Arts & Culture
Clerkenwell Design Week adds stone vending machines, a biscuit bar, magnetic art and more talks to 2025 lineup
It’s not long now before the design and architecture community descend on London’s EC1 neighbourhood for Clerkenwell Design Week (20 – 22 May 2025). The festival has unveiled additional thought-provoking installations, along with a wide-ranging programme of talks and workshops. Here are the final highlights to look out for as the countdown to the 14th edition of CDW begins.
ITALGRANITI – VENDING MACHINES
Italgraniti brings Automatica, an interactive installation created in collaboration with architect Simon Astridge, to this year’s event. Situated across three local sites – outside Farringdon station, Old Sessions House and inside Church of Design at St Bartholomew the Great – visitors can vend a porcelain tile sample using a token collected from the Solus showroom on Clerkenwell Road.
Automatica explores the interdependent relationship between machines and people, drawing inspiration from Italgraniti’s automated factory in Emilia-Romagna. Adapted machines by Arcitile – traditionally used to dispense food and drink – now "nourish" design instead. This playful activation, both nostalgic and futuristic, is emblematic of the spirit of the Italian tile manufacturer.
HAWKINS\BROWN – BISCUIT BAR
Beasley’s Biscuit Bar, an installation hosted by Hawkins\Brown during the festival, is set to revive London’s first-ever biscuit bar on its original site at 30 Clerkenwell Road. The bar began in the 1940s as a makeshift tea spot in a shopfitter’s workshop, growing into a bustling community hub. Now, Sons of Beasley – a collaboration between designers Carl Clerkin and Alex Hellum – will recreate the spirit of the original with a retrofitted shopfront, serving tea and Beasley’s famous biscuits.
Furniture by Sons of Beasley as part of Hawkins\Brown’s biscuit bar
Visitors can relax on colourful, sustainable furniture crafted from Plykea offcuts, while live making sessions animate the installation. Sons of Beasley celebrate inventive reuse and frugal creativity, using low-impact joinery and reclaimed materials to create striking, functional designs. The project blends heritage, craft, and sustainability, bringing a beloved Clerkenwell story back to life for a new generation.
PIXEL ARTWORKS – INTERACTIVE INSTALLATION
Local creative studio Pixel Artworks – known for crafting immersive content and experiences using cutting-edge technology – will participate in the festival for the first time. Its magnetic installation will transform the Victorian vaults of Light (House of Detention) into an electrifying art experience.
To mark the studio’s 20th anniversary, Feel the Pull draws viewers through interactive spaces where the art senses their presence – and vice versa. As visitors move through the surrounding soundscape, visuals shaped by magnetic forces shift, pulse, push and pull them deeper into the experience.
Feel the Pull magnetic installation by Pixel Artworks
CONVERSATIONS AT CLERKENWELL
The festival’s official talks series, Conversations at Clerkenwell, returns with a stellar lineup of speakers, including Sabine Marcelis, Tom Dixon, Benjamin Hubert, PearsonLloyd, Note Design Studio and Alex Chinneck (creator of this year’s headline installation in Charterhouse Square).
Hosted in a colourful, Kapitza-designed auditorium at The Charterhouse, the talks series features over 15 sessions, including three daily talks presented by Dezeen – with contributors such as Conran & Partners and Office S&M. Other participants include Open City, The Barbican, The Design Council, The British Institute of Interior Design, Allies and Morrison, WGSN, Dulux, Blacksheep and Blond.
Kapitza-designed auditorium for Conversations at Clerkenwell
Sabine Marcelis
DESIGN DIALOGUES BY SANDOW (NEW FOR 2025)
Curated by Sandow – the US-based publisher behind leading design publications including Design Milk, Interior Design and Metropolis – Design Dialogues will be held daily at Church of Design during the festival. Expect discussions on inclusive design, leveraging technology for wellness and the next generation of sustainable, circular materials.
MIX MORNING SESSIONS (NEW FOR 2025)
Also new to the festival, Mix Morning Sessions is a three-day talks series taking place at the newly introduced Studio Smithfield. Curated by Mix Interiors, the programme will explore dominant ideas shaping and reshaping the design world – from AI and sustainability to the future of colour. Speakers include Ali Eslami, Principal Research Scientist at Google DeepMind; Bidisha Sinha, Associate Director at Zaha Hadid Architects; Adam Strudwick, Principal at Perkins & Will; Ruud Belmans, Co-Founder and Creative Director at WeWantMore; and applied colour psychology expert Karen Haller.
DARC THOUGHTS
Darc Thoughts returns to Light, curated by Darc and sponsored by David Village Lighting. This product-focused programme invites leading interior designers, lighting designers and manufacturers to share their insights on integrating lighting into projects. Join speakers including Alex Dauley, Sofia Hagen, Lewis Taylor (Design Director of David Collins Studio), Alessio Nardi (Founder of A-nrd Studio) and Hannah Miragliotta (Senior Interior Designer at Conran & Partners).
DESIGN MEETS
Design Meets also returns to Spa Fields following last year’s launch. Bringing together industry bodies, key associations, leading brands and experts, the programme aims to spark conversation and debate on some of the design industry's most pressing topics. Expect insightful talks from speakers representing Anti Copying in Design, Furnishing Futures, Shelter and Houzz UK.
SHOWROOM PROGRAMME
An integral part of CDW, the vibrant showroom programme is back with over 170 local partners hosting an array of design-led events. From puppy yoga to CPD talks, wine tastings to candle-making workshops – and of course, plenty of networking opportunities – there’s something for every taste and need. Discover the full programme.
Clerkenwell Design Week 2025 takes place across EC1, London, from 20 – 22 May.
For more information, please visit clerkenwelldesignweek.com– registration is now open.
