Charlotte Taylor's debut LDF exhibition allows "female design to stand for itself"
As part of the London Design Festival, Charlotte Taylor has curated an exhibition of collectible design pieces from almost 40 women creatives. Here, she explains why it's not just a "female design show".
The designer's debut show at the festival, called Soft World, Sharp Edges, takes over two interconnected rooms inside The Lavery – a historic Georgian townhouse that forms part of the Brompton Design District.
As well as launching her own pieces, Taylor has brought together selected works by 36 international designers staged as a domestic scene strewn with books, ashtrays and glittery cigarettes.
All of the designers in Taylor's exhibition are women – a fact that she acknowledges to be as crucial as it is irrelevant.
"When you say it's a female design show, it kind of defeats the purpose of doing it," she told Dezeen. "And it feels negative in a way because you want female design to stand for itself."
In fact, Taylor explained that she did not set out to do an "all women" show.
Rather, she was looking for pieces that piqued her interest, which became a list of predominantly women designers by chance.
"I wasn't looking specifically for women, it just came very naturally because there is such a wealth of incredible design," she said.
"I really felt like this would be a great opportunity to spotlight purely female designers. I still don't feel like it's done that much, which is a huge shame."
Soft World, Sharp Edges is anchored by a bespoke bed – the first created by Taylor's studio – made from a duo of mild, rolled stainless steel platforms and topped with rumpled bedsheets.
"I've been very interested in domestic space, so that drew me straight away to the bedroom," she explained. "It feels like the most intimate and vulnerable space in the home," she added.
The bed features a slit on its side that a removable mirror or a television on stilts can slot into. Taylor's studio is currently working on developing a lamp and a side table as additional attachments.
Adaptable furniture is a theme that runs throughout the exhibition, which will change in appearance throughout its run at The Lavery as Taylor rearranges its contents like a real home.
Among the pieces on show is a sculptural table lamp by South Korean designer Yoonjeong Lee, crowned by a foldable paper shade that's held in place with only a perfectly sharpened pencil.
Rotterdam-based Forever Studio contributed a rectilinear sconce lamp covered with a translucent resin plate that can be removed from its aluminium base and replaced with a different colour.
In another corner, British designer Amelia Stevens's sleek metal ashtray was placed atop an angular table by Irish designer Cara Campos made from bent bike parts. Close by, a silvery stool by French interior architect Pauline Leprince features a mirrored component that allows users to use the seat as an alternative dressing table.
True to the show's name, its denser materials are balanced by softer pieces, including a decorative textile by London-based Mo Tong Yang. Suspended from the ceiling, the work is made from a kite-shaped cut of Chinese linen embellished with hand-sewn dragonflies.
Taylor also noted a "queer undertone" in the exhibition, as seen in a selection of old Hollywood noir films curated by Spanish writer and filmmaker Elena Gallen, which will play throughout the exhibition with sound design by Kaifeng-born Yu Su and define various "acts" staged across the show.
"It's not communicated [in the exhibition], but to have six or seven queer female designers in one show is quite uncommon, I think," she considered.
"Some people will really pick up on that and feel represented, or learn, and for other people it might go completely over their head, and that's fine. They might like a chair."
Taylor said she aims to incorporate "all the senses in a space". This is reflected in the shifting layout of the show – a technique she trialled during Copenhagen's 3 Days of Design this summer, where she slept, ate and hosted friends within her Home from Home installation during the design week.
"I think that's what really takes the experience to another level," she said. "It can be things you don't necessarily notice, but leave you feeling like you had a real, whole experience."
Taylor hopes that her London Design Festival debut will serve as a curated index of some of the many women designers emerging today, but in a subtle and eclectic format.
Only a handful of the participating designers are represented by existing galleries – a testament to the fact that Taylor uses Instagram as a tool to seek out new voices.
"Instagram is a lot of people's portfolios and their work mainly exists there, so I think it's a great way to cover designers," the curator explained, acknowledging that her own website has been a mere landing page with links to her social media for the past five years.
"It's also a huge time drain," she joked, referencing her meticulous folders for images of everything from chairs to door handles.
Soft World, Sharp Edges responds to Brompton Design District's overall theme of A Softer World, set by gallerist Alex Tieghi-Walker, who has succeeded Jane Withers after her 18-year stint as the district's curator.
"Female design is often marked as very delicate and soft," Taylor explained. "But I think there's a lot of work that has sharp edges and a sense of humour and is quite political."
"So I wanted to have something that seems soft and intimate, but with a lot of underlying tones within it."
The photography is by Studio Stagg.
Soft World, Sharp Edges takes place from 17 to 21 September 2025 at Studio 4.2.A, The Lavery, 4 Cromwell Place, London SW7 2JE, UK. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
Project credits:
Curator: Charlotte Taylor
Participating designers: Amelia Stevens, Ana Kraš, Ananas Ananas, Anne-lise Agossa, Bel Williams, Cara Campos, Charlotte Taylor, Dorothea Sing Zhang, Elena Gallen, Elli Antoniou, Emilia Tombolesi, Forever Studio, Gala Colivet Dennison, Garance Vallée, Gemma Janes, Grace Atkinson, Grace Prince, Holly Rollins, Laila Tara H, Lauren Alice Johns, Leonie Cameron, Linde Freya Tangelder, Isabel Farchy, Marsha Golemac, Mo Tong Yang, Natalia Criado, Nina Nørgaard, Olivia Bossy, Pauline Leprince, Rooms Studio, Sabine Kongsted, Sasa Barnes, Silje Lindrup, Silvia Prada, Wendy Andreau, Yoonjeong Lee, Yu Su
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