CDW Presents

This May, Clerkenwell will play host to a new innovative series of collaborations for the eighth edition of Clerkenwell Design Week (CDW). CDW Presents will bring specially commissioned public installations to the area, each in context and offering a fresh insight into design and materials. 

Integral to the festival’s unique structure, the CDW Presents programme offers an insight into temporary architecture, materials and the use of public space. Partnering exciting architecture and design practices with suppliers of innovative products makes new connections and delivers inspiring results: free for all to experience, this is where Clerkenwell can flex its creative muscle to show new approaches and fresh ideas in key locations as part of the visitor experience. The installations are spread along the CDW “exhibitions trail,” which connects the festival’s seven unique exhibition venues.

St John’s Square will be home to The Bolt: A Celebration of Craft, by Detroit-based manufacturer, Shinola and London materials composer, Giles Miller. Shinola, who are heavily rooted in the preservation of craft, have collaborated with Giles Miller Studio to develop The Bolt—a cross-pond celebration of handcrafted skills, materials and products, themed around Shinola’s iconic lightning bolt motif and assembled in Miller’s signature style.

The Beacon, one of 2017’s most ambitious installations, supported by Perspex® Brand, is inspired by the Tower of Babel. The 7.5m tall structure will feature an internal staircase encased in a typographical design which celebrates internationalism. Visitors will be able to climb up the internal staircase to a viewing platform over-looking a cross-section where the industrial meets historical Clerkenwell.

The Playbox, designed by Shape London and Fraher Architects is an installation exploring bespoke joinery details through an enlarged form of an intricate tea caddy, that opens up to allow visitors to enjoy hosting the social activity of tea drinking. Shape London have created two playboxes for the festival; a big sister character for Design Fields, occupied by tea partner Newby Teas, and a little brother playbox living in Brewhouse Yard for the duration of the festival. Tile brand HARMONY, part of the Peronda Group, will occupy the Brewhouse Yard structure with a display of their latest collections.

Working with iconic material producer Corian, Deptford-based innovative multidisciplinary design group Aldworth James & Bond (who worked on the infamous Smile at London Design Festival 2016), will be designing Order, an installation for one of Clerkenwell’s most renowned sites; the Arch of St John. Order pushes the boundaries of component based digital fabrication, and explores the structural properties of Corian. The structure of the installation uses a historical motif, which is firmly rooted in the heritage of Clerkenwell and is inspired by a quote from Anthony Powell found at the Charterhouse.

Hakwood, global leader in the design and manufacture of top quality wood flooring and wall tiles, returns to CDW and sponsors Double Vision, a 4-meter high structural installation of recursive patterns situated within the historic Clerkenwell Close. Inspired by the pattern possibilities of Hakwood’s wall tile range, Double Vision is a double panelled structure which aims to create an uplifting moment whilst walking the exhibition route. The piece celebrates pattern and form and its powers to brighten and energize.

Returning to CDW for its second year, Scale Rule present the Next Generation Design Pavilion in the Garden of St James; a pavilion that aims to inspire a younger generation interested in the construction- related professions. The pavilion is a result of a series of educational workshops, bringing GCSE students together from across London. Their brief for 2017 asks students to explore the ways in which architecture and design can encourage social interaction, and will feature a bridge which visitors can walk over, or leave their own mark on with a ribbon.