The evenings are getting just a touch chillier, and the conkers have started to fall from the trees, so it must be September, which means it must be time for the London Design Festival.
Unbelievably it's now in it's 7th year, and it's going to be interesting to see how it fares, coming as it does (possibly/hopefully) at the tail end of a recession. The spin they're putting on it is that this year is all about ideas, rather than, you know, things that have actually been made. But heck, ideas are the stuff we deal in, so that could be a Very Good Thing.
The festival guide has recently been uploaded, so we've taken a look through to pick out the bits that most tickle our fancy. The show is based out of the V&A this year, where they're doing a hosting a variety of shows, including the London Posters show curated by Domenic Lippa from Pentagram, featuring works by: Angus Hyland, Derek Birdsall, Tom Hingston, Fernando Gutteriez, Morag Myerscough, Mike Dempsey, Alan Kitching, Alan Aboud, Damon Murray, Michael Wolff and Quentin Newark.
While you're over that way, don't forget to go and pick up a copy of the fantastic London Design Guide, available from the LDG pop-up store at 1-5 Exhibition Road. Look, here's a picture. Lovely isn't it?
The big shows are back again of course, with Tent London at the Truman Brewery (register online for discounted entry) and 100% Design over at Earl's Court, both running from 24-27 September. They can be a bit hit and miss, and generally a bit corporate, but worth a look if you can blag a free ticket.
Alongside 100% Design, the lovely Designersblock will be doing its thing, showcasing the younger, edgier side of design, including Yan Lu's Poor Little Fish (above). The show's always worth checking out - register online by Thursday 17 for free entry.
The folks at Greengaged, the not-for-profit organsiation that "advances the design industry’s capacity to respond positively to key environmental challenges" are running another series of events at the Design Council, including Crafting Mass Production on Thursday 24 September, led by Three Trees Don't Make a Forest, which looks particularly tasty.
Over in Soho, Cockpit Arts and the Society of Revisionist Typographers are hosting a rather fantastic pop-up letterpress studio, with workshops and demonstrations, running from 22 to 27 September. Go along and get printy.
Further north, at the German Gymnasium on Pancras Road, Grafik Magazine are putting on an exhibition looking at the relationship between graphic design and the Olympics: "[Grafik] has asked 39 of the UK’s most talented designers to create an original poster interpreting an Olympic sport or discipline. A catalogue and a limited number of each of the posters will be produced, which will be for sale with profits donated to the children’s sports-related charity Right to Play and the British Paralympic fund." Sounds good. The show runs 10am - 6.30pm daily, on 22, 23 and 24 September.
Heading East, there are a whole host of shows round Brick Lane, but we're particularly looking forward to Design Less Ordinary, showcasing new product and furniture design, with a launch event on Wednesday 23 featuring Ryan Frank and Secret Wars.
Meantime, don't forget to check out the Typographica show at the Kemistry Gallery. The show "is the first exhibition in the world on the eponymous, groundbreaking, and now legendary graphic design journal, which ran from 1949 to 1967. The exhibition is curated by visual culture writer Rick Poynor [and will feature] large-scale spreads detailing the journal’s content, in addition to supporting contextual information, as well as a full set of the journals." The show opens on Monday 11 September, and runs through to 31 October.
Other than that, we're looking forward to Jaime Hayon's giant interactive chess set on Trafalgar Square, featuring 2m high pieces based on iconic London buildings (shown at the top of this post); and also the two Size + Matter installations on the Southbank, by Marc Newson and Shigeru Ban, both of which kick-off on the 19th.