CDW2026

Design Week collaborations: material revival and circular thinking

Clerkenwell Design Week, a longstanding highlight of the A&D calendar, marks its 15-year milestone edition with the theme Sustainability and Sound. One of the UK's most extensive design events, the festival this year introduces Design Interventions, a new series of large-scale, site-specific installations that invite designers to rethink how we ‘build, consume, celebrate and experience the spaces around us’.

Reframing overlooked materials as valuable resources

BREW HOUSE designed by Studio Egret West is a pavilion design centred on material reuse and reclamation. Incorporating bricks made with coffee grounds, and reclaimed skate ramp surfaces bonded to exterior plywood, BREW HOUSE uses circular thinking and repurposing to extend the lifecycle of these materials.

Central to the pavilion, Brew Brick® is a new material innovation in collaboration with the studio and York Handmade Brick. Using coffee grounds from the studio kitchen, the concept reduces clay use by approximately 10%, creating a lighter-weight brick and diverting organic waste away from landfill and back into the construction cycle.

The design also gives a second life to rescued skate ramp surfaces, rich in texture, wear and history. Working with Material Rescue x Surface Matter to source these hardwearing surfaces, the studio turn them into a servery counter and overhead signage.

Aqua Libra prioritises materials and circular thinking for the workplace

Aqua Libra’s mobile showroom on Clerkenwell Green is aimed at rethinking tea points, collaboration areas and wellbeing spaces. Built around long-life materials, the installation explores how durability, maintenance and circular thinking can shape healthier and more responsible workplace environments.

Central to the space are Durat and Richlite, part of a palette of recycled and recyclable materials from Surface Matter. Durat, a solid surface in vibrant, terrazzo-inspired colourways, is used for the Flavour Taps on the live hydration station, which serves sparkling and still water. Richlite, a paper composite with layered edges and a tactile finish, develops a patina that deepens with age.

Visitors can experience the materials first-hand, then spin to win an Everyday Industries Richlite chopping board or pick up a Durat coaster.