brick and playing with architectural elevations. In 2013, Chinneck completed a ‘sliding house’ in Margate, furnished with curving bricks, curving windows and a curving door. His new sculpture revisits this sculptural language while introducing an element of interactivity. It uses repurposed steel salvaged from the demolition of another building in London, thanks to the sponsorship of Cleveland Steel. It is developed with the support of Crittall Windows, FabSpeed and Michelmersh Brick Holdings PLC. The installation will remain on display for several weeks after the festival.
Bricks
Meanwhile, Albion Stone and Hutton Stone return to Clerkenwell Green with an ambitious pavilion designed by Hawkins\Brown and engineered by Webb Yates. Titled Brick from a Stone: Arch Revival, the pavilion features a striking pair of nearly four-metre-high freestanding vaulted arches, championing the strength and beauty of British stone bricks. One arch will be formed from sandstone bricks in various hues from Hutton Stone’s quarries, predominantly pale buff Darney Heritage sandstone from Northumberland which is reminiscent of the traditional London brick stock. The other arch will be made from Heritage Portland Stone bricks from Albion Stone’s mine in Dorset. Each arch will be elegantly crafted from a single layer of stone bricks, measuring only 102mm thick, demonstrating the material’s versatility as a load-bearing architectural product.
For the first time, CDW is partnering with Dezeen to launch a design contest as part of the festival programme. In collaboration with Villeroy & Boch and Ideal Standard, the Shaping Water competition invites architects and designers to create a large-scale installation celebrating the essence of water, set against the historic backdrop of St John’s Gate of the Order of St John. The winner will receive a £5,000 prize and a £15,000 budget to realise their design for the festival. In addition, a shortlist of top entries will be published on Dezeen and exhibited at Ideal Standard’s Clerkenwell showroom. The competition is free to enter until 2 April 2025. Click here for more details or to enter.
Scandi
Major Scandinavian brands take the spotlight this year, bringing fresh designs and innovation to the festival. HAY will showcase its latest collections by leading designers – including Erwan Bouroullec, Doshi Levien and Niels Jørgen Haugesen – at the MillerKnoll St John’s Square showroom, while String Furniture will make its CDW debut with its newest pieces at Old Sessions House. At the same venue, Kasthall will present its new Fasad collection by David Chipperfield Design as the company celebrates its 135th anniversary with a special reinterpretation of its iconic Goose Eye pattern.
Lighting plays a key focus in Muuto’s St John’s Square showroom, where the brand will introduce its new Beam and Strand table lamps, designed by Tom Chung and Benjamin Hubert, respectively. Nearby, Mater on St John Street will display its new Terra lighting collection, designed by OEO Studio and crafted from its patented waste material MatekTM – combining recycled post-consumer e-waste from damaged or unwanted electronic devices with coffee shell waste. Each lamp contains up to 303g of waste materials.
Bolon on Northburgh Street will be showing its outdoor rug collection, combining the benefits of its signature flooring with the versatility of a rug. The made-to-measure rugs allow users to add texture, luxurious colours and depth to any environment.
At the British Collection, Pluck will unveil a new kitchen furniture range in collaboration with timber specialists Schotten & Hansen. This collection blends Pluck’s pared-back, elegant style and creative colour combinations with Schotten & Hansen’s naturally coloured Douglas Fir veneers. Four striking colourways will be on display including Camargue Rose, Kadoorie Green, Churchhaven Blue and Petra. Also at the British Collection, Origin Furniture will launch a new steel-framed seating by designer David Irwin, upholstered in Camira’s tech knit fabric.
Conversations
The festival’s official talks series, Conversations at Clerkenwell, returns with a stellar lineup of speakers, including Sabine Marcelis and PearsonLloyd. Curated by PR and brand consultant Katie Richardson, the talks will take place at The Charterhouse for the first time, featuring 18 live sessions over three days, including three daily sessions curated and hosted by Dezeen. Topics will range from colour and interior trends to heritage renewal, commercial space design and AI in design.
This year’s auditorium, designed by Kapitza, takes inspiration from the rich history of patterns and ornaments adorning the venue’s walls and ceilings. The London-based studio is known for its colourful public art installations for British Land, wayfinding designs for the Royal London Hospital, and public and leisure architecture projects.
Clerkenwell Design Week 2025 takes place across EC1, London, from 20 – 22 May. For more information, please visit clerkenwelldesignweek.com – registration is now open.
See also: Art and Relaxation at Casa Rosa
