Must-Sees of the London Design Festival

The London Design Festival 2012 runs across a number of venues in the city (September 14–23). New projects include a Global Design Forum at the brand-new campus of Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, Kings Cross on September 18. The festival is a hotbed for emerging design talent as well as established names. Here are four of our favorites this year.

Taking as its basis the idea of sound as the next frontier of design, the BE OPEN Sound Portal designed by ARUP with content commissioned by Sound and Music will give visitors a pure acoustic experience—such as the sound of glaciers breaking up or exquisitely detailed electronic music—in the middle of one of the busiest and aurally chaotic environments in London (September 19–23 ).

Designer Rolf Sachs will present an evocative installation at the V&A's Henry Cole Grand Staircase, the first time the space has been opened to the public. At the top of the stairs, individual drops of brightly coloured pigment will be released in measured intervals from a custom-designed drip mechanism constructed from IV bags and fountain pens. Spectators will be able watch the drops of ink land with precision in a vast tank of liquid, exploding into organic colour clouds (September 14–23).

Set within the impressive surrounds of a 1960s Sorting Office, designjunction will showcase the best in global design against an industrial backdrop, uniting creative and commercial design. This year designjunction will also incorporate the design show Tramshed into the event to create an even more spectacular showcase. The 120,000-square-foot space will be devoted to international brands, smaller labels, pop-up shops, installations, temporary restaurants, bars, and cafés (September 19–23).

Japanese design studio, Nendo has created a simple chair archetype made from pressed and punched metal painted white, giving it an almost ghost-like appearance. These elegant chair installations will appear in varying locations throughout London's V&A Museum, mimicking the space they inhabit and the objects around it. For example, the chairs in a rectangular gallery have a series of rectangular extensions with a frame to view the space through. Visitors can sit on different chairs and observe the collections from various perspectives (September 14–23).