Where’s Wally?

With high levels of enthusiasm and excitement, the Cotswold team head off to the Clerkenwell Design Week, as it kicked off on Tuesday morning, 23 May 2017.  All of us looking forward to seeing new ideas and new products to quench our passionate thirst for productive work spaces, we were not disappointed! A super treat was in store, with spectacular array of installations and product launches to mark the start of an excellent three days of catching up with new and existing suppliers, alongside all the events and networking opportunities that CDW always do so well in providing.

The weather was great with sun shining from clear blue skies, especially over days two and three of ‪CDW2017 and the atmosphere was, as Clerkenwell stated; contagious! With high quality food and drink, not only being available in the nearby bars and delis, but was also being given away free, in practically every showroom and exhibition! Then there were the talks, the giveaways, and an overabundance of engaging workshops, which shaped that area of London to truly shine. So instead of being stuck in the office with beautiful weather outdoors, (with the Thursday being one of the hottest May days since 1944), we made the most of the sun and richly explored throughout the three given days, which quickly disappeared – as they always do when you’re enjoying yourself!

Alongside some of the top manufacturers in the world based in Clerkenwell, especially of commercial interior furnishing products, designs and installations, the place is an architect’s and specifier’s heaven. Not only are they there during the CDW festival, but most are open for business all year round. It’s well worth a visit there, just to give you some idea of the fantastic and innovative creations that are now available to us. It is a known fact that the Clerkenwell area, on the western edge of the City, has developed into the largest media hub in Europe with, most probably, the strongest concentration of architects’ and designers’ offices in the world

So, with the Clerkenwell Design Week over now for another year, and what a good show it was! This 8th year has exceeded all expectations, with this busy attractive little quarter of London shining in many more ways than one! With 250 exhibitors, including more than ninety showrooms, ten installations, lots of different exhibition centres, we all have seen everything from leather-craft workshops, a secret garden, awesome structures, wood-carving presentations, a fleet of eye-catching Renault Twizy cars, double decker bus road shows, plenty of pop-ups, gripping and up to date talks, more launches of new product ranges than you could ever imagine possible in such a compressed timeline and space. Then on top of all that, it has been the hottest period of days this year has seen so far!

Our message to everyone who attended CDW2017 (and for those of you who didn’t), we would have to agree; it has certainly been a genuine and honest celebration of design, innovation – all within the charming and ever loveable neighbourhood of Clerkenwell! Make sure you all go next year – and you never know, we might even bump into you…