The London Design Festival is in full swing, and if you have any time this weekend - and it's geographically possible - there is an enormous amount to see and do.
Knowledge is power, so Shopping Bag would now like to take you for a quick Matrix-style Design update, giving you an idea of what you can visit. Here goes:
One of the coolest shows as part of the festival is curated by Hidden Art. I must have mentioned these people before, because I like their webshop which, as 
a platform for new designers, always has something interesting to buy (or look at, in these financially straitened times). Their show is called Tent London, and has a host (20 if I'm being accurate, which I think constitutes a host) of new designers/makers, including the designer of the Cable Tie Chair (right) and the Meltdown Chair (above), Tom Price. Heaven forfend you'd take a recommendation just from me: none other than Kanye West spotted Tom's work and talked about it on his blog, so there. Tent is held in the Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, and is on now until the 21 September. Tickets on the door are £10.
Designers Block is another collective worth going to see. At No 1, The Piazza, Covent Garden, there will be around 60 designers from all over the world showing their creations over four floors. They'll be in residence until the 21 September, and it's £5 to get in. If you don't make it there, but are shopping on Oxford Street, go to Selfridges where there will be a pop up shop selling products from the Designers Block people. And if money is non-existent and you really just want inspiration, go to Duke Street where seven windows have been curated by DB.
For another free trip, go to an abandoned ballroom at 5 Cromwell Place, where Tom Dixon has teamed up with upholsterer George Smith to create an on-the-spot factory: upholstering contemporary designs in an traditional manner. Shopping Bag interviewed Tom Dixon (in situ) about this for The Independent Magazine's Design Special, if you want more info, or just go there yourself to see a bit of boar hair and steel spring transform into world class craftsmanship. They're there until 24 September.
There's a LOT going on in that area - recently christened the Brompton Design District - actually. 
Check out The Conran Shop's 21 year anniversary collection (21 objects from each year, like the ornament on the left) either online or in their Fulham Road shop where it's showing until 30 October. Or Skandium's window display - as part of their DON'T FORGET TO PLAY project - of Artek furniture decorated by local school children (there until 21 September). More info of exhibitions in this locale to be had on the BD website.
What I'm saying is there's plenty to keep you out of trouble. NB: all venues will let you in without thick rimmed glasses or very skinny jeans; they're very open minded, these design people.
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