During London Design Festival 2026, Atelier Seventy-Six presents Sense of Place, an immersive exhibition curated by ceramic artist Emma Louise Payne that invites visitors to experience design through all five senses.

The exhibition challenges the visual bias that has long dominated contemporary design. Rather than asking simply how objects look, Sense of Place explores how they are touched, heard, smelled, tasted and ultimately experienced.

Each room becomes a sensory environment, bringing together artists, designers and makers working across ceramics, textiles, fragrance, lighting, sound and technology. Together, the installations explore the emotional and physical relationships we form with the objects and spaces that shape everyday life.

Taste

At the heart of the exhibition, Emma Louise Payne explores Taste through Wasted, a new collection of ceramic cocktail glasses, carafes and small plates that transforms discarded materials into objects for gathering.

Created using reclaimed clay, reprocessed ceramics and surplus glazes from Payne’s studio practice, the collection reveals the histories held within waste while asking how sustainability can enrich the rituals of food, drink and shared experience.

The collection will be activated through a collaboration with The Henley Distillery, whose micro-distillery has created a special negroni made from waste orange peel from the local coffee shop. 

Extending the exhibition’s wider conversation around circularity, the tasting experience considers how overlooked materials can become the starting point for flavour, craftsmanship and hospitality, transforming waste into moments of celebration and connection.

Sound

London-based art and technology practice Studio Above&Below presents Quantum Trace, an immersive installation exploring Sound through laser light, projection and custom software.

The work translates quantum computation into a continuously evolving sensory experience, blurring the boundaries between digital art, sculpture and living systems. Rather than presenting technology as a screen or interface, Quantum Trace reimagines it as an atmospheric presence woven into the domestic environment.

Touch

Amechi Mandi explores Touch through a series of richly tactile woven textiles, including pieces from his Asafo Happy cushion collection.

Rooted in the visual language of Ghana’s Fante Asafo art, the collection reinterprets the symbolic birds, animals and figures traditionally found on Asafo flags as bold contemporary designs. The work celebrates storytelling, community and cultural heritage while inviting visitors to engage directly with texture, pattern and material.

Here, touch becomes a way of connecting with both the physical qualities of an object and the cultural stories embedded within it.

Sight

Design studio Mentsen interprets Sight through a sculptural lighting installation that explores perception, form and the changing qualities of light.

The work considers how light can transform our understanding of objects and architecture, encouraging visitors to become more attentive to the atmosphere and visual qualities of the spaces they inhabit.

A House Experienced Through the Senses

Rather than presenting five separate installations, Sense of Place brings each intervention into a single narrative about how sensory experience shapes our understanding of home.

The domestic setting is central to the exhibition. Objects are encountered within rooms alongside furniture, materials, food, scent and sound, allowing visitors to experience design as something lived with rather than viewed at a distance.

The exhibition encourages visitors to slow down and become more aware of the sensory qualities that surround them, the texture of a textile, the aroma of a room, the sound of technology, the taste of a drink or the changing quality of light.

For Emma Louise Payne, the project is ultimately about moving beyond designing for the eye alone.

“Design is often judged first by what we see, yet our strongest memories of objects and places are frequently shaped by scent, touch, sound or taste. Sense of Place asks what happens when we design for the whole body rather than just the eye. By bringing together collaborators from different creative disciplines, we hope to create an experience that encourages visitors to reconnect with the rituals, emotions and material qualities that make our memories feel truly alive.”

Sense of Place continues this approach, bringing together practitioners from different creative disciplines around a shared exploration of how design can engage more fully with the way we experience the world.

Featured collaborators:

Emma Louise Payne - Taste

Studio Above&Below - Sound

Amechi Mandi - Touch

Mentsen - Sight