Latest news with #VictoriaBroackes
Forbes
3 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
9 Highlights Of The London Design Biennale 2025
The London Design Biennial, one of the world's most prestigious design events. Anadolu via Getty Images The fifth edition of the London Design Biennale kicked off today at Somerset House, featuring over 30 international pavilions exploring this year's theme, "Surface Reflections." Of the theme, the Director of the biennale, Victoria Broackes, says that it 'invites the world to pause, reflect and look beneath the surface. At a time of global uncertainty, our designers and artists are not only responding to the challenges we face, they are imagining bold, hopeful alternatives.' Malta pavilion, London Design Biennale 2025 London Design Biennale As always, visitors can expect to see the best in new design through immersive installations, musical performances, soundscapes and sculptural works. Here are nine highlights ranging from a paper dress and speakers made from fossils to the world's first known organisational chart made for the New York Railways in 1855. Japan, London Design Biennale 2025 Taran Wilkhu Taking over the glorious Nelson Stairs in Somerset House is the best pavilion at this year's London Design Biennale. Paper Clouds: Materiality in Empty Space presents an ethereal delight, featuring suspended clouds and a dress made of Japanese washi paper with stone speakers constructed from 350 million year old fossils that play new music by violinist-composer Midori Komachi. The delicate washi paper clouds and washi dress (inspired by traditional Japanese armor) were created by Tokyo-based Sekisui House – Kuma Lab while the stone speakers were by British company Mineral Sound. Overseen by Clare Farrow Studio, the project is a brilliant Tokyo meets London experiment in design, materiality, music and fashion. There will be a live performance byMidori Komachi on June 27th. Rachel Botsman, Roots of Trust (detail) at London Design Biennale 2025 Mark Cocksedge Who would have thought an organisational chart could be so beautiful? On display on the lower floor at Somerset House is artist Rachel Botsman's Roots of Trust, a reinterpretation of the first known organisational chart, created in 1855 for the New York and Erie Railroad Company. The chart, based on a document rediscovered and carefully restored from the archives of the U.S. Library of Congress. is etched onto a large-scale floating transparent panel. Unlike the structured pyramid hierarchy that we are familiar with today, this early chart takes a distinctly different form and challenges traditional ideas of hierarchy, power and trust in systems and society. Uzbek Design - The Once and Future Garden, London Design Biennale London Design Biennale The Uzbek Design pavilion presents The Once and Future Garden, inspired by the historic gardens of Samarkand. As spaces for imperial leisure, ritual, and celebration, the gardens and pavilions within them were filled with ceramics, textiles, furniture, and fashion—produced by highly-skilled artists and artisans from across the empire. Four design studios (Madina Kasimbaeva, Nigora Hashimova, Tigran Erdman and Timur Parmanov and Ruth Shelley) showcase objects that reflect those past centuries of skill and tradition, while also pointing to a future. A fashion designer's colorful waistcoat and jacket with a nod to historical garments and a footstool covered with bold vertical stripes are standout pieces. Oman pavilion at London Design Biennale 2025 Anadolu via Getty Images Oman's Memory Grid is an immersive installation that channels traditional pottery as a metaphor for what we value most. It connects ancient craft with digital ideas, prompting visitors to consider themes of survival, value and legacy. Plastic replicas of Omani pottery - vessels that preserved valuable resources like water across centuries are on show in a striking, colorful installation. Founded by Charos and Timur Kamalov in 2018, Teplo Store is a Tashkent-based concept store supporting over 300 independent brands of which 95% are women-led. Bringing a selection of jewlery, clothes and other accessories to the London Design Biennale, Silk Road Teplo Store shows some of the best young fashion designers from Uzbekistan. Taking a neuroscientific approach to the understanding and cognition of urban space, Human-Centred Design: Visuospace is an immersive digital exhibition. It highlights the complex relationships between emotions and the environment, spatial design and psychology to better understand how to 'live and build well.' Melek Zeynep Studio installation at London Design Biennial 2025 Anadolu via Getty Images The Recursion Project approaches the concept of repetition as an instrument that shapes the relationship between collective memory, matter and form. The installation includes hundreds of small cubes, handcrafted from Turkish terracotta clay and mirrored on two sides which create a single large cube. Central to the installation is the artist's playful reference to the Tesseract Cube: a calculation used in physics to go beyond matter into the fourth dimension. A view of "Emotional Reflections: The Soul of Seven Horizons" by Turkish artist Halise Karakaya, London Design Biennial at Somerset House in London, United Kingdom on 05, 2025. Anadolu via Getty Images The Turkey Pavilion presents Emotional Reflections: The Soul of Seven Horizons, a multisensory installation that merges contemporary art with ancient memory, inviting the audience into an emotional dialogue with the city of Istanbul. Inspired by the city's iconic seven hills, the installation features kinetic sculptures, LED responsive lighting, thermal and motion sensors, ambient soundscapes and the scent of traditional Turkish coffee. The Global South, London Design Biennale 2025 Taran Wilkhu Wura, meaning 'precious' in Yoruba, is a sculptural tribute to the wealth, resilience, and complexity of the Global South. Created from gold chain and cowrie shells, this installation weaves together narratives of trade, colonization and cultural rebirth. The cowries, once used as currency across Africa, Asia, and the Americas, are honored here as symbols of an indigenous economy - one rooted in exchange, meaning, and connection Abu Dhabi, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Black British Artist Grants programme by SR_A, Chile, China, European Union, Design Council, Eco-Vision Plan, Hong Kong, India, Institute for Global Prosperity at UCL, Japan, King's College London, Life Calling, Malta, Melek Zeynep Bulut, Netherlands, Nigeria, Northumbria University and University College London, Oman, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Rachel Botsman, Romania, Saudi Arabia, The Global South, The Silk Road Pop-Up by Teplo Store, Tijuana-San Diego, Turkey, UK Civil Service, Uzbek Design, VCUarts Qatar and World Monuments Fund and English Heritage. The London Design Biennale is at Somerset House, London until 29 June 2025. Tickets are from £22 for adults. £10 Youth tickets for visitors aged 16-25.
