Each year during London Design Festival (LDF) we invite key design industry figures from around the world to join us for our Design Connections programme. This international delegation takes a unique curated tour of the festival, meeting leading UK designers, curators, design organisations as well as discovering new work and gaining new relationships.

Last year we hosted delegates from Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, Estonia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Indonesia, Kenya, New Zealand, Portugal, Russia and Thailand. 

Our short film of Design Connections 2017 covers our highlights of the last year's  programme. The group visited leading institutions, including the V&A, the Design Museum and the Wellcome Collection. Studio visits included 6a Architects, Special Projects, Faye Toogood and Hato Press. We’ve also picked some of the most exciting exhibitions and events from the festival including Making a Living by Max Frommeld at The Aram Gallery, Design Frontiers at Somerset House and Villa Walala installation by Camille Walala. In between the gallery and studio visits, we also enjoyed specially curated Lunch Debates and Dinners with industry professionals such as Jane Withers Studio and Modern Design Review.

Design Connections aims to:

• Promote the work of established and emerging design practitioners in the UK
• Promote the offer of the UK touring exhibitions globally
• Foster relationships that may lead to future collaborations, both between UK designers and institutions and between the delegates themselves. 

From 2017, we've had some great feedback from the delegates, and we're already beginning to see some outcomes as UK designers who took part in the programme have been invited to exhibit in international festivals and UK exhibitions are due to tour to galleries overseas.

This year's Design Connections programme will take place 17-21 September 2018. Follow #DesignConnections on social media and head to our Twitter & Instagram pages for updates.