Highlights at Clerkenwell Design Week 2026: Day 1
Every day, Design Milk editors bring you the best to see, learn, and do during the UK’s leading design festival. Here are our picks for Tuesday, May 19.
Editors’ Pick | Talks | All-Day Happenings | Showroom Events | Products
EDITORS’ PICK:
Clerkenwell Design Awards at Haberdasher’s Hall
The Clerkenwell Design Week Awards celebrate the most innovative, visionary products and, new for 2026, the people shaping the future of design. Discover this years winners at a ceremony hosted by AJ Paron, EVP and Design Futurist, SANDOW, and Joseph P. Sgambati, Deputy Editor, Design Milk. Honorees will receive a special award created in collaboration with the American Hardwood Export Council.
17:00 – 18:00
RSVP here
TALKS:
Beyond the Spectrum: Designing for Four Cognitive Profiles of Autism
A practical framework for moving neuroinclusive design from intention to precision. This session introduces four distinct cognitive profiles and their associated sensory needs, offering designers a more nuanced and actionable way to approach neuroinclusion.
19 May 2026
11:00 – 12:00
Craft Collaborations: Designers and Artisans Cross-Pollinate
Partnerships between contemporary designers and skilled makers are redefining authorship and sustainability.This discussion highlights how craft is evolving as a driver of innovation rather than nostalgia, bringing new value to the design process.
19 May 2026
12:00 – 13:00
Immersive Spaces: Technology, Empathy & the Human Experience
Immersive technology is reshaping public, workplace, and cultural environments — beyond spectacle, toward responsibility. This conversation explores how designers are creating empathy through multisensory environments, leveraging AI and spatial computing to shape more responsive built experiences.
19 May 2026
13:00 – 14:00
The Art of Earth
Natural stone is more than a surface material—it carries memory, emotion, texture, and a deep connection to place. Join Design Milk and Aria Stone Gallery for a conversation exploring how designers are using stone to create spaces that feel grounded, sensory, and emotionally resonant.
19 May 2026
14:00 – 15:00
Future Nostalgia: Reinventing Materials
Reuse, memory, and low-carbon innovation are reshaping material culture in the UK and beyond. This session examines how circularity and adaptive reuse are influencing the next generation of material thinking.
19 May 2026
15:00 – 16:00
HAPPENINGS
Foundations in Flow
Foundations in Flow is a sustainable, playful and immersive reimagination of St John’s Gate, creating a moment of respite for locals to sit and enjoy the wonders of the arch. It encourages a moment of pause to appreciate Clerkenwell’s unique architecture, while reimagining the use of public space. Foundations in Flow is a collaboration between Magnus Mulvany, Gabi Spangenthal and Julio Manchón Campillo. Sponsors: Brett Martin, Shoots, Second Home. LEARN MORE
The Pulse of Becoming
A living outdoor installation at Haberdasher’s Hall explores the cyclical nature of death, rebirth, and life. Originating from the hourglass shape, cellular mitosis, and the yin-yang concept, two opposing crescent shells that represent dependency and balance seem poised in tension. LEARN MORE
INTERIORS FROM SPAIN presents El Salón
El Salón is a Spanish design installation at the Museum of the Order of St John. Produced by Disegno, the London-based design journal, and taking place in the Chapter Hall of the Museum of the Order of St John, the installation will engage with the building’s historic fabric while offering a striking platform for contemporary Spanish design. Participating brands: A Emotional Light, Ape Grupo, BPM Lighting, Huguet, Ideatec, Joquer, RS Barcelona, Sanycces, and Sellex. LEARN MORE
The Luxury Edit
The Luxury Edit showcases high-end contemporary design brands from around the world, presenting products crafted for premium commercial interiors in a new home within the opulent courtyard of Haberdashers’ Hall. LEARN MORE
SHOWROOM EVENTS
Arper Annual Cocktail Party
Join us in celebrating CDW at a special cocktail evening in our showroom!A momento to (RE)CONNECT – through design, new perspectives and inspiring conversations. Kindly note that booking is necessary, please RSVP.
18:00 to 21:00
Arper UK Ltd, 11 Clerkenwell Road, Clerkenwel, London EC1M 5PA
RSVP
The U-Type Chair by Barber & Osgerby for Kettal
Because Sit Matters | Creativity, Collaboration and Contemporary Design with Jay Osgerby
As part of Clerkenwell Design Week 2026, Kettal presents “Because Sit Happens”, a special conversation with Jay Osgerby exploring contemporary design practice, creative process and collaboration through the evolving relationship between furniture, architecture and the environments we inhabit. Limited Capacity. RSVP required.
17:30 to 18:30
Kettal, Paulton House, 8 Shepherdess Walk, Clerkenwell, London N1 7LB
Enquire here
Mary Portas in conversation with Katie Treggiden; Reuse Reframed
Join Milliken for Reuse, Reframed – an evening of sharp conversation with Mary Portas, hosted by design journalist Katie Treggiden. Together, they’ll challenge how the interiors industry values reuse, asking what it takes to make the already-loved desirable, credible and commercially viable – without sacrificing creativity or quality.
18:30 to 19:30
Milliken Floors, 5 Berry Street, Clerkenwell, London EC1V 0AA
RSVP
PRODUCTS
Laufen Volta Sink
Designer Yves Behar has created VOLTA. A washbasin made of Saphirkeramik, that presents water in the bathroom in a completely new way.
Parador Harmonia
Each of the seven surfaces in this flooring collection draws inspiration from the tactile signatures of the world around us and reinterprets them through technical mastery and contemporary design language.
Expormim Leku
Inspired by the work of Basque sculptor Eduardo Chillida, this outdoor collection by Javier Pastor turns emptiness into a gesture that is both habitable and everyday.
Chelsom Portables
Portables is a curated collection of wireless, battery-powered table lamps, specifically designed for fast paced hospitality environments.
Cosentino Éclos
The next generation of mineral surfaces featuring a layered 3D body integrated design and superior heat resistance.
Mdd Linka
Linka was designed with the changing needs of users in mind. The segments of the sofa can be freely combined to create arrangements tailored to the requirements of the moment and the interior design.
Avinash Rajagopal is SVP Content Strategy at Design Milk and the editor in chief at METROPOLIS.
Ref: https://design-milk.com/what-to-see-at-clerkenwell-design-week-2026-day-1/
