Visiting Clerkenwell Design Week

Clerkenwell Design Week is free to attend, and entry is by registration through the official CDW website. Registering in advance is worth doing: it is also how the printed guide reaches visitors ahead of the show. Confirm current opening hours on the official site closer to the dates, as they vary by venue and by day.

The festival sits in EC1, immediately north of the City of London. Farringdon is the main arrival point, served by the Elizabeth line, Thameslink, and the Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines, which puts most of the district within a ten-minute walk. Barbican, Chancery Lane, Angel and Old Street each put you closer to a different edge of the programme.

Clerkenwell is compact and best covered on foot. Plan for walking between venues rather than moving through one building, and wear accordingly.

Decide first whether you are planning by district or by category. Planning by district means working through one area at a time and accepting what you find, which suits a broad look at the year's work. Planning by category means routing between the specific showrooms and stands that answer a live specification, which suits a visit with a project attached.

Book showroom appointments before you arrive. The permanent showrooms are busiest during the festival, and a booked slot is the difference between a conversation and a queue.

Leave gaps. The talks programme and the commissioned installations are the parts visitors most often report missing, because a full route leaves no room for them.

The Official Design Guide is the printed and digital companion built for exactly this problem: it lists the brands, showrooms and venues in one place so a route can be planned before you get off the train. Read more about the guide or see the CDW 2027 overview.