London

Designersblock
Designersblock is a long-standing feature of the London Design Festival which trades on exploiting intriguing spaces that are not usually open to the public to exhibit innovative ideas from emerging international talent. This year the show returns to the Nicholls & Clarke Buildings, a Victorian industrial edifice in the heart of Shoreditch.
Designersblock at Nicholls & Clarke Buildings, 3-10 Shoreditch High St, E1 (www.designersblock.org.uk) Liverpool St tube/rail. Event Sept 21-24. Adm free.

Design Mart
The Design Museum’s third annual showcase of new design talent will run through autumn. Highlights include the tactile work of furniture, lighting and product design collective Viable, the simple organic furniture of Max Lamb and new digital takes on shadow puppetry by Philip Worthington – all of which coincide with the arrival of Deyan Sudjic, the museum’s new director.
Design Mart at Design Museum, Shad Thames, SE1 (0870 833 9955/ www.designmuseum.org) London Bridge tube/rail or Tower Hill tube. Design Museum adm £7, £4 concs. Showcase Sept 20-Jan 7 2007. Feature continues

Design UK
Features 40 home-grown designers, new and established, selected by Liberty furniture buyer Ross Unwin and design writer Max Fraser. Not just good to look at – you can also buy anything that takes your fancy.
Design UK at Liberty, Fourth floor, Regent St, W1 (020 7734 1234/www.liberty.co.uk) Oxford Circus tube. Showcase Sept 20-30. Adm free.

The Great ‘Chair Grab’
Habitat design chief and Design Museum Designer of the Year nominee Tom Dixon grabbed everyone’s attention last year with his Trafalgar Square installation: the world’s largest bench made of blue rubber bands. This year he will be filling the square with 500 bucket-like polystyrene chairs which the public will be encouraged to take. You can grab yourself a chair from 3pm on Sept 21. Trafalgar Square, WC2.

The London Design Challenge
Londoners are invited to suggest creative ways to make our city a better place to live, work and visit. Ideas will be put on display at Somerset House, after which the ten best will be presented to Ken Livingstone.
LDF Design Challenge, Seaman’s Hall, Somerset House, Strand, WC2 (020 7845 4600/www.somerset-house.org.uk) Embankment or Temple tube. Challenge Sept 17-30.

New Designers Selection
A showcase of the best of this year’s design-school degree show talent.
New Designers Selection at Studio 95,
Old Truman Brewery, 95 Brick Lane, E1 (www.newdesigners.com/selection) Liverpool St tube/rail. Showcase Sept 21-24. Adm free.

‘Random’ project
A graphics exhibition based on random words cut from back issues of Time Out. These people clearly have taste. This is what they said about us: ‘Why Time Out? Because it’s a magazine that reflects London – from the everyday reality of living and travelling in the city to the eclectic and cultural flotsam it offers. This emanates through every level of the publication; if individual words are taken out of context they still combine to form a lexicon that is peculiarly “London”.’ ‘Random’ at Wagdas Gallery, unit 32, 210 Cambridge Heath Rd, E2 (www.random-project.co.uk) Bethnal Green tube. Exhibition Sept 15-30. Adm free.

Travelling Apothecary
Scarlett Projects, best known for its alternative summer fêtes at the V&A, knows how to throw an arty party. For this one-off event, sponsored by the Wellcome Trust, it has invited ten designers to set up stall for the day, offering remedies for modern-day ailments such as iPod addiction and celebrity obsession disorder.
Travelling Apothecary, British Library forecourt, Euston Rd, NW1 (www.londondesignfestival.com) King’s Cross tube/rail. Event Sept 16. Adm free.