Clerkenwell Design Week welcomed over 34,000 design professionals from 73 countries this year, celebrating its eighth edition by generating 57,000 new business leads.

With more than 200 brands exhibiting across seven venues and 92 showrooms, this year’s festival focused on refining the visitor experience through a combination of exhibitions, installations and over 300 live events.

The way-finding system, designed by Space Agency and sponsored by URW++, was a key element of this, guiding visitors through the Clerkenwell Exhibition Trail and a series of installations including the 8m tall Beacon at Design Fields and The Bolt: A Celebration of Craft, an impressive flowing structure created by Giles Miller and Shinola.

Elsewhere, the Conversations at Clerkenwell series, staged in a specially designed talks space located within Design Fields, included a host of design thinkers and influencers including Doshi Levien and Sebastian Cox.

The 2017 edition also welcomed 25 fringe partners, including the Museum of London, who organised themed walks on the past, present and future of design in Clerkenwell, and Craft Central, who presented a collaboration with TfL, celebrating its unique design heritage with a specially commissioned collection of thirteen Underground-inspired brooches.

Daren Newton, Managing Director of Clerkenwell Design Week, comments: “The eighth edition of Clerkenwell Design Week was hugely successful and has proven that the festival is a substantial player in the global design scene. The festival saw some of the best global design brands occupy the unique setting of medieval and victorian Clerkenwell and we have had brilliant responses from exhibitors and visitors alike. The new layout for the festival was cemented this year through enhanced wayfinding, making the festival a much more complete experience – aided significantly by the great weather! We are now very much looking forward to next year.”

Max Fraser, specialist in contemporary design, was announced as Content Editor last month and will advise on the content curation, strategy and programming for Clerkenwell Design Week going forward. He will also take on the same position on 100% Design (20-23 September), the cornerstone event of the London Design Festival.

Clerkenwell Design Week 2018 will take place 22- 24 May.

www.clerkenwelldesignweek.com