London Design Festival Preview – South London

With a central hub at the Royal Festival Hall, Designersblock 2012 will also take in the undercroft of Queen Elizabeth Hall and feature events and installations across the site.

The organisers say they have been given some spaces that have never before been seen by the public…

With a host of furniture, lighting and textile designers exhibiting, highlights for this year include the Rare Breeds shop, selling limited editions, seconds and products from a host of creatives, the Out of the Dark team, who will be on hand to revamp second-had furniture, and a superhero badge-making class.

Staying on the South Bank, Design Nation, which relaunched this year under the leadership of Andrew Tanner, is curating the Southbank Centre’s Festival Terrace shop, offering work by ceramicists, lighting and furniture designers include Helen Ann Murray and Charlene Mullen.

Meanwhile down the river, the Design Museum is hosting the Digital Crystal exhibition, which celebrates 10 years of Swarovski crystal design, as well as this year’s edition of Designers in Residence and the intriguing AR*CADE exhibition, of work by Rockstar Games.

Highlights elsewhere include the 2012 African and African-Caribbean Design Diaspora Festival at the Bargehouse, which runs from 19-30 September.

This year’s festival has the them ‘Untold Gold’, and features work from more than 150 international artists and designers.

London Design Festival runs from 14-23 September. For more information visit http://www.londondesignfestival.com.