London Design Festival, the capital city’s annual celebration of design, kicks off this week. Beyond the tentpole exhibitions at the V&A Museum, designjunction, London Design Fair (formerly TENT/Superbrands), and 100% Design, this year’s festivities include the inaugural London Design Biennial showcasing 35 country pavilions with a number of excellent projects focused on designing the future of food.
Below we’ve rounded up 10 of the most interesting food design projects debuting at the 2016 festival. Tag us with #thisismold in your favorite exhibitions and let us know what you’re seeing!
Above Sea Level Launch at Design Undefined
Our friends at Above Sea Level, a wonderful magazine dedicated to all things wine and culture, launch their first issue at the newly opened Clerkenwell London space with local designers Camille Walala, Yinka Ilori and Samuel Wilkinson.
Clerkenwell London, 155 Farringdon Road EC1R 3AD
Brown Betty at Vitsoe
At the temple to Dieter Rams’ archetypal furniture, another archetype gets its just due with an exhibition celebrating the Brown Betty teapot. Curated by RCA-grad and ceramicist Ian McIntyre, the show explores the process of designing and developing “one of the most manufactured teapots in British history [over] a surprising 300 years.”
Vitsoe, 3-5 Duke Street W1U 3ED
Jasper Morrison’s First Kitchen
Jasper Morrison’s versatile designs have transformed every day objects into icons for brands like Vitra, Alessi and Punkt. Now the kitchen system by this British designer—his first—is on show for London Design Festival at the new Schiffini flagship store. Mixing materials like warm woods and stainless steel, the LEPIC kitchen for Schiffini has a quiet elegance.
Schiffini, 21 Duke Street, W1U 1DJ
Dining, French Bistro Style
For the next week, experience tableware from French manufacturer Petite Friture in the context of the contemporary French restaurant Aubaine. At their three locations in Marylebone, Mayfair and Brompton Road, dine off the new porcelain tableware collection from Swedish duo Färg & Blanche. Although not on display, we especially love Sam Baron’s lighting for Petite Friture’s 2016 collection—an ode to sausage rendered in beautifully delicate, handblown glass.
Aubaine, Multiple Locations
Toilet Break
To celebrate the launch of the third issue of Dirty Furniture, our favorite design mag is partnering with Milan’s Shit Museum to present two exhibitions and a series of design debates pitting futurists and designers against curators and writers to address thorny questions around toilet design, gender-neutral bathrooms and more.
Basement, 1 North Terrace SW32BA
Hand-drawn interpretations of tea brewing from leaf to cup reflect the unique color, texture and patterns of the process.
Raw Edges Loves Tea
The duo behind Raw Edges will have a relaxing LDF—with nonstop tea time at T2. The designers, who have created exhibitions for Vitra, furniture for Louis Vuitton and been recognized by the Design Museum, are launching their packaging collaboration with the Australian tea company at the T2 Shoreditch shop.
T2 Shoreditch, 48-50 Redchurch Street, E2 7DP
Cheers to Brompton
This year, the design district celebrates it’s 10 year anniversary as any self-respecting design destination would—with cocktails. Curator Jane Withers commissioned cocktails from Brompton Design District alumni inspired by the avant-garde spirit of the Futurist Cookbook and the Original Brompton Cocktail—a lethal mix of morphine, heroin, cocaine and alcohol, used for palliative care at the Royal Brompton Hospital until the 1970s. Expect tipples from Tomas Alonso, Martino Gamper, Faye Toogood, Tom Dixon, Peter Marigold, Max Lamb, Michael Anastassiades, Arabeschi di Latte and more.
1 North Terrace SW3 2BB
BBQ Tiles
Following the success of last year’s Ready Made Go, the editors behind Modern Design Review have tapped five more London-based studios to create hospitality objects for the Ace Hotel London. We’re most excited about the BBQ Tiles by the Turner Prize-winning practice Assemble—hundreds of ceramic tiles were fired in their Granby Workshop facilities creating beautiful patterns from smoke. See the tiles during the launch or in the 7th floor bar of the Ace.
Ace Hotel, 100 Shoreditch High Street, E1 6JQ
Feeding the Foundlings
How do you feed orphans? Researcher and writer Jane Levi, an associate at Delfina Foundation’s Politics of Food program, is curating an exhibition of archival material and oral histories on the food and feeding of children at the Foundling Hospital from 1740-1950. With tableware, recorded sound and more, the exhibition asks questions about physical and psychological effects of the Hospital’s dining rooms.
Foundling Museum, 40 Brunswick Square WC1N 1AZ
Solar Charge Your Table
Caventou is a new manufacturer founded by the Dutch designer Marjan van Aubel that’s bringing a bit of sunshine inside. Their first piece of furniture to harvest energy indoors, the Current Table leverages the property of color to create an electrical current. The process is based on photosynthesis—dye sensitized solar cells are integrated into a glass surface that creates the table top. Hear van Aubel speak about her process and the importance of integrating technologies into everyday objects.
V+A Gallery, Cromwell Road SW7 2RL