Observer
15-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Observer
Oman to showcase ‘Memory Grid' at London Design Biennale
MUSCAT: London Design Biennale has announced the first confirmed pavilions for its 2025 edition, taking place at Somerset House, in the heart of London, from June 5-29. The theme of this edition of the Biennale, 'Surface Reflections', explores how ideas are fuelled by both our internal experiences and external influences. The fifth edition continues the Biennale's mission to demonstrate how design can better the world we inhabit whilst broadening our understanding of design's role in addressing challenges and identifying solutions. Exhibitors will share perspectives and solutions to some of the global issues that face humanity today, exploring areas from the urban environment to the preservation of cultural heritage and environmental sustainability to post-conflict recovery. Victoria Broackes, Director of London Design Biennale, said: 'Since the last Biennale, the global context has drastically changed and the need for collaboration and exchange in a peaceful context feels more important than ever. International design teams continue to demonstrate the possibilities of and their faith in what can be achieved through design and design thinking. The Biennale reveals what is on people's minds, across the world, right now. We will see exhibitors presenting design in all its forms, from futuristic urban planning to collaborative efforts to preserve environments.' The first exhibitors announced are Argentina, Hong Kong, Poland, Malta, Nigeria, Oman, Peru, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Lebanon and Romania. Many independent projects have also been announced. Oman draws on traditional Omani pottery to explore the balance between heritage and the digital age, with an immersive installation referencing ancient water vessels for data storage, prompting reflections on memory and value in a hyper-connected world. Oman — Memory Grid re-imagines ancient vessels as a metaphor for how humanity preserves what it holds most precious. The exhibition highlights the shifting values of society and what we cherish most through the art form of Omani pottery — vessels that preserved valuable resources throughout time. The installation bridges the tangibility of ancient resources with the fragility of digital artefacts, exploring themes of survival, value and human legacy.
Observer
15-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Observer
Oman pavillion at London Design Biennale 2025
London Design Biennale has announced the first confirmed pavilions for its 2025 edition, taking place at Somerset House, in the heart of London, from June 5-29. The theme of this edition of the Biennale, 'Surface Reflections', explores how ideas are fuelled by both our internal experiences and external influences. The fifth edition continues the Biennale's mission to demonstrate how design can better the world we inhabit whilst broadening our understanding of design's role in addressing challenges and identifying solutions. Exhibitors will share perspectives and solutions to some of the global issues that face humanity today, exploring areas from the urban environment to the preservation of cultural heritage and environmental sustainability to post-conflict recovery. Victoria Broackes, Director of London Design Biennale, said: 'Since the last Biennale, the global context has drastically changed, and the need for collaboration and exchange in a peaceful context feels more important than ever. International design teams continue to demonstrate the possibilities of and their faith in what can be achieved through design and design thinking. The Biennale reveals what is on people's minds, across the world, right now. We will see exhibitors presenting design in all its forms -from futuristic urban planning to collaborative efforts to preserve environments.' The first exhibitors announced are Argentina, Hong Kong, Poland, Malta, Nigeria, Oman, Peru, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Lebanon, and Romania. Many independent projects have also been announced. Oman draws on traditional Omani pottery to explore the balance between heritage and the digital age, with an immersive installation referencing ancient water vessels for data storage, prompting reflections on memory and value in a hyper-connected world. Oman – Memory Grid 'Memory Grid' reimagines ancient vessels as a metaphor for how humanity preserves what it holds most precious. The exhibition highlights the shifting values of society and what we cherish most through the artform of Omani pottery - vessels that preserved valuable resources throughout time. The installation bridges the tangibility of ancient resources with the fragility of digital artefacts, exploring themes of survival, value, and human legacy.
