Clerkenwell Design Week returns with a dense, high-energy program that pushes the boundaries of architecture, materials, and interiors across London’s most design-savvy postcode. From site-specific installations and public sculptures to talks, tours, and after-hours celebrations, here’s our curated guide to what not to miss.
Alex Chinneck – A Week at the Knees
Charterhouse Square, EC1M 6AN
British sculptor Alex Chinneck brings his signature optical trickery back to London with A Week at the Knees, a surreal, rippling brick façade set in the historical surroundings of Charterhouse Square. Referencing his now-iconic “sliding house” in Margate, this warped four-storey structure reimagines the Georgian terrace as a living, breathing organism.
Made in collaboration with leading British manufacturers, including Crittall Windows, Michelmersh Bricks, and Cleveland Steel, the work bends steel, windows, doors, and bricks into a theatrical gesture of transformation. It’s architectural mischief at an urban scale.
Brick from a Stone – Albion Stone x Hutton Stone
14 Clerkenwell Green, EC1R 0DP
In a striking fusion of craft and engineering, Brick from a Stone: Arch Revival is a new pavilion by Hawkins\Brown and Webb Yates, commissioned by Albion Stone and Hutton Stone. The installation comprises two hyperbolic arches, each nearly four metres tall, crafted from a single layer of wafer-thin stone bricks.
It’s an elegant tribute to material efficiency and structural daring, showing off the full potential of British stonework in an era obsessed with sustainability and surface.
Design Meets
Spa Fields, Northampton Road, EC1R 0DF
A vital forum for discourse and exchange, Design Meets hosts three days of talks, panels, and workshops covering everything from workplace wellbeing to sustainable manufacturing. Expect insights from leading voices across design, architecture, and material innovation.
Sessions are free to attend on a first-come, first-served basis, arrive early and bring questions.
OnOffice Workplace Tour
Thursday 22 May, 09:30–12:00
Starting at Andreu World, 254-258 Goswell Rd, EC1V 7EB
What does the modern workplace need to be in 2025? In collaboration with OnOffice, this curated walking tour led by design journalist Roddy Clarke offers a window into the shifting world of commercial interiors.
The itinerary includes eight showroom stops, each exploring ideas like sensorial design, circularity, modularity, and flexibility. This is a rare opportunity to hear directly from the brands shaping tomorrow’s workspace, from Steelcase and Interstuhl to Boss and König + Neurath.
Pixel Artworks – Feel the Pull
12 Sans Walk, EC1R 0AF
One of the festival’s most transportive experiences, Feel the Pull by Pixel Artworks transforms the subterranean vaults of Clerkenwell House of Detention into a sensory expedition through magnetism and motion.
As you navigate its immersive soundscape and ever-shifting visuals, magnetic forces respond to your presence, subtly shaping the space around you. Expect pulsing light, spatial illusions, and elemental rhythms powered by twenty years of the studio’s creative innovation.
More than an installation, it’s an invitation to release control and be drawn in.
As Clerkenwell Design Week unfolds across studios, streets, and historic landmarks, what emerges is more than a showcase, it’s a vivid portrait of where design is headed. From stone arches to seatbelt-sculpted furniture, and from workplace foresight to magnetic immersion, this year’s edition reminds us that the most compelling design doesn’t just respond to the world, it reshapes how we move through it. See you on the ground.