New pavilions. Hidden histories. Radical futures. London Design Biennale 2025 returns to Somerset House – and it’s looking deeper than ever.

From 5 to 29 June 2025, the London Design Biennale invites the world to reflect, challenge, and reimagine through the lens of design. This year’s theme, ‘Surface Reflections’, isn’t just poetic—it’s piercing. It asks how our lived experiences, cultures, and unseen systems shape the way we design, connect, and create. And it’s all going down in the heart of London, as Somerset House celebrates its 25th year as a creative epicentre.

Now in its fifth edition, the Biennale proves once again that design isn’t just decoration – it’s a tool for radical change.

Global Voices Take Centre Stage

This year’s Biennale welcomes a new wave of international pavilions, each one a window into pressing global questions—climate, community, identity, value, memory, and power.

Take Chile’s immersive ‘Minerasophia’, which invites visitors to engage with the wisdom of minerals and the stories hidden in industrial waste. It’s an exhibition that glows with alchemical energy. Or Spain’s tribute to its flash flood responders, a deeply emotional homage to collective courage in the face of disaster.

From the Netherlands’ publication mapping collaborative design networks, to Uzbekistan’s Teplo Store, a vibrant pop-up featuring emerging Silk Road artisans, the fair is a powerful reminder that design is conversation, not just concept.

Design From the Global South and Beyond

Don’t miss ‘Wura’ – meaning “precious” in Yoruba – a dazzling sculptural installation from the Global South Pavilion made of gold chains and cowrie shells. It’s bold, unapologetic, and rooted in histories of trade, resilience, and reinvention.

Meanwhile, San Diego–Tijuana’s ‘Play Borderisms’ uses film to probe the shifting lines of identity and belonging at the border. Across the courtyard, Turkey’s sensory pavilion plays with light and emotion to build a space of introspection, while Abu Dhabi’s ‘Tides and Traditions’ anchors us in maritime craft heritage and the living power of cultural continuity.

It’s global, grounded, and gloriously immersive.

The UK Pavilion: Prosperity, Policy, and Play

Closer to home, the Institute for Global Prosperity at UCL takes a data-led approach with ‘People Powered Prosperity’, showing how communities can design healthier, fairer cities. The UK Civil Service throws down a playful gauntlet with ‘Serious Gaming to Save the Planet’, proving that policy reform doesn’t have to be boring.

And in the EU Pavilion, the concept of connectivity takes centre stage in ‘Global Gateway’, a bold celebration of global partnership as a design philosophy.

The Silk Road Pops Up in Somerset House

If you’re craving something tangible to take home, stop by the Silk Road Teplo Pop-Up Store, where you’ll find contemporary ceramics, accessories, and fashion from some of Central Asia’s most exciting underrepresented designers. It’s a design fair highlight that merges ancient trade routes with a modern aesthetic sensibility.

Somerset House: London’s Living Design Lab

For Shoreditch creatives, designers, and curious minds, London Design Biennale is more than a visual feast—it’s a call to engage. Somerset House becomes a playground of materials, lights, language, and legacy.

Whether you’re stepping inside Turkey’s sculptural soulscape, lounging in Hospital Rooms’ immersive calm interior, or debating the future of design-led policy reform, you’ll find yourself in the middle of something alive, intellectual, and totally unforgettable.

Design and the Invisible: Conversations Worth Having

Running alongside the Biennale, the Global Design Forum will host an extraordinary speaker series at King’s College London (10–12 June), with design heavyweights and boundary-pushing thinkers.

Expect appearances from:

Dr. Samuel Ross MBE – Biennale Artistic Director
Kengo Kuma – Legendary architect in conversation with Will Gompertz
Mariana Mazzucato – Economist and academic powerhouse
Debika Ray – Forum Programme Director, leading the charge on invisible forces shaping design

Together, they’ll unpack the less visible threads—data, borders, digital networks, and cultural codes—that govern our lives and can be rewritten through the power of design.

Cultural Moment for Summer

Designers, architects, artists, activists, policy nerds, and curious wanderers—this is your invitation to explore the best of global design right in the heart of London.

Shoreditch may be buzzing with edgy galleries and start-up energy, but just across the river, London Design Biennale 2025 is quietly—and not-so-quietly—reshaping the future. And trust us, this is not a scene you want to miss.

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