LDF 2026: Design collectives

Much has been said and written about design festivals having to bow to economic restraints and corporate rule. This year, independent collectives across London got together to shake up the establishment by just doing it themselves, together.

I visited two exhibitions that stood out not only for giving space to emerging talent, but for offering a welcome shift from polished showrooms and stark galleries: relaxed, immersive spaces that invited you to hang out, interact and explore.

Design Everything began after London designer Lewis Duckworth was quoted £900 per square metre to exhibit at LDF and decided to create his own show. After a guerrilla exhibition from the back of a van in 2025 (which I sadly missed), the collective took over Aram's basement this year, with a free open-call show featuring more than 100 designers.

I went, saw, and stayed for a full two hours.

Design Everything at Aram Gallery. Photo by Anki Delfmann

With Limitations explored the realities of emerging designers in London. More than 100 pieces filled a fictional designer's flat, making it feel like stepping into someone's home, with each work revealing the limitations that shaped it. Even better, many of the designers behind the work were actually there, some of them making things.

Polly Jennings demonstrating how she makes slip casts at Design Everything. Photo by Anki Delfmann

Polly Jennings was in the kitchen making slip casts, which normally require a plaster mould. With the limitation of cost and time (her design practice is her 5-to-9), she has developed a process using a net made from greyboard, which is peeled and thrown away once the cast has formed. The constraints dictate an angular shape, in no way less appealing than a classic curved form. And the process was a pleasure to watch: quicker, more sustainable and more accessible.

Polly Jennings demonstrating how she makes slip casts at Design Everything. Photo by Anki Delfmann

Folded Carafe and Glasses by Polly Jennings at Design Everything. Photo by Anki Delfmann

Paper Pendant Lamp by Jeffery Lamber & Viktor Rhodin at Design Everything. Photo by Anki Delfmann

Jeffery Lambert and Viktor Rhodin designed this lamp at a kitchen table with a borrowed sewing machine and easy to acquire materials like kebab sticks and paper.

Paper Lamp by Jeffery Lamber & Viktor Rhodin at Design Everything. Photo by Anki Delfmann

Chair by Studio Plait at Design Everything. Photo by Anki Delfmann

Cities like London are becoming increasingly devoid of workshop space. Studio Plait's pieces could be every design student's dream flat-share setup: hacking common archetypes while retaining their original function, they explore how designing, prototyping and making can happen in domestic spaces, using cutoffs, found pieces and second hand hardware.

Cast On by Symran Shah at Design Everything. Photo by Anki Delfmann

Symran Shah uses knitting and crocheting to prototype her sand-cast trays, experimenting with how different stitches translate into metal.

Cutlerette by Alex Lock at Design Everything. Photo by Anki Delfmann

Working with limitations of time, space and tools in a shared house, Alex Lock prototyped mainly with a hacksaw, a set of files and repurposed materials. Cutlerette was made with what he calls an opportunistic design process, using hobby knife handles and a matching cigarette case.

The other exhibition I stayed at much longer than planned was one I stumbled upon completely by chance. After a day of walking across London, the RCA exhibition I'd been aiming for was unexpectedly closed, so I wandered into the last one still open next door. From the space and smells to the people welcoming you in, it felt less like entering an exhibition and more like arriving at someone's impossibly lovely home: part parlour, part workshop, part multi-sensory retreat.

Perfectly Imperfect at Brompton Design District. Photo by Anki Delfmann

Homenkà's Nchọ: Our Parlour recreated an Igbo domestic space centred around an heirloom reinterpretation of the traditional strategy game Nchọ. Created by four Igbo women, the installation explored how everyday objects, rituals and traditions gain meaning through use, memory and shared experience.

Nchọ by Homenkà at Perfectly Imperfect. Photo by Anki Delfmann

Zoë Chinoso Ene redesigned the game as a striking wall feature, turning something made for play into a piece of contemporary interior design.

Nchọ by Homenkà at Perfectly Imperfect. Photo by Anki Delfmann

Inspired by traditional craft, Homenkà also questions why some objects are labelled craft rather than design, and the hierarchies this creates. The work brings traditional making into a contemporary context, supporting local materials, skills and everyday design.

Our Parlour at Perfectly Imperfect. Photo by Anki Delfmann

I also lucked into a workshop exploring how memory can be embedded in everyday objects through scent, flowers and personal stories.

Our Parlour at Perfectly Imperfect. Photo by Anki Delfmann

Both exhibitions created places you wanted to spend time in, rather than simply look at. Maybe that's the way forward: not trying to recreate the establishment on a smaller budget, but making design spaces more open, social and simply more fun to be in.