London Design Festival Unveils Global Design Forum Programme and V&A x LDF: AWAKENINGS
London Design Festival has unveiled its thought leadership programming for 2026, including the full Global Design Forum line-up and the V&A x LDF installations, taking place during the Festival from 12-20 September 2026.
The Global Design Forum will take place from 12-14 September at the V&A South Kensington's Lydia and Manfred Gorvy Lecture Theatre. The curated talks programme is free to attend and tickets are now available at londondesignfestival.com/gdf
This year's Forum is guest-curated by Rhiarna Dhaliwal, a British-Indian architectural designer, researcher and curator whose practice explores design, technology, ecology and geopolitics. She is a Design Researchers in Residence alumna at the Design Museum and co-founder of Xcessive Aesthetics.
Supported by Programme Partners Bowmore and Sun Media Group, the theme for 2026 is Worlds in Motion, exploring the exchange of ideas, culture, context and expertise and how design acts as a catalyst for global change.
DAY ONE - Saturday 12 September: Designing Futures
Day One focuses on technology, innovation and collaboration.
The highlight is a keynote talk between acclaimed artist and designer Es Devlin CBE and Festival Director Ben Evans CBE, reflecting on experimentation and how technology, spatial and interactive design can unlock new creative potentials.
Other talks include 'Shared Ecologies' with Baum and Leahy, Justina Alexandroff, Yasaman Sheri and Claudia Pasquero, moderated by Janice Li, and 'Shared Intelligence' with Harry Kumar of MOTH Quantum and Betty Lu of FIELD.IO, moderated by Pita Arreola. Filmmaker Liam Young will screen "Planet City" alongside Eunjo Lee's "When Forgiving the Sunlight".
DAY TWO - Sunday 13 September: Designing Atmospheres
Supported by Programme Partner Bowmore, Day Two explores how design shapes sensory perception, memory and embodied experience.
A highlight is a conversation between Bowmore Master Blender Dr Calum Fraser and Snarkitecture Co-Founder Alex Mustonen on their collaboration for the new Bowmore Captivo Collection, exploring whisky-making and architectural design. The session will begin with a complimentary tasting of Bowmore Captivo Oak Voyage 20-Year-Old.
Other sessions include 'The Power of Sound' with L-Acoustics, composer Hollie Buhagiar and Stephen Dobbie; 'The Shape of Colour' with Adam Nathaniel Furman, artist Lakwena Maciver, Professor Anna Franklin and Ruth Lloyd, moderated by Kassia St Clair; and 'Activating Objects' with Dr Hideki Yoshimoto of Craft x Tech, Brendan Cormier and Sam Jacob, moderated by Corinne Julius.
DAY THREE - Monday 14 September: Designing Common Grounds
Supported by Programme Partner Sun Media Group, the final day examines culture, craft and habits.
A highlight is an in-conversation with pioneering journalist and co-founder of Sun Media Group Yang Lanand Natalie Melton, Executive Director of the Crafts Council, exploring how traditional craftsmanship informs contemporary design.
Other talks include 'Civic Futures' with Marina Blake, Sahra Hersi and Alice Meyer, moderated by Francesca Perry, and 'After Extraction' by Session Partner Ithra, with Sultan AlBadran, Joel De Mowbray and Seetal Solanki.
V&A x LDF: AWAKENINGS
Co-curated by Carrie Chan and Kristian Volsing, V&A x LDF: AWAKENINGS brings radical creative inquiry into the museum's galleries, exploring how design, craft and technology reshape our experience of digital and physical worlds.
Key installations include:
- Image Syncers by Nina Davies: A fictional podcast where a mysterious collective attempts to transform into AI-generated figures, considering how people adapt to computational aesthetics.
- The Server by Playfool: The V&A Emerging Design Commission by Daniel Coppen and Saki Maruyama explores systems of care and AI through the routine practice of object cleaning.
- Lovers Hold by Henry Svendsen: Reimagining the plinth and spatial politics of cruising sites through viscous, grotto-like forms suspended around stainless steel armatures.
- Once Upon A Garden by Linda Dounia Rebeiz: 50 emergent species of speculative flora across 5 chapters, using AI to document flowers not prominently recorded.
- your golf course made my GPU by Sam Ghantous: Drawing together sand and digital technologies to explore the entanglement between earth and technology.
- Metamorphic Modulation by Albert Yonathan Setyawan: Over 700 hand-modelled clay pieces, slip-cast in red terracotta and left unglazed, evoking leaves and flowers.
- When the Void Gazes Back by Eunjo Lee: Inspired by the V&A's Buddhist art collection, a digitally sculpted film exploring Zen, karma and impermanence, with sculptures 3D-printed from recycled clay.
- Sender Unknown by Aziza Kadyri: A response to the V&A's suzani collection, fusing Uzbek hand-embroidered textiles with a bespoke AI model. Female artisans in Nurota, Uzbekistan hand-embroidered contemporary motifs developed by the artist.
- Time After Time by Intoart artist Andre Williams: Fusing clockmaking and soundsystem design, a longcase clock decorated with Ndebele and Bamiléké motifs sits in the V&A's 18th-century mirrored room.
Wider events include V&A Friday Late on 18 September and Digital Design Weekend from 19-20 September, supported by the Adobe Foundation, celebrating digital art and technology through interactive exhibits and workshops.
London Design Festival 2026 is supported by the Mayor of London as Principal Supporter and Bloomberg Philanthropies, with Bloomberg Connects as the official digital guide.
