The London Design Festival celebrated its eleventh birthday September 14-22nd with over 300 different shows and events over nine days. It was impossible for BlogTour London to cover it all but we managed to cover a fair amount of ground.
DAY 1: designJunction
This year designjunction returned to the 1960s Postal Sorting Office in Central London where a cutting-edge line-up of renowned international brands and emerging design talent were presented across three floors of the impressive 120,000 sq ft venue. New for 2013 was lightjunction, London’s first trade fair dedicated to very best in decorative lighting.
We began the show with an introduction to the much anticipated UK debut of Kartell by Laufen. I may have to give them their own post later just to discuss their revolutionary SaphirKeramik.
I think this quote from the award-winning designers Ludovica+Roberto Palomba sums up the collection best.
“An architectural project, which speaks a new language. Innovative, rich in emotion,
transparency and colour. The Kartell by Laufen bathroom is the synthesis of the work
we have done in recent years in the world of the bathroom and represents an important
step forward in this sector”
After exploring the show we met up again for Dinner hosted by Laufen at Jamie Oliver’s pop-up restaurant Barbecoa in partnership with Modus furniture. Barbecoa is renowned for its flame inspired cooking and widely praised for their original and smoked flavored dishes. I found out the menu was specifically created for the show – their first-ever pop-up venture. We dined on signature favorites of pit-smoked pulled pork sandwiches, smoked short ribs with chipotle tomato salsa, loaded BLT sandwiches with home smoked porchetta and a delicious chicken cobb salad. There were also the most incredible desserts shared around the table.
During our dinner we met some of the members from the Visa Luxury Hotel Collection, designjunction’s main sponsor. The Visa Luxury Hotel Collection is a premium travel program enabling Visa Premium cardholders to find, book and enjoy exclusive benefits at more than 900 prestigious properties around the world — from boutique to celebrated designer hotels.
Little did I realize at the time, but designjunction established a lighting theme for me during the Festival.
More Highlights
Kitchen Studio of Naples, Inc. 
Great post Ann! What a fun first day!
I’s so hard to condense things down – I don’t want to bore people.
Reblogged this on The Decorated Bathroom and commented:
Great video of team setting up I think a bathroom display for London Design Festival. Some of our sink designs would look awesome on those sinks. http://www.decoratedbathroom.com/