Clerkenwell 2019

As most may already know, last month was Clerkenwell Design Weeks 10th Anniversary! To mark the occasion, myself and Balin escaped the Workpattern Office in search of great design, exciting furniture, product launches, workshops and more.

With a never ending maze of showrooms, food and flowing drinks it’s so easy to lose track of time, especially since this was my first trip to Clerkenwell. With that in mind, we had so much planned and managed to cram in as much as possible - here’s a few our favourite parts:

Fritz Hansen

Our first stop was Fritz Hansen who showcased in the ZAHA Hadid gallery. With a stunning mixture of old and new, almost 150 years of timeless Danish design was displayed in the downstairs gallery - look at those classics! 

Plastic Whale

In a world where plastic pollution is at an all time high, Plastic Whale are a group of innovative creators tackling this exact problem and transforming plastic bottles into Boats and Office Furniture. Within the Gabriel and Nomique showroom, Plastic Whale held a seminar on their story and gave us the lowdown on their newest products. Prior to heading to Clerkenwell we knew this was definitely a one for the to do list and was a massive highlight for me personally as a designer. As a team, Workpattern are always considering our environmental impact and always looking for upcoming sustainable ideas, especially if it entails quality office furniture!

“Stop Talking. Let’s start doing” - Watch it here - https://plasticwhale.com/our-story/

Vitra

As a fairly new designer to the industry and this being my first ever trip to Clerkenwell, it was obvious to Balin I needed to visit the Vitra showroom. I wasn’t disappointed. The Vitra showroom has its very own personality and for me, its great to put images to real life product and really see each individual items character, especially iconic designs like the Ply Lounge.

Orangebox

Every year, the team always end their first day at Orangebox who are always excellent hosts regardless of where we are! Their showroom is huge and filled with an extensive range of product. We also got to take part in a little bit of virtual reality in the Air Pods. 

Workstories

Workstories are a new brand to us, and their product has a great blend of commercial meets domestic. This was a main highlight for us, and the product as Clerkenwell is great for visiting existing suppliers but it’s the best place to see and visit new ones too. 

So what did I think of Clerkenwell?

If there’s one thing I’ve realised from my visit and writing this post, it’s that Clerkenwell is very hard to sum up in a few words and photos! Over two days, a long list of showrooms, 25,000 steps and over 300 photos later, my first visit was a fantastic experience! Roll on next year!