INSIDE LONDON DESIGN WEEK WITH VEER CHAUDHRY

Fascinated by the intersectional nature of art, architecture, and design, Veer Chaudhry brings a fresh, multidisciplinary perspective to the creative world. Currently a student at The Bartlett School of Architecture, his practice spans fine art, furniture, product design, and fashion, all united by a deep curiosity for form, materiality, and innovation. From the heart of London’s design circuit, Veer shares his take on the ideas and expressions shaping the future of contemporary design.

Glass vessels, Charles Ede

London Design Week has come and gone; a blur of soirées, gallery openings, and design mixers orbiting around the city’s two most anticipated events: PAD London and Frieze. I attended both on behalf of The House of Things, curious, hopeful, and, admittedly, a little jaded.

There were pieces I loved and, dishearteningly, a vast sea of works that made me feel nothing at all. It’s a strange place for design to be - polished, poised, and yet, often, emotionally vacant.

In 2025, can anything still feel new? Even if originality is elusive, can art and design at least offer a fresh perspective - a distinct point of view? I’ve always believed that creative work succeeds when it stirs emotion, be it admiration or disdain. Indifference, however, is its silent failure. More and more, I find myself questioning whether fairs like PAD and Frieze - once the pinnacle of design discovery - are evolving into stops on a social circuit for the global elite, where art-viewing becomes an accessory for cocktails and conversation.

Still, beyond the spectacle, there were moments that reignited my fascination, instances where craft, vision, and emotion aligned.

Thermo-formed Metal Bench, Nitush-Aroosh

At PAD, I was especially proud to see Indian design duo Nitush & Aroosh command attention with their thermo-formed metal benches - architectural yet fluid, engaging both light and movement in ways that softened the rigidity of their material. Their pieces stood as reminders that innovation in form can still move us.

Turquoise Bar Cabinet, Galerie Stephanie Coutas

Equally captivating was the work of Stephanie Coutas, whose use of semi-precious materials and sumptuous fabrics speaks to a kind of contemporary opulence. Her turquoise bar cabinet stopped me in my tracks - decadent and commanding, like a jewel box, blown up into a monumental object.

Vessels, Kyeok Kim at Charles Burnand Gallery

At Charles Burnand Gallery, the work of Kyeok Kim offered a counterpoint in restraint. Her copper wire lattice structures, coated in natural lacquer, achieve a rare duality, monolithic in silhouette yet delicate in spirit.

Kawaii Table at Galerie Hervé Van Der Straeten

Amid a world of mass production, this Corian tabletop at Galerie Hervé Van Der Straeten stands as proof that design can remain deeply individual - each lacquered layer revealing a pattern that’s entirely its own.