Our First Cafe Pop-up at The London Design Fair

This September The Common E2 took on an exciting project to be the London Design Fair's sole café pop-up for the weekend event. We were perfectly situated in the British craft pavilion, where we were so excited to be part of the creativity of the week with talks sessions and events happening all around us including features from Land Chocolate, Modern Craft Workshop, Francli and  Hole & Corner among others. 

The opportunity to be involved with this event was exciting for multiple reasons, not only was it our first pop-up event, but we are able to connect with a number of very interesting artisans and brands from around London and the UK. 
 

The Common E2 pop-up was set up from Thursday morning at Truman Brewery in Brick Lane and we were happy welcome to customers Friday morning after a very busy few days of installations and organisation. What we were extremely delighted to recognise was that our cafe, without much direction or planning on the floor, took on much of the same qualities of our home base on Old Bethnal Green Rd. We became a working space for new collaborations and busy businesses who needed a moment to catch up on emails and meetings. Saturday and Sunday brought the biggest crowds, we were all hands on deck rushing coffees and cakes to those in need of a rest or pick-up. 

Our Craft Cafe saw talks, exhibitions and demonstrations hosted by Hole & Corner, featuring artists and makers including local Bethnal Green chocolate maker, Phil Landers of Land Chocolate (images below) as well as intimate round-robin discussions by the following makers: 

Creativepool, BIID, Wood Award, Do Books, Tatty Devine , Scotland pavilion, Swedish Design Pavilion

We had the great pleasure of meeting so many incredibly talented and passionate artists that are really shaking up the world of design. Future Days, a design studio based out of Malmo, Sweden was a favourite of ours. Inspired by geometric shape and origami style, Future Days had on display their futuristic furniture and home detailings. 

The weekend soared by in a blip, we are grateful for the opportunity to have met so many inspiring people and companies. It is very exciting times in design that we're living in and London really does become a art-nexus during events like this. We encourage you to browse through the 500 exhibitors from 28 countries of this year's London Design Fair 2017 and stay updated for next year, it won't be long!