2011 London Design Festival

The London Design Festival shows London's design brilliance off to the world – and to the wider public too. Each year we seek out new iconic public spaces in which to install our Landmark Projects so in 2011 we were particularly thrilled to be allowed access to St Paul's Cathedral, where John Pawson installed the remarkable Perspectives. Never before had our installations at the V&A had such high public visibility either, with AL_A's graceful arch Timber Wave literally taking the Festival's residency at the museum on to the street outside the main entrance, and Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec's Textile Field enticing thousands of visitors to lounge on it to contemplate the paintings in the Raphael Gallery.

Also at the V&A, Murray Moss's Industrial Revolution 2.0 became a witty way to examine the advances in 3D printing, creating a trail of printed work throughout the museum. At the Southbank Centre David Chipperfield Architects worked with glass and fabrics to create Two Lines, a Size + Matter installation that played with space and light.

Alongside the backbone of partner venues we've become used to, from 100% Design and Tent, to Tom Dixon's Dock and Designersblock, a new destination Designjunction opened its doors in London for the first time. 

The ninth London Design Festival had a programme of 312 projects and events staged by 242 partner organisations, making it the biggest yet. In total there were 65 shows and events at Festival's central hub at the V&A, while the six Design Districts (which by now included Brompton Design District, Covent Garden Design District and Shoreditch Design Triangle) hosted 78 events.
 

The Festival attracted a direct audience of over 350,000 people
 A wider audience of over 2m came into contact with the Festival due to the staging of events and installations in major public spaces
. Audiences at the V&A increased by a significant 60% during the Festival period
 Visitors from over 50 countries were recorded
.