Over the last decade and a half, the London Design Festival (LDF) has grown to earn itself a place in the calendar among the worlds leading celebrations of creativity. Its 16th edition, spanning nine days in mid-September, was the biggest one yet, clocking up a staggering 3.3 million visitors across its various locations, many of them open-air and accessible to a curious public.

It marked the debut of the Regent Street & St James's Design District, a showcase of the neighbourhood's unrivalled collection of design-focused residents, from independent art galleries and artisanal tailors to global brand flagship stores and one-off pop-ups, just for the event.

On Regent Street, the world's first 3D-printed fashion accessories shop, Bottletop, (hewn from layers of recycled plastic waste, no less) pulled in big crowds, all keen to learn more about the innovative strides being made in engineering using old bottles.
What else did we love? Getting out and about on a guided bike tour with cyclewear trailblazers Rapha, learning about the conversion of a grand old Lloyds Bank into the latest cutting edge fitness club E by Equinox, (which also involved a local run, phew!), the beautiful live shirt-making at Emma Willis on Jermyn St and the pop-up gallery showcasing the most wondrous, colourful examples of modern Mexican art and design, too.

After getting off to a flyer in this inaugural year, expect even more unique events and attractions already in the pipeline for 2019s London Design Festival, in and around St James's.