This LDF, get lost in an immersive world of virtual design and digital furniture

This September is London Design Festival’s 20th anniversary, which means it’s time to experience all the city has to offer in design via creative features, activations, workshops and exhibitions. Among the events unfolding across London’s design districts – within Brompton Design District alone, you can find Pentagram’s craft-centred tile collaboration with Huguet Mallorca and an installation on the sensory world of ASMR at The Design Museum – attendees can also discover an immersive installation at The Conran Shop. With It’s Nice That calling on an exciting selection of future-facing digital artists to complete the work with the design destination, Meet Me in the Metaverse offers a fascinating glimpse into the world of virtual design.

Those walking past The Conran Shop this month will see its front windows transformed into a brand new experiential landscape, in an exhibition open for visitors until October 2022. Attendees will be welcomed into a new seemingly endless space, with lifestyle and design products from The Conran Shop displayed like never before. Six digital artists have reimagined design classics from The Conran Shop’s AW22 collection – including a modular sofa by a Young Design Talent awardee and a coat stand – as their digital doubles in the virtual realm. The results have then been displayed alongside their physical originals in the space.

Across a range of immersive screens, users will see the fun, free and personality-laden work of VR sculpting duo Yonk, who have turned Pierre Paulin’s sculptural lounge chair –the Groovy Chair – into a chair that grooves. Meanwhile, Parisian 3D art director Laurent Allard creates a 3D clone of the Iris Lounge Chair with a surprisingly flammable twist. Visitors looking to learn more about these never-before-seen creations can discover the creative commissions here, before discovering more about the future of virtual design and its endless possibilities at The Conran Shop.

Meet Me in the Metaverse is accompanied by a selection of unmissable exhibitions and events this LDF. Explore the future of brand presence in our everyday lives with Seen Studios, the impact of cotton production on labour, land and the body with British Textile Biennial 2021, plus 3D printed sculptures on Plasticity and more at the V&A. Attendees can also catch a glimpse into the new Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration, discovering stories about the space as Tim Ronalds Architects continue to work on the restoration.