Clerkenwell Design Week marked its 15th anniversary, and London once again became a meeting point for designers, architects and makers from across the UK and further afield. Over three days in May, the East side of London hosted installations, talks, workshops and brand showcases that revealed where the industry’s attention is heading next. From the role of sound in shaping space to the rise of cognitive design, several themes stood out across this year’s programme.

An Early Start from the Northwest

Day 2 of Clerkenwell Design Week began bright and early for our founder, Bev, who boarded the 7:18 am train from Preston to London. With Clerkenwell buzzing for its three‑day celebration of design innovation, craftsmanship, and material exploration, Bev was determined to make the most of every moment.

Above L: Bev Wood – on the train from Preston to London
Above R: Busy Euston Station, London

A Festival of Ideas, Materials, and Design Culture

Clerkenwell Design Week 2026 brought together hundreds of brands, immersive installations, and thought‑provoking talks. This year’s programme was rich with:

• Design-led conversations exploring wellbeing, the future of design, and material innovation
• Immersive installations such as Foundations in Flow, The Pulse of Becoming, and Recreatura
• Workshops and tours hosted by industry leaders, including RIBA, BIID, and Design Insider
• International showcases from Italy, Spain, Australia and more….
• Showroom activations across the EC1 district, each offering a unique perspective on contemporary interiors

Bev’s focus for the day was to explore new materials, colour stories, and workplace innovations, and Clerkenwell delivered in abundance.

Exhibition Venues: Global Inspiration Under One Roof

Bev also explored several of the festival’s key exhibition venues, each offering a different lens on contemporary design:

• The Australian Collection delivered a fresh perspective from emerging and established Australian designers
• Ceramics of Italy showcased a celebration of Italian craftsmanship and material innovation
• Detail & Finishes was a treasure trove of hardware, surfaces, and architectural details
• The Charterhouse, a historic setting hosting workshops and curated installations
• Old Sessions House, a grand venue filled with international brands and conceptual displays

Above L: Folia from Phyta Biodesign.  The UK has lost 60% of it’s flying insects and wildlife populations have declined by 73%.  Phyta Biodesign is a London-based nature-tech company on a mission to rewild the built environment.
Above R: Bird boxes, image copyright: Clerkenwell Design Week.

Above L: Entrance to Detail and Finishes housed within The Order of St John, St John’s Square.
Above R: HUSSL showcased their furniture, as part of the Austrian Collection in The Crypt.  Their “Okko” dining chair series comes in perfectly proportioned adult, child, and toddler versions.

Streetscape Installations

A noticeable thread running through this year’s festival was the emphasis on how design can shape shared public experience. Several installations extended the fair beyond showrooms and into Clerkenwell’s streets, encouraging visitors to pause and engage with their surroundings differently.

At St John’s Gate, Foundations in Flow created a gentle counterpoint to the festival’s lively atmosphere. Designers Magnus Mulvany, Gabi Spangenthal and Julio Manchón Campillo crafted a series of benches from surplus materials using acrylic offcuts, ceramic tiles and other remnants from recent projects.

Over on Clerkenwell Green, One Bite Design Studio collaborated with stone specialists Leigei to deliver the Fountain of Technicolour Beads. This sculptural seating installation, formed from colourful stone bead arches, offered a playful, sensory-led experience while raising awareness of Colour Vision Deficiency and colour blindness. Together, these interventions highlighted how thoughtfully designed public spaces can foster connection, inclusivity and moments of calm in the bustle of the festival.

A Day of Discovery

Bev’s route through Clerkenwell included a curated selection of showrooms, each offering something distinct for anyone in the creative sector. With well over 140 showrooms open on the festival route, there were far too many to visit in one day; however, Bev crammed in as many as she could and below are highlights from those visits.

Panaz

We specify lots of their fantastic performance fabrics in our schemes.  We wanted to check out their new textures and sustainable range, ideal for workplace and hospitality environments. The showroom itself really stood out, too.

Forbo

Innovative flooring solutions with bold patterns and durable finishes caught Bev’s eye for future workplace projects.

Lapalma

A beautifully curated space showcasing contemporary seating and flexible furniture systems.  The Italians certainly have style and offered fabulous canapes too!

Fenwick & Tilbrook

A standout for colour lovers.  Bev met the founders of Fenwick and Tilbrook, who are challenging the Farrow and Ball market.  Their hand‑mixed paint collections offered fresh palettes and refined tonal combinations.  If you want depth of colour, superb coverage and rich premium pigments with a low sheen, then check them out.

Archi‑tile

A celebration of texture, pattern, and craftsmanship in tile design.  This new tile shop was a gem.  Full of new sustainable products, Bev loved the many options on show here.

Fritz Fryer Lighting

A beautifully family-owned lighting showroom blending heritage craftsmanship with modern design. All fittings are made to order to work with any commercial lighting scheme.  They can produce bespoke design commissions, which is a bonus for designers like BWD.

Flokk

With its roots in Scandinavia, Flokk is today the leading European manufacturer of office seating products.  Flokk is a carefully curated house of brands, each with its own unique identity, including HÅG, RH, RBM, Giroflex, Offecct, Profim, BMA, Malmstolen, 9to5 Seating and Connection Seating.

TRUE Design

Downstairs in Flokk, Bev loved the True collection.  Simple and stylish Italian design that doesn’t follow trends and whose motto is: “Extraordinary. Everyday”. Bev loved the Zuel meeting table.

Standout Moments

Clerkenwell’s installations are always a highlight, and 2026 was no exception. Bev was particularly inspired by some of the wayfinding and signage directing visitors to various showrooms and installations around London.  Flags and floor stickers helped enormously, but mostly you could see the crowds spilling out onto the street outside each venue.

The German Collection exhibition used floor stickers to guide you around. However, having a hard copy map of all the venues, as well as the digital app with a live map option was a bonus.

The Secret Garden, which showcased Spanish tiling ranges, were in a stunning rose garden and shows how creative the organisers are with securing alternative venues for showcasing products.

Even the EH Smith Architectural showroom had an installation showcasing how sculptural art pieces can be created from quarry offcuts! Designed by architect Vlad Tenu and Cereser Marmi, the sculpture utilised waste stone and was fabricated by a robot as a reconfigurable structure.

Returning to Lancashire Full of Ideas

After a full day of showroom visits, exhibitions, and conversations, Bev returned to Lancashire energised and inspired. Clerkenwell has sparked some amazing ideas around materiality, sensory experience, and the future of workplace and hospitality design.

Clerkenwell continues to be a vital touchpoint for our studio and is already in the calendar for 2027!

If you’d like to explore how any of these brands or materials could elevate your next commercial interior project, we’d love to talk.