London Design Festival: These are the must-sees

London calling for interior design fans and pros: Here are all the highlights of the programme that runs from September 13-21

For wine buffs and furniture fans alike, the bespoke LaErre wine trunk is at Design London Shoreditch.

IT'S back-to-school for everyone, including design watchers, as the behemoth London Design Festival runs from September 13-21 for serious study of new collections and design concepts to aspire to and inspire.

I made a flying visit to the previews to get a taste of talks and exhibitions, but walking around big cities trying to decide what to fit into a short visit is tiring, so here are my top picks for interiors inspiration, from the Shoreditch Design Triangle in the east to west London’s Brompton Design District offering a mix of strollable and sit down events.

The London Design Festival sees the launch of new collections for the season ahead, including fabrics by Pierre Frey, Kieffer at Rubelli, and paint by Zoffany at Sanderson. Picture: Chelsea Harbour Design Centre

Fly into Stansted and take the train to Liverpool Street for good transport links in East London.

The Museum of the Home

The Museum of the Home is where room sets chart the development of English homes from 400 years ago to the present. Given the colonial occupation of Ireland, it’s the story of our homes too, so plenty of nostalgic moments to be had for interiors fans.

• Museum of the Home, 136 Kingsland Road, London E2 8EA, Home Galleries and Rooms Through Time, Tuesday to Sunday, 10am-5pm

Shoreditch Town Hall

Design London Shoreditch is new to the festival and includes House of Icon, which looks at the beauty of interior design from the clean lines and practicality of Scandinavian design to bold maximalism. The venue, grade II listed Shoreditch Town Hall, sees design and lifestyle brands occupying atmospheric basements, grandiose chambers laden with original features and a grand Victorian auditorium to showcase innovations in furniture, lighting, textiles and accessories.

• Shoreditch Town Hall, 380 Old Street, London EC1V 9LT, September 16-18, 10am-4.30pm
  

  William Morris Gallery

History and modernity also meet at Morris Mania, an exhibition exploring the work of Victorian designer William Morris. He’s famed for his prints, which never went out of fashion as his patterns continue on wallpaper, fabric, shower curtains, phone cases, and on-screen in Django Unchained, Gogglebox and Coronation Street.

Textiles are elevated to storytelling and whimsy with the Paradiso scenic wallcovering by Aux Abris at George Spencer Designs, and Cyrus pendant light, Heathfield & Co. Picture: Chelsea Harbour Design Centre

Objects have been donated by the public to exhibit alongside pieces lent by private and public collectors, but the popularity of Morris’ work has happened through mass-production, making it a complicated legacy which the exhibition explores, supported by the clever exhibition design of Sam Jacob Studio, which also designed the Barbie exhibition at London’s Design Museum last year.

• William Morris Gallery, Lloyd Park, Forest Road, Walthamstow, E17 4PP until September 21, Tuesday to Sunday, 10am-5pm. Suggested donation £5.

Chelsea Harbour Design Centre

Flying into Heathrow, you’re well placed for choosing from more than 100 talks, mostly free, at Focus/25 On Design at Chelsea Harbour Design Centre. Learn kintsugi, the Japanese method of repairing ceramics with precious metals, and get tips on restoring an older property from Ben Forster and Paul Longman.

Karyo rocking chair from Isabelle Moore Design is showing at the London Design Festival. Picture: Shannon Tofts

Fans of Channel 4’s Renovation Nation will remember their Georgian house project. If you haven’t seen it, their Instagram account @thecountryhousediaries gives a flavour of what they’ve achieved, the details of which they’ll be discussing with all the highs and lows of the project, plus giving style tips on September 15, 2-3pm.

The Reimagined Home: What We Choose to Keep is a talk by Maria Speake, co-founder of Retrouvius, the London company that changed salvage’s junk yard reputation and put it at the heart of interior design. 

The V&A Museum is a focal point for events at the London Design Festival, with installations blending design with contemporary craft and art, like Jakkai Siributr’s There’s No Place. Picture: Arina Matveev, V&A

She’ll focus on sustainability on September 17, 11.30am-12.30pm, sharing her views on the value of design and making old things new again. She’s also the author of Retrouvius: Contemporary Salvage: Designing Homes from a Philosophy of Re-Use (Rizzoli), which is worth a read if you want to make pre-loved and salvage central to your interior design.

• Focus/25 On Design, Chelsea Harbour Design Centre, Lots Road, SW10 0XE, September 15-19; bookings at Dcch.co.uk.

Design Museum

No design-focused trip to London would be complete without a traipse around the Design Museum.

For the festival, two workshops with sustainable fashion brand Wolf & Badger’s designer Eliská Sapera will look at colour using natural dyed fabrics to make an interiors mood board; how to select colour tones, and how to shift the mood in your home using photos of an area or room needing a refresh as the focus. You’ll take home your mood board and a natural dye kit to repurpose household textiles, although you’ll want to check sizes and liquid allowances for the flight home.

• The Power of Colour in Interior Design with Eliská Sapera of Wolf & Badger, Design Museum, 224-238 Kensington High Street, London W8 6AG, 10.30am-12.30pm and 2pm-4pm, September 20, £40

• Instagram.com/l_d_f_official