Now in its sixth year and incorporating at least 250 shows, the London Design Festival has become a fixture on the international design calendar. But this isn’t because it competes with the vast Salone Internazionale del Mobile, held in Milan each April. No, what characterises the UK capital as a design centre is its focus on ideas rather than production. The city’s young innovators are experimenting with processes, techniques, materials and styles and showing off their latest work this week.

Matthew Plummer-Fernandez