The London Design Festival grows from strength to strength every year and is now probably at its optimum size as it is at the point where a visitor to London would find it impossible to do everything.   Looking beyond the showcase exhibition areas, where the national stands, as in previous years, are the best, including countries such as Portugal, the Netherlands, the USA, Denmark and Scotland, the greatest successes are where the Festival springs out into the public realm, whether from the exhibition stands at Design Junction looking out onto the ongoing revitalisation of King’s Cross, or initiatives such as Villa Walala, a playful artistic colourful intervention at Broadgate by Camille Walala, Sam Jacob Studio’s Mini Living Urban Cabin at Bankside focussing on essential living, which it is great to see includes books, linked with an exchange initiative, and Adam Nathaniel Furman’s Turkish ceramic gateways at King’s Cross.

Sustainability is high on the agenda, whatever Donald Trump thinks of the climate change agenda, with initiatives such as Trashpresso at Somerset House, the world’s first off-grid mobile recycling plant, and Brodie Neill’s “Drop me in the ocean” at ME Hotel drawing attention to the ongoing problem of plastic waste in the oceans.

These are only a few of the highlights, in addition to other parallel exhibitions, fairs and initiatives such as 100% Design and installations at the V&A and the Design Museum the  that reinforces London’s global position as a centre for international design.