Throwback to London Design Festival: Park Royal

This September Park Royal opened its studio doors for the London Design Festival once more. It was a fantastic experience to see the area come alive with exhibitions, workshops, film screenings, and talk, all showcasing the beautiful design work happening in the warehouses of this protected industrial zone.

If you were able to make it along to this year’s festival, you’ll understand why Echo has chosen Park Royal as its second home alongside Hackney Wick. Converted warehouses house affordable studio space for artists, designers and makers, new gallery spaces are opening up, and there’s a general buzz of creativity and collaboration.

We’d love to give a big shout out to our two Echo volunteers Gabriella Ramos and Alex Kenny who each earnt 6 Echos for the time they gave to helping run the festival. Well done!

If you didn’t make it here’s a selection of some of the exhibitions we loved:

‍

‘MATERIAL-LED DESIGN & SUSTAINABILITY’ with Blast Studio + Helena Elston + Bill Amberg

Three designers innovating with sustainable products gave a great talk showcasing their mycelium-digested materials and dairy-cow leather.

‍

A LOOK INTO Film Festival

Five directors Mykea Perry, Yemi Oyato, Sofia Del Carmen, Nour Asena, and Asia Ahmed​​​​​​​​ screened their beautiful short films on the topics of cultural identity and displacement.

‍

CHINO RIDGE × GIL WEDAM

This exhibition really got us thinking about how the world of NFT’s interfaces with design - Chino digitised their family heritage collection of kimono swatches and had them on display in this exhibition.

‍

There was so many more excellent things on, but for me the highlight (as predicted) was the rooftop party at Queens Rolla House. Who knew you could enjoy a sunset and a locally-brewed beer from a rooftop party in Park Royal? What is this - Hackney Wick???

‍

Some of these amazing artists are offering skills and knowledge on www.economyofhours.com now so check it out!