A Seat at the Table
2025

A Seat At The Table was an exhibition comprising of 36 seats, each designed by a different emerging creative(s), that was installed in the back of a Luton van. It toured the capital during the design week, stopping off at a range of different venues. Where the seats were taken down from their display shelves and used to facilitate vibrant community events such as panel discussions, workshops, run clubs, book launches and talks.

As well as providing a platform for self-expression and material experimentation, with the seats collectively providing a unique snapshot of design, the exhibition aimed to showcase the true power of designed objects: how they can connect, inspire, and bring people together in unexpected ways.

Most fundamentally, however, A Seat At The Table was a radical response to the pressures facing emerging designers. When exhibition costs are prohibitively high and many venues are difficult to access, new methods must be employed to be seen. The seats were anonymously selected from over 150 open call submissions by four independent panellists: Vickie Hayward, Oli Stratford, Isabel & Helen and Bafic.

The exhibition was curated, organised and executed by Design Everything’s core team of:
Lewis Duckworth
Tabatha Pearce Chedier
Jacob Marks
Eleanor Murphy
Sammi Cherryman

With assistance from:
Izi Thexton
Esme Macgregor
Ivy & Aidan
Barnaby Mills

‘One of the freshest, most relevant, and pointed exhibitions of the 2025 London Design Festival… a daring, delightful and kinetic show.’ – Oli Stratford, Editor In Chief of Disegno.

‘Design Everything is one of the most genuinely generous and necessary design initiatives to emerge in recent years… in an industry where independent practice can often feel isolating and under-supported, A Seat at the Table offered the opposite: a structure built to lift emerging voices.’ – Anonymous participant.