Posted by Diggory Gordon
4 June, 2018

Last month we opened up our London office to fly the flag for the Cornish creative industries at Clerkenwell Design Week.

We were joined by our cohorts and contemporaries from some of Cornwall’s best creative businesses.

Sign for Clerkenwell Design Week

Clerkenwell has more creative companies and architects packed in per square mile than anywhere else on Earth, so it’s a pretty special place. Every year since 2009, it transforms itself into an area-wide festival, buzzing with events, talks and installations from hundreds of brands.

This year we decided to get in on the action. With support from Invest in Cornwall, we co-hosted a series of events in our new London outpost alongside MARK Product, with whom we share the space.

Sir Tim Smit speaking at Clerkenwell Design Week 2018
Audience at a talk by Sir Tim Smit
Tim Smit speaking at Clerkenwell Design Week
Tim Smit speaking at the Nixon Clerkenwell studio
Martin Nixon speaking to Sir Tim Smit

Our events kicked off with a talk by Sir Tim Smit (known for The Lost Gardens of Heligan and the Eden Project) on ‘Creating Eden wherever you are’, backdropped by a wall of lush greenery. On Wednesday, BBC Click’s Kate Russell hosted a panel discussion on ‘Creative Cornwall’ with our own Martin Nixon on the panel, along with leading figures from Sanders Studios, 3WhiteHats and Headforwards.

Panel discussion led by Kate Russell
Image courtesy of Invest in Cornwall

We took the chance to showcase our new ecommerce website for Tom Raffield, while MARK Product launched StudioSCAPE, their new furniture range that integrates plants directly into the pieces. We finished the festival off with another panel discussion, this time on whether there’s a place for plastic in the future of design, led by design journalist Katie Treggiden.

Close-up of coloured fabric at Clerkenwell Design Week.
Close-up of a colourful wire installation at Clerkenwell Design Week.
CDW in wire lettering at Clerkenwell Design Week.
Art installation in Clerkenwell.

Each event was peppered with pasties and splashed with St Austell ale, culminating in a gin-drenched closing party, courtesy of Tarquin’s. We had a great time shouting about Cornish creativity in the capital, and can’t wait for next year.

Images courtesy of Invest in Cornwall.

Nixon Design and Mark Product Clerkenwell office