The London Design Festival was conceived by Sir John Sorrell and Ben Evans. Building on London's existing design activity, their concept was to create an annual event that would promote the city's creativity, drawing in the country's greatest thinkers, practitioners, retailers and educators to a deliver an unmissable celebration of design.

The launch of the first Festival took place at Bloomberg on 25 March 2003, with a huge show of support from design, education, government and London organisations.

Since the first London Design Festival in 2003 we've been celebrating every form of pioneering design; read more about each year's Festival below.