London Design Festival won’t stop thanks to Virtual Design Destination by Adorno

Discover the digital festival with over 14 country pavilions of unique contemporary works by Adorno, the curated platform for contemporary collectible design.

In the absence of both the London Design Biennale and the London Design Fair, which typically host commercial and cultural country pavilions respectively, this year the Virtual Design Destination by Adorno will be the place to discover curated country collections of collectible design during [the] London Design Festival.

Working with Adorno’s roster of twenty-six international curators from design scenes across the globe, Adorno will present fourteen country pavilions virtually during the Festival, launching two collections per day over seven days. The programme of launches, to be announced, will be promoted across all Adorno and Festival channels reaching well over 1/2 million relevant subscribers who will all be able to attend no matter where they are in the world – perhaps for the first time!

As a native, digital e-commerce platform, Adorno, from its base in Copenhagen, has been working for the last six months to harness the very best in tech. All real world pieces from each collection will be modeled three-dimensionally and set in a virtual environment designed to reflect the design scene from which they hail – think gaming rather than room sets.

The theme for this year’s first Virtual Design Destination by Adorno will be “The New Reality”. Curators have been working with their local designers at the intersection of craft and design to develop sub-narratives to this theme with some very interesting takes already emerging.

Visitors will be taken on a virtual tour through each collection, including five to ten pieces from a selection of defining designers and narrated by the country curator. Each collection showcases only unique or limited-edition contemporary works, spanning the fields of furniture, textiles, ceramics, sculpture, and design-art.

Jimmy MacDonald, Co-Owner & Partner, Adorno.design (Founder and former director, London Design Fair):

“With the support of embassies and cultural institutions and working with the Festival to deliver current content and programming, we are determined to demonstrate a future proof way to support designers, makers, design weeks, and curators through Adorno’s first Virtual Design Destination at the London Design Festival. A FOMO-free, totally green Festival with the most exquisite new content”

More than 10 countries have already confirmed their presence. There will be northern European countries like Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, alongside Poland, The Netherlands, Belgium and Spain.

Curators from each country will also take part in the initiative. Hlin Helga Gudlaugsdottir and Maria Kristin Jonsdottir will be in charge of Iceland’s pavilion, Pil Bredahl will be taking care of Denmark’s one and Paola Bjäringer for Sweden. Moreover, Kai Lobjakas will be leading Estonia’s stand while Dita Danosa Latvia’s one, as well as Audronė Drungilaitė for Lithuania and Agnieszka Jacobson for Poland. Last but not least, there will be Rive Roshan at the head of Netherlands’ pavilion, Elien Haentjens for Belgium and Ana Dominguez Siemens for Spain’s one.

Do you remember last year’s London Design Week? If you don’t, check Affinity in Autonomy – An interactive experience by Sony