The best installations from Clerkenwell Design Week 2025
Clerkenwell Design Week 2025 returned with its most ambitious edition yet, transforming London’s EC1 into a dynamic hub of creativity, craft, and culture. With over 160 local showrooms, 16+ curated exhibitions, and three striking new venues—including the historic Charterhouse and Studio Smithfield—the festival offered an inspiring blend of heritage and innovation. From surreal public installations to tactile pop-ups and thought-provoking talks, this year’s highlights showcased the breadth and energy of the design world today. In this roundup, we explore some of our memorable moments, standout collaborations, and unexpected encounters.
Solus Showroom : Photo by Luis Kramer
Solus x SMITHS
Leading architectural tile supplier Solus returned to Clerkenwell Design Week 2025 with Staples—a quietly powerful exhibition created with SMITHS architects and Casalgrande, exploring the unassuming essentials that shape our daily lives. A ceramic table became both centrepiece and social anchor, setting the tone for a programme that fused material innovation with cultural richness. From thought-provoking panels and urban discourse to olive oil tastings, candlelit suppers and late-night live sets, The tireless Solus team curated a space where design met ritual, and community thrived. With a final, euphoric set by the legendary DJ Gilles Peterson, Solus affirmed its role not just as a surface material supplier, but as the vital creative hub of Clerkenwell.
Gilles Peterson : Photo by Luis Kramer
Automatica vending machine at St Bartholomew : Photo by Dion Barrett
Automatica by Solus x Italgraniti
Solus also worked with architect Simon Astridge to activate Automatica—a trio of bespoke vending machines dispensing Italgraniti porcelain tile samples. Clad in Italgraniti tiles by Arcitile, the machines reimagined sample selection as a tactile, sensory interaction, echoing the automation of Italgraniti’s Emilia Romagna factory. Visitors retrieved samples using tokens from the Solus showroom, blending nostalgia with material storytelling. Positioned across Clerkenwell, Automatica brought playful engagement into public space while subtly referencing circular production. As Italgraniti’s Gabriele Masetti noted, the aim was to make a distinct impact in London—Automatica delivered, merging craft, culture, and machine precision with flair.
Deadgood x Rascal : Photo by Deadgood
Deadgood x Rascal
As part of British furniture brand Deadgood’s 20th anniversary celebrations, Deadgood x Rascal – The Beautifully Unexpected made a striking debut at Clerkenwell Design Week 2025. Hosted at W1 Curates, the immersive installation—created in collaboration with creative studio RASCAL—transformed the digital canvas into a vibrant, motion-driven showcase of Deadgood’s new rug collection. Drawing from unlikely inspirations (think soap streaks and pink wafer biscuits), each piece abstracted everyday beauty into tactile, expressive forms. Bold yet thoughtful, the space invited reflection and delight in equal measure. The installation wouldn’t look out of place at Milan Design Week—proof of Deadgood’s evolving vision and international design calibre.
A Week at the Knees : Photo by Charles Emerson
A Week at the Knees by Alex Chinneck
The headline installation at Clerkenwell Design Week 2025 was by artist Alex Chinneck. He unveiled A Week at the Knees—a surreal brick façade sculpture slumped in Charterhouse Square, as if pausing for rest. Spanning 13.5 metres and arching over a footpath like a weary figure, the work invites playful public interaction. Made with 7,000 real bricks and 4.6 tonnes of reclaimed steel from London’s former US Embassy, it fuses craftsmanship with sustainability. Echoing surrounding Georgian façades, it startles with its realism and wit. Chinneck, known for bending the built environment, proves once again that architecture can charm, question, and animate the everyday.
Collate Workshop : Photo by Clerkenwell Design Week
Collate Workshop by Collate Form
On busy Great Sutton Street, design recruitment disruptors, Collate Form staged Collate Workshop—a standout pop-up celebrating British design, craft, and making during Clerkenwell. Curated by founder James Garis, the space mimicked a working studio, where over 24 designers and brands—from Michael Anastassiades to YesColours—shared process, materials, and finished work in a refreshingly open format. Blurring the line between gallery and workshop, the installation fostered authentic engagement and creative exchange. Their daily aperitivo & fries became an unmissable early evening gathering, reaffirming Collate’s role as both industry matchmaker and cultural instigator.