London Design Festival returns for its 24th edition from 12 to 20 September 2026, with the Mayor of London on board as Principal Supporter. The programme leans into global exchange, craft revival and future-facing technology.
Announced at Isla Terrace at The Standard, this year’s Festival spans Landmark Installations, Special Projects, the Global Design Forum, the London Design Medals, fairs and a Partner Programme across eleven Design Districts. Expect a running theme of dialogue throughout: East and West, past and future, human and non-human, physical and digital, with sustainability and circularity woven through most of it.
“London Design Festival 2026 is proving to be an exceptional year with a vibrant array of international installations and projects, new design districts, and an expanding Global Design Forum following the success of Global Design Forum Istanbul in May,” says Ben Evans CBE, London Design Festival Director and Co-Founder. “London retains its allure as a global design capital.”
The Pangolin Shield, on the Strand
The first Landmark Project is The Pangolin Shield by Studio Saar and Atelier One, supported by Secure. It’s a pavilion built to prompt reflection on colonial legacies, power, ecological exploitation and the movement of people and beings across borders, inspired by the pangolin, the world’s most trafficked mammal.
Structurally, it’s a bamboo grid shell covered with traditional Indian police shields made from lathis, layered with woven rain shields, or “knups”, traditionally used by farmers in north-eastern India. Reassembled as a protective canopy, the shields play with light and shade while disarming their original context of confrontation and state authority, encouraging rest, dialogue and community instead.
It sits on a pedestrianised street behind the Indian High Commission in the West End, close to the bust of Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister. Studio Saar, founded by Ananya Singhal, is a multidisciplinary team working across the UK and India.
Structural engineering comes from Atelier One, led by Neil Thomas MBE, whose past work includes Cloud Gate with Anish Kapoor and the 360 Degree stage for U2’s world tour.
MADE x Barbican, and craft from three continents
Among the Special Projects, MADE unveils a collaboration with the Barbican: a 23-piece interiors collection drawing on the Barbican’s archives and the pioneering work of designer Miriam Howitt, turning architectural references into furniture, lighting, textiles and accessories. There’s an immersive installation at the Barbican itself for the Festival, and the collection lands at MADE from August 2026.
Sun Media Group brings Reviving Craft: Reflection of the Mind to Somerset House, curated by Su Dan of the Chinese Traditional Culture Museum and Yang Lan, Chairperson of Sun Media Group. Over 60 artisans and designers from China and abroad explore the relationship between humans and the self, across three sections: Clear the Mind, Nourish the Mind and Refine the Mind.
Craft x Tech pairs Japanese artisans with global designers
Now in its second edition, Craft x Tech pairs international designers with local Japanese craftspeople from the Tokai region, working in lacquer, metal, woodworking, ceramics, washi paper and textiles. This year’s headline collaboration is Fushi, a console and lighting piece by Yohei Ito, third-generation head of Fudogama kiln, and Australian industrial designer David Caon, best known for the Boeing 787-9 interiors.
Elsewhere in the project, Grid Unwoven pairs Warabi Paper Company founder Takanori Senda with design studio Lanzavecchia + Wai, and Kataginu brings together Suzusan’s Hiroyuki Murase with British designer Bethan Laura Wood.
Kasane pairs Ando Cloisonne’s Shigeyuki Ando with Philippe Malouin, and South African designer Atang Tshikare’s collaboration with kumihimo specialist Tomoyuki Matsuda has resulted in Yamollo.
The V&A, the Design Museum, and new Design Districts
The V&A’s programme, co-curated by Carrie Chan and Kristian Volsing, celebrates Awakenings, exploring how design, craft and technology can inspire new perspectives. It maps a journey across the museum’s galleries with work from Henry Svendsen, Sam Ghantous, Andre Williams, Nina Davies and Albert Yonathan Setyawan, alongside major new commissions from Aziza Kadyri, Eunjo Lee and V&A Emerging Designer 2026, Playfool.
At the Design Museum, the programme includes NIGO: From Japan with Love, the world’s first retrospective on KENZO’s Artistic Director, alongside the annual PLATFORM series showcasing designer and artist Simone Brewster, and a panel on Design Practice and Motherhood on 15 September chaired by curator Danielle Thom.
London Design Festival takes place across 11 Design Districts this year, including a brand-new district in the heart of the city and an evolved Shoreditch offering. Shoreditch Design Week, the Festival’s largest dedicated district, runs 15 to 20 September with more than 60 showrooms, galleries and creative spaces hosting hundreds of events.
The four annual London Design Medals, recognising contributions from leading figures and emerging talent, will be awarded at the Medal Dinner on 14 September.
The London x London take: with 11 Design Districts, a Global Design Forum, and Landmark Installations from the Strand to Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, this is a citywide event rather than one to casually stumble into. Worth planning around.
The Pangolin Shield is the one to prioritise if you only make it to one thing, both for the craft and for how directly it engages with the politics behind it.
Need to know
- When: 12 to 20 September 2026
- Where: across eleven Design Districts citywide, including the Strand, the Barbican, Somerset House, the V&A, the Design Museum and Wapping
