2010 London Design Festival

2010's Festival lauched in Trafalgar Square in the shadow of one of our most ambitious Landmark Projects Outrace. Created by designers Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram and enabled by Audi AG, Outrace consisted of eight giant industrial robotic arms, modified to allow the public to write short messages in light which were then videoed and transmitted globally.

Installations at the V&A featured work by Oscar Zieta, Stuart Haygarth and Max Lamb while Paul Cocksedge created a literally magnetic installation Drop at the Southbank Centre. One of the real Festival hits of the year was the Finnish Cultural Institute's pop-up design restaurant Hel Yes!, serving foraged food on crowd-sourced plates and dishes subtly showcasing the ethics as much as the designs of several Helsinki design stars. Neville Brody set about shaking things up with an Anti-Design Festival, and The Tramshed opened its doors as a new branded venue for the first time, while Thomas Heatherwick had us spinning at the South Bank with the one-day loan of dozens of his Spun seats. Heatherwick was also presented with the 2010 London Design Medal in a year when his UK Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo had showcased British design at its most exuberant.

In total, over 160 Partner organisations took part bringing London to life with over 250 events.