Clerkenwell Design Week returned to the London architectural and design community with more showrooms, exhibition venues and events than before.

Following a two-year hiatus due to Covid, the show returned with more than 150 participating showrooms, 10 exhibitions, including three new venues, and more than 400 events held across three days.

New for 2022 was Covered, an exhibition dedicated to interior surfaces with the Italian Trade Agency, in collaboration with Ceramics Association of Italy, showcasing nine brands in a marquee.

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Visitors to the EC1 postcode were also met with installations, street sculptures and even a pedal-powered mobile bar.

Integral to the event were the resident design showrooms, with a broad selection of showroom participants.

It included those in the bathroom and kitchen sector, such as Billi, Coalbrook, Cosentino, Devol Kitchens, Duravit, Gessi, Ideal Standard, RAK Ceramics and TOTO

Here we offer a curated edit of the events of interest to kitchen and bathroom design professionals.

RAK Ceramics

UAE manufacturer RAK Ceramics opened its first global Design Hub in London, located at 100 St John Street, during Clerkenwell Design Week.

Spanning over two floors, it measures 7,276sq ft and showcases the company’s sanitaryware, as well as brassware for both bathrooms and kitchens, including a working display.

The space includes a collection from fashion designer Elie Saab, along with products from designers Maurizio Scuttella, Debiasi & Sandri, and Patrick Nourget.

In addition, the venue boasts a dedicated area for tiling and its mega slabs which can be used for cladding, tiling, surfacing and as decorative pieces.

The Design Hub has been created “as an immersive environment to inspire creativity” and includes a working kitchen display, working tap display, Virtual Worlds 4D Theatre and a Grab and Go sample area.

Ceramics of Italy

For the first time ever, the Italian ceramic industry and the Italian Trade Agency (ITA) participated in Clerkenwell Design Week.

As part of a new exhibition entitled “Covered”, ITA London organised a space devoted to Ceramics of Italy which hosted Italian ceramic companies: Cerdomus, FAP Ceramiche, Ceramiche Keope, Litokol, Mirage Granito Ceramico, Ceramiche Refin, Gruppo Ceramiche Ricchetti, Ceramica Sant’Agostino and Ceramiche Settecento-Valtresinaro.
A programme of events included a conference devoted to Ceramics of Italy, which included head of promotional activities at Confindustria Ceramica Cristina Faedi who discussed the latest trends in Italian ceramics.

In addition, talks were given by Giovanni Sacchi from ITA London, Marco Pavoni, associate architect at Zaha Hadid Architects, and Annabella Nasetti, creative director of Living Concept Int. Ltd.

VitrA

As part of this year’s festival, VitrA Bathrooms commissioned internationally acclaimed artist Lother Gotz to create a site specific installation –  Colour Rush.

It had been created as a reflection on the act of seeing and the artwork could be experienced from inside and outside the new VitrA showroom, offering subtly shifting space and colour during the day.

In addition, VitrA London held a panel discussion Colour + Me to explore the power of colour with artist Lother Gotz, VitrA design director Erdem Akan and designer Rhonda Drakeford.

Moderated by colour expert and trend forecaster Jane Boddy, the panel shared their experiences of working with colour and explored colour perception in design and art.

TOTO

Japanese sanitaryware company TOTO held an exhibition of public toilet architecture, The Tokyo Toilet Project ( an initative of the Nippon Foundation), at its Concept gallery space.

It featured 12 projects by architects and designers including works by Tadao Ando, Shigeru Ban and Kengo Kuma showcasing light filled spaces with accessible designs, where hygiene and comfort played a pivotal role.

The city Government in Shibuya – one of Tokyo’s 23 districts – started work with the Nippon Foundation in 2020 to build new public toilets or renovate existing ones. The 17 structures were designed by 16 architects and designers.

TOTO supported the architects and explored what would make a public toilet both safe and comfortable for people, including wheelchair users and parents of small children

By November 2020, seven of the 13 planned projects had been completed.

DeVOL Kitchens

Furniture manufacturer and retailer DeVol Kitchens participated at Clerkenwell Design Week with two of its showrooms, including its townhouse on St John square and its newly revamped Tysoe Street venue.

In addition, it exhibited at the British Collection at Crypt on the Green and recreated a traditional haberdashery to showcase its handcrafted accessories alongside its furniture collection inspired by the iconic shop interior.

The Haberdasher’s kitchen features mid-century inspired oak cupboards with integrated pivot hinges, modelled after those on classice steel casement windows.

This handmade furniture can be used for kitchens as well as living spaces.

Cosentino

The flagship architecture and design centre for Cosentino UK, Cosentino City, London, hosted a plethora of events, workshops and talks throughout Clerkenwell Design Week.

With sustainability as its core theme it created Dekton Drop Boxes, installed around the area, to encourage visitors to post their used maps which would be upcycled into a paper mache sculpture by artist Emmely Elgerma.

Lee Mccormack from smart sustainable software company MyGlobalHome shared insights into what constitutes a smart home with vice president global product of Cosentino Valentin Garci.

In addition, global head of retail and innovation for Cosentino Cristina Mariaca presented a talk on a digital platform created for interior designers: C Top.

In keeping with the theme of sustainablity, Cosentino also hosted Terrarium worktops alongside Leafage and joined with German Kiel to demonstrate building Facades with Dekton Slim.

Clerkenwell Design Week also gave Cosentino the opportunity to preview four Dekton colours launching in July.

Completing its activities Cosentino teamed up with Pedibus, a 12-seated bar bike clad in Dekton, allowing visitors to explore the event area and casually network.

Grohe

United by their sustainable brand values, Grohe and Mosa partnered to celebrate the return of Clerkenwell Design Week, with a series of events showcasing the move towards a sustainable future.

Both companies were celebrating their recent achievement of cradle-to-cradle certification.

Throughout the three days, bathroom manufacturer Grohe and tile brand Mosa held a programme of CPDs and talks.

These included an evening with cradle-to-cradle founder Prof. Dr. Michael Braungart, as well as discussions on circular design and sustainability from Grohe’s global design lead Patrick Speck and Mosa CEO Frank Spikker.