The legendary Clerkenwell Design Week kicks off in the coolest part of London for the eighth time from May 23 – 25. Clerkenwell is home to more creative businesses and architects per square mile than anywhere else on the planet, making it truly one of the most important design hubs in the world.
Renowned as Britain’s leading design festival, Clerkenwell Design Week has created a showcase of leading UK and international brands and companies presented in a series of showroom events, exhibitions and special installations that take place across the area. At last year’s event the design community flocked to Clerkenwell with 34,973 attendees and over 300 exhibiting brands.
We look at some of the most anticipated new launches, including a lighting extravaganza that’s on the cards for visitors this year.
One eye-catching new launch is from the versatile Transport for London, which has collaborated with Craft Central to bring brooches – once an essential accessory lately a forgotten ornament – back into fashion. View a fantastic collection of Underground inspired brooches curtesy 
of Tube Flash alongside a range of TfL inspired talismans from Craft Central’s makers, including Joanna Sterling. The exhibition opens on Tuesday 23rd May and is on until Saturday 10th June
For Clerkenwell Design TfL will also have a pop up shop outside Craft Central at Additions which will be showcasing new TfL inspired product ranges. Launching will be a new jewellery collection from One we Made Earlier, new textile designs from Sally Weatherill and a collection of multifunctional designer bike bags, suitable for stylish use on the cycle hire bikes from Good Ordering.
Italian lighting brand Artemide (left), world-renowned for its design, quality and innovation and part of the history of made-in-Italy lighting, will presents its latest novelties by leading international designers and architects against Icon House of Culture’s brick backdrop.
With collections celebrated globally as icons of contemporary design, Artemide’s vast portfolio includes lighting by Michele de Lucchi, Zaha Hadid, Jean Nouvel and most recently Foster & Partners, Neri & Hu and Herzog & de Meuron.
UK lighting designers, Curiousa & Curiousa (right and top left), will be showcasing their new products as well as exhibiting a range of 20th Century glass wares at their Islington Showroom. ’The Cordero’ chandelier, will feature more than 30 vibrant glass ‘droplets’ and marries the traditional craft of the glass blower with the flexibility of advanced LED technology to create a stunning, gem-like display.
The ‘Chintz’ pendants range (left) was borne of lead designer Esther Patterson’s desire to ‘Bring Back the Chintz’ which Ikea famously encouraged us all to throw out in their 1996 campaign. “It’s time to embrace decoration and ornament again” says Esther, who is also launching the new ‘Blush’ colour-way to compliment the range.
A collection of sophisticated, modern lighting designed to bring both indoor and outdoor living spaces alive. J.Adams & Co (right and top right) have taken the essence of traditional lanterns and revived them to suit today’s fashions and manufacturing techniques. The results are simple & clean, traditionally inspired lanterns made to the highest standard in the UK.
John Hollington Design (left and below right) is an award-winning design studio whose lighting designs are inspired by the clean lines and geometrical forms of modernist art and architecture.
The studio will be showing the luxurious, modernist brass and marble Pavilion Series of lamps, inspired by a visit to the Barcelona Pavilion. The newly developed Pavilion Wall Light will be launched at CDW, to accompany floor and desk lamps from the Pavilion Series range, which come with a choice of Carrara or Marquina marble bases.
Marianne pendants are on show – dome shaped pendants with a Bauhaus feel, inspired by lamps made for the Bauhaus school metal workshop. The Marianne lamps are hand spun in a variety of authentic solid metals and finishes – raw aluminium, black powder coated aluminium, polished copper and patinated copper.
All products are made in the UK and hand finished in the studio workshop, ensuring a high quality finish.
A first time exhibitor at Clerkenwell Design Week, LightArt (left) is a custom lighting fabrication and design studio. Their work is an ever-evolving tale of innovation, creative exploration, and endlessly variable custom lighting creations.
By using a malleable resin, LightArt creates sleek geometric shapes like the progressive LA2 Connected series, to the organic elegance of our custom chandeliers. Each fixture is equipped with a solid state LED system bringing unparalleled illumination to your project.
Mcinnes Cook Light are the Exclusive UK and Ireland distributors for Catellani & Smith. Few companies are able to produce lighting fixtures with the drama and theatre that Catellani are able to create. As a result Catellani & Smith offers perfect lighting solutions for today’s residential and commercial interiors.
MCL are also exclusive UK distributors for two other major lighting brands from Europe, Wastberg and Parachilna, alongside a recent partnership made with the American brand Pablo Designs.
Ebb & Flow (right) designs and produces lighting, and functional and decorative objects. Using classic British and Nordic style as a starting point combined with a passion for the basic materials glass, metal and textiles, the result is a style that infuses lighting and glass with a fine airy simplicity and a modern edge and depth of colour.
Di Classe is a Tokyo-based design and lighting company founded by Japanese product designer Domei Endo in 1990. He started the company to fulfil his visions of lamps made of nature-inspired materials, characterised by beauty and fragile simplicity.
Mini Foresti – Di Classe’s iconic forest lamp is the first product he worked on. The Forest lamps shone over the Marie Claire Café at Maison et Objet Paris in 2013, and recently the company collaborated with ORYZA Design, showcasing nature-inspired lighting alongside with vibrant pop-style furniture, which created a contrasting and distinctive style.
The Company released its popular Arles table lamp in 2014 in London, a design that was inspired by a lady holding a hat in bright sunlight in the south of France.
At CDW 2017, Paper Foresti pendant lamps will be featured. The elegant white foliage of Paper Foresti is a sustainable product made of Japanese air clean paper supported by Japanese technology.
Chendù is a creative studio for integrated communication and interior and product design, combining distinct elements in a unique dialogue through superb craftsmanship. Minimalist elegance, lightness, recurring forms and contrasting materials blend in a balance of solid and void, volumes and transparencies.
