2009 London Design Festival

2009 saw the V&A become the Festival's hub venue, giving the Festival a home in the world's greatest design museum. It's been a great place for us – and for them too, we hope; in that first year visitors to the museum increased by 31% during the Festival period. One of the highlights in the museum in that first year was In Praise of Shadows, an exhibition which showcased innovative and enchanting contemporary European lighting design, inspired by the EU's directive to phase out low efficiency light bulbs. 

"Be bold. Make a statement." The London Design Festival's designer Domenic Lippa of Pentagram produced an identity which exhorted designers to be bold, even in trying financial times; Lippa also 2009 co-curated London poster competition in which leading London designers, including Angus Hyland, Frith Kerr, Alan Kitching and Tom Hingston Studio created a series of unique graphic works celebrating London in black, white and red. 

Our Landmark commissions took another giant leap, with a million people saw the 2009 Festival installations that included Jaime Hayón's extraordinary piece Tournament in Trafalgar Square.

Launching the 2009 Festival, London Mayor Boris Johnson said, "I think this event is the most vivid possible proof that London is more than just financial services. London is the hub for the creative industries in the world."