TOP TAKEAWAYS FROM CLERKENWELL DESIGN WEEK – LAURA BAARDA
Our interior design team had a busy, inspiring and productive few days in London as part of Clerkenwell Design Week 2023 (CDW 23)from 23-25 May.
Clerkenwell Design Week is the UK’s leading design festival that celebrates London’s creative hub with more than 160 showrooms, 600 events, thousands of products, installations, brand activations, topical talks and more.
Our Head of Interior Design, Laura Baarda talks about the most inspirational talks she heard and the most innovative products and designs she saw during the week.
Favourite Showroom
Icons of Denmark – this beautiful Danish furniture company has a fantastic showroom and even more beautiful products. Their furniture has stunning details with exposed joints and lovely pinch detailing on their upholstered products, which I adore. I feel like their products are designed for agility, flexibility, and longevity – without ever compromising on design. Best find from Clerkenwell 2023!
Forecast of an Emerging Trend
Metallics and Neutral Aggregate Textures – I saw a trend towards natural aggregate and textures and a contrasting trend for metallics. More natural tones seem to be trending, creating very calming palettes (with more natural products and materials); we saw some lovely examples of this at Agilita with their finish palettes and the beautiful tiling in Solus Ceramics. The addition of aged, more subtle metallics was apparent, and I think they sit beautifully alongside each other! We saw some lovely metallic accents in Solus Ceramics. Also, some new Interface products have slight metallic flecks within the designs paired next to muted natural tones and textures.
Favourite Product
Aeris Anti-Fatigue Mats – This simple product does not require a big budget but makes a sit/standing desk more comfortable and practical. It has a topographical 3D structure that activates the foot’s reflex zones, relaxing the muscles and keeping the body moving. The mat keeps you moving and shifting during the day to ensure you don’t get stagnant with your posture. After a week of walking around London on concrete pavements, I could do with one of these right now!
Buzz Topic
Neurodiversity – I attended a brilliant talk at the Milliken showroom about neurodiversity in the workplace, including thought-provoking discussions and many simple hacks and ideas to foster more inclusive environments. Interesting to hear about workplace programmes that encourage neurodiversity and the huge benefits they have reaped in a commercial and social sense. This was just one among many talks about neurodivergence in design; this is a topic that is very close to my heart and something that I am passionate about and interested in, so it was lovely to hear so much about this – it gives me great hope for the future that workplaces will be open to more neuro-diverse individuals.