London – Further education

Welcome to Great Britain! London Design Festival is calling! This year’s training programme takes us to the design mecca of London. It’s not just the London Design Festival itself that attracts visitors here, but also museums, exhibitions, shops, installations, traditions and much more.
Thursday, 7.40 am our flight departs for London Heathrow. Equipped with the Oyster Card, we first take the Piccadilly Line towards Hyde Park to take our luggage to the 4- and 6-bed rooms in our hostel. Immediately afterwards, we explore the Victoria & Albert Museum, which offers exciting exhibitions ranging from ceramic design to interior design and light installations. Dani has organised a street art tour through Shoreditch for the afternoon. Our tour guide Dave passionately explains the various works of art and tells us amusing anecdotes about the artists such as Banksy, Ben Wilson and Roa. Afterwards, we savour some original London fish & chips. But the highlight of the day is probably a visit to the musical 42nd Street at the Theatre Royal. Tap dancing, colourful costumes and brilliant singing enchant us.
Our lovely Kim has reserved some wonderful places for us to start the day in London. On Friday morning, we enjoy our avocado toast, orange juice and tea at Muriel’s Kitchen. On a walk through the city together, we then explore the tourist attractions such as Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, London Eye and the Tate Modern, where we can enjoy modern and contemporary art as well as a breathtaking view of London. In the evening, we take the classic English cabs to another highlight of our trip: Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen Restaurant. Simply delicious!
Saturday starts with pancakes and lattes at the cosy Farmgirl café in Chelsea. And the London Design Biennale lures us to Somerset House, where we explore impressive exhibitions from all over the world. Afterwards, free time is planned for everyone, with the majority of our group heading to Camden Market. In the collection of different markets and shops, everyone can find a souvenir or something to take home. In the evening, we discover a cosy Italian restaurant near our hotel and then round off the evening with an ale in the pub.
Sunday greets us with rain. So we rush straight to Deliciously Ella for breakfast. After porridge and vegan hot chocolate, we take the typical red double-decker bus to the Design Museum. There we explore the haute couture exhibition by Azzedine Alaïa and are amazed by the extraordinary fabrics and elegant cuts. But the permanent exhibition Designer-Maker-User is also exciting and shows over 1,000 design objects through the ages.
At 16.00 we make our way to the airport and after a slight delay we arrive back in Stuttgart at 23.00. After four days full of design and art, we are inspired, motivated and grateful for this fantastic training programme! A big thank you goes above all to Priska and Alexander for the perfect organisation in the run-up!

Karin Zacharias