Celebrating its 10^th anniversary, Clerkenwell Design Week welcomed architects and designers to the EC1 postcode area of London from May 21-23.

Over the three-day event, design professionals could visit an array of exhibitions from Design Fields Platform, Project, Elements, through to Detail , British Collection and Light.

The exhibitions were complemented by a programme of topic-led talks at resident showrooms.

Sponsored Video

Lauren Goodbrand of Kitchens International on winning the Kbsa Concept Designer Award 2024

These discussions included sustainability and global hotel design, through to the development of London’s super sewer.

And linking the design trail were street installations commissioned for the festival, including a bench made using Dekton with integral phone chargers.

Kitchens & Bathrooms News teamed up with interior designer Emma Merry of Emma Merry Styling to find out her thoughts on the event.

However, we also took a spin around Clerkenwell Design Week to pick out some of the bathroom and kitchen highlights, spanning products, showrooms and talks.

1. Geberit

Taking residency at Design Fields, bathroom manufacturer Geberit showcased its revised Smyle furniture collection and slimmer Aquaclean shower toilet, as well as matt finish additions to its flush plates. In addition, it published a white paper The Science behind the Sensory Space, highlighting the trends shaping bathrooms across high-end residential, hotel and office design. Designer of the Aquaclean Christophe Behling also led a talk on the challenges overuse of technology can bring and the impact it has on our senses.

2. Kitchen Architecture

Joining Geberit in Design Fields, official sponsor to Clerkenwell Design Week Kitchen Architecture showcased the Roshults modular outdoor kitchen. Exclusive to the company in the UK, the Roshults kitchen was made from 316 marine grade stainless steel, anthracite lacquer and sustainably sourced teak wood. It will be showcased in the retailer’s new Oxford showroom, opening in the Autumn.

3. Toto

Japanese bathroom manufacturer Toto held a talk: Hotel Design in a new era of global travel featuring managing director of RDW Design Ariane Steinbeck and Rob Steul, creative director of Edwardian Hotels. At the same time, it also celebrated sales of its Washlet shower toilet which have reached in excess of 50 million, globally. Completing its Clerkenwell Design Week activities, Toto held an exhibition, Over the Dataveil,  exploring IOT, mass customisation and AI learning.

4. Duravit

Celebrating a year since the opening of its London showroom, Duravit showcased its latest launches from ISH. These included the Viu sanitaryware and corresponding Xviu furniture, created by Sieger Design. In addition, the window display played host to the revised Happy D2 Plus range, with ceramic in anthracite and a bath in two-tone white and anthracite.

5. Ideal Standard

But new to the area and located in the former premises of fashion icon Alexander McQueen, Ideal Standard previewed its Clerkenwell showroom, opening at the end of June. Covering four floors, the showroom featured one of its first collaborations with Palomba Serafini Associati – the colourful Ipalyss basin. The presentation also revealed the company’s new logo and typefaces.

6. Hansgrohe

At its Water Studio, Hansgrohe hosted a talk Green Living: Designing with a Sustainable Mindset which featured founder and creative director of Tessuto Interiors Susie Rumbold. In addition, it showcased finishes to its My Edition brassware, created by Phoenix Design. Designers can choose the mixer body from 15 finishes, with seven inlays including timber, marble, leather or mirrored glass.

Marketing manager of Bisque Ellie Sawdy on the company’s colourful stand

7. Bisque

Radiator manufacturer Bisque exhibited its radiator models in a rainbow of colours at Elements, adding alternatives to now coveted brass finishes. However, its story for Clerkenwell Design Week was the launch of #Radical40 competition for industry professionals and design students to create its next radiator design. The winner will be announced at its 40^th Anniversary Party in November, with the design going into production.

8. Cosentino

At Cosentino City in London, surfacing manufacturer Cosentino showcased its latest finishes for both Silestone and Dekton brands, including marble-effect Olimpo . However a star of the showroom was a kitchen sink system, the first piece from the Otomoto lifestyle brand, made from suede finish Silestone and timber. The concept of the piece is the kitchen moves around the chef, as opposed to the chef moving around the kitchen and it features a series of sliding wooden chopping boards and gastronomes.

9. Grohe

Reuniting once again with tile manufacturer Mosa, for Clerkenwell Design Week, the Grohe tap displays will now be a permanent fixture in the showroom. Both brands were showcasing their sustainability credentials. Grohe offers filtered water taps reducing plastic bottle consumption, while Mosa focuses on Cradle to Cradle manufacturing processes with unlimited use of raw materials.

Interior designer Emma Merry of Emma Merry Styling is drawn to the Highline brassware collection

10. The Watermark Collection

A focus of The Watermark Collection stand in the Elements exhibition was the introduction of its Highline and Titanium brassware. Created by architectural and design studio Mark Zeff, Highline features two styles of handles and two types of spout, while Titanium boasts one or more knurled sections in its design. Both ranges include bathroom and kitchen mixers, showers and accessories and come in a choice of 24 finishes.

Emma Merry was seeking tactility from bathroom and kitchen products, finding it with natural stone and timber handles

11. Tirar

When interior designer Felice Carlino was searching for a full-timber door pull but was unable to find one, he decided to create his own and launch Tirar. At the Elements exhibition, Tirar showcased the company’s  range of timber door pulls, levers, handles, towel rails and robe hooks. These were joined by natural stone variants.

12. Aston Matthews

Supplying bathrooms since 1823, Aston Matthews boasts more than 2000 lines in stock and on display at its Islington showroom. Although it offers a diverse range of products, it had concentrated on brassware at Elements in Clerkenwell Design Week so designers could feel the materials and see the choice of finishes. The brassware designs spanned industrial through to traditional taps and showers.

Seeking smoked and reeded glass shower surrounds, Emma Merry found Wow Glass makes bespoke enclosures and screens

13. Wow Glass

Essex-based Wow Glass exhibited at Detail with a selection of its products from decorative and digital printed glass, through to laminated finish, mirrors and shower doors and screens. It can provide framed, limited frame and frameless showering surrounds in a choice of glass finishes including float, low iron, satin, acid and special applications such as Smart Glass. Made to order, the showering environments come with hardware in a choice of 20 finishes.