Looking Back at Clerkenwell Design Week 2025

Clerkenwell Design Week remains a standout moment in the architectural calendar. It is an opportunity not just to explore the latest in design thinking, but to reconnect with the community, engage with new materials, and spark fresh ideas. This year, our team spent three days immersed in workshops, exhibitions, installations and conversations that left us inspired and energised. 

DAY ONE: FAMILIAR SPACES, NEW PERSPECTIVES 

We began the week with a ceramics workshop at Domus Campus—an environment we know intimately, having designed their flagship space in Clerkenwell as a flexible and multifunctional campus. It was rewarding to witness the space in full use, hosting a series of workshops, talks, and installations that underscored the design’s adaptability.  The workshop, ‘Hands in the Earth’, was led by Joely Clinkard, and invited participants to slow down and work directly with raw clay. This hands-on experience resonated with our team’s ongoing interest in material tactility and the human-scale processes that ground larger design thinking. It was a reflective start, reinforcing the value of process over product and the enduring relationship between the built environment and the natural world. 

In the afternoon, the team explored a few of the CDW installations spread across Clerkenwell. Dezeen’s Shaping Water installation featured Harmonic Tides by Arthur Mamou-Mani—a glowing, 3D-printed corridor made from industrially compostable bioplastic. Inspired by hydrodynamic forms like river eddies and ocean currents, the rippled structure combined light, geometry and sound to evoke an immersive underwater atmosphere. Installed within the historic setting of St John’s Gate, it stood out not only for its visual and spatial qualities but for its celebration of material innovation and natural systems thinking—key themes that resonated throughout the week. 

Webb Yates and Hawkins\Brown’s ‘Brick from a Stone: Arch Revival’ pavilion, constructed from a pair of 102mm thick single-layer stone arches made from British quarried bricks, offered a sculptural expression of structural integrity and digital fabrication. Commissioned by Albion Stone and Hutton Stone, each 4-metre-tall freestanding arch featured a variety of stone brick sizes and profiles made possible by the advanced cutting technologies adopted by both companies. 

As the day drew to a close, the Mailen Design team stopped by two opening night events near our studio. Back at Domus, their new exhibition ‘From the Ground Up’ extended the showroom’s material narrative into a festive atmosphere. Celebrating the raw beauty and design potential of cork and clay, the installation was brought to life with Portuguese food, drinks, and live music—transforming the space into a lively hub of conversation and connection. Later, at Solus, the centrepiece SMITHS Table crafted from Casalgrande Padana spa products and inspired by the quiet beauty of the kitchen table, anchored a bustling showroom that celebrated simplicity, connection, and everyday rituals, all set to a vibrant soundtrack curated by Afroflux—an uplifting close to a full and inspiring first day. 

DAY TWO: IMMERSIVE ENCOUNTERS 

The second day of Clerkenwell Design Week ushered in more tactile and visually rich experiences for the Mailen Design team.  

We began with ‘The Clay Canvas’, a hand glazing workshop at Domus led by ceramicist Niamh Phillips. Through experimentation with texture and pattern, the team explored the relationship between surface, colour, and form—a hands-on reminder of the power of detail and finish to define architectural character. 

After lunch, we joined a guided tour of Zaha Hadid Architects to get an inside look at the new custom GENCORK cork walls installed across multiple floors of their London office. Produced through a circular process and shaped using computational design, the expanded cork surfaces illustrate how sustainable materials can meet acoustic, aesthetic and environmental needs. A short talk by Sofalca’s GENCORK team offered insight into their fabrication methods; it was particularly valuable for our team to see how digital fabrication can be applied at scale to reimagine natural materials, aligning with our ongoing research into sustainable specification and adaptive reuse. We then visited ZHA’s new ‘Function Through Form’ exhibition, which explored two decades of the studio’s furniture design—from early prototypes to recent commissions—highlighting their continual interplay between materiality, technology and form. 

Later that afternoon, we visited the Light exhibition at the House of Detention. Set within the atmospheric vaults of a former Victorian prison, the showcase brought contemporary lighting design into sharp relief against the building’s historic fabric. The interplay between aged brickwork and carefully curated installations offered a compelling study in contrast—demonstrating how light can shape mood, rhythm and perception in even the most unconventional of settings. 

To end the day, we joined a relaxed and social Paint & Sip session hosted by Sochella at Autex Acoustics. Set against a backdrop of acoustic panels and textured surfaces, the event offered a playful opportunity to engage with materiality in a different context. It was a reminder that creative expression and environmental comfort often go hand in hand, whether in the studio or the spaces we design. 

DAY THREE: SCULPTURAL PROVOCATIONS AND A FESTIVE FINALE 

Our final day at Clerkenwell Design Week began in Charterhouse Square with ‘A Week At The Knees’, an ambitious installation by artist Alex Chinneck. Referencing his earlier architectural illusions, the surreal our-storey sculpture featured a bent and rippled a Georgian-style brick façade. Made with 320 metres of repurposed steel and bespoke components—from contorted bricks to distorted sash windows—the work was a striking exploration of façade, material manipulation and visual disruption. For our team, it was a powerful reminder of how play and precision can coexist in spatial expression. 

The evening brought us full circle as we returned to the venues where the week began. At Domus, the Portuguese-themed closing party transformed the showroom into a lively celebration of food, music, and materiality. Chef Rodrigo Alves served up authentic flavours whilst a rotating set from Daisy on Sax, Reba Kimber, and Dicey DJ kept the energy high—once again proving the Domus Campus’ capacity to shift effortlessly between exhibition space and social setting. 

Our final stop was at Solus, where DJ Gilles Peterson delivered an electrifying set that turned the showroom into a dancefloor, with an infectious energy that felt like a celebration of the week itself—creative, collaborative, and joyfully connected. It was a fitting end to a vibrant three days of creative exchange, reaffirming the importance of play, exploration and community in our industry. 

REFLECTIONS: INSPIRATION IN PROCESS AND COMMUNITY 

Across three dynamic days, Clerkenwell Design Week 2025 offered our team the opportunity to step outside the day-to-day and re-engage with the wider design community through conversation, material exploration, and shared celebration. What made the greatest impact wasn’t just one standout moment, but the way each event—whether hands-on, immersive, or conversational—built towards a broader reflection on how we design, collaborate, and create. 

We came away energised by the conversations that linked material performance with environmental accountability, and heartened by the number of designers placing craft and care at the centre of their practice. It was also a chance to reflect on how our own work might respond—how we can keep refining details, broadening impact, and championing sustainability in both strategy and execution. 

Looking ahead to next year, we’re excited to return—not just to see what’s new, but to contribute to the evolving dialogue. CDW continues to remind us that design is a collective endeavour, and progress often begins with gathering in places like these.