15 – 25 September 2007
This year sees the annual London Design Festival run for the fifth time. For some time before we started the Festival, September had been a focal point for design activity in our multi-talented city. However, this tended to be ghettoised, with events in particular parts of the city, and focussed on one or two areas of the design spectrum. The Festival has brought design to a bigger audience and spread it across town; the ’07 programme includes over 200 activities from Barking to Brompton Cross, most of them free, and covering 20-plus design disciplines.
Deptford Design has been a key part of the Festival programme for the last four years and in many ways personifies why it was established; encouraging design talent to come together, show what they’ve got and enjoy the opportunity of developing business and creative contacts. The Festival has helped shine a light on a number of diverse creative communities thriving with London as their backdrop. None are more important, interesting and vibrant as Deptford’s.
For the first time this year the Festival embarks on a new venture, working with Southbank Centre to stage a central hub - or headquarters - for the Festival and its visitors. The programme we’re staging includes two large-scale outdoor installations, stunning designer crystal chandeliers from the Festival’s main sponsor, Swarovski, a series of design talks on business, day-long conferences, award ceremonies, hands-on workshops, musical performances and of course the Deptford Design Market Challenge in the Royal Festival Hall.
Deptford Design and the London Design Festival have developed together. This year’s projects at Southbank Centre are ambitious and confident – providing a platform for designers to rise to the challenge of interpretation and, in the case of the Market Challenge, re-use. It promises to be a great spectacle and an advert for Deptford as a destination and inspiration.
We look forward to welcoming you to the wonderful surroundings of Southbank Centre during the Festival (15-25 September). We very much hope you’ll enjoy the Festival as a whole, and of course Deptford Design weekend which is always a highlight for me.
Deputy Director
www.londondesignfestival.com
