London Design Biennale announces the appointment of Dr. Samuel Ross MBE, as Artistic Director of its fifth edition, taking place from 5-29 June 2025 at Somerset House. Ross, a British designer and artist, is founder of A-COLD-WALL* and SR_A SR_A, as well as the Black British Artists Grants Programme. In his role as Artistic Director, Ross will set out the theme for the 2025 Biennale and bring together industry-leading figures from across the world to inspire collaboration.
The theme of the 2025 Biennale is Surface Reflections. The 2025 London Design Biennale theme will explore how our ideas are fuelled by both our internal experiences and external influences. Surface Reflections will delve into how revelations in life, prompted by personal histories, inform who we are. Each being’s traditions fuse with what emerges later in life. Our Surface Reflections factor into the hues of human experiences, which will be uncovered at London Design Biennale in 2025.
“The elder and child versions of ourselves, in spirit, harvest experiences pooled from the same well,” says Dr Samuel Ross MBE. “The time between each visit to the well does not distort the composition of the water. A different reflection, or means of extraction, may occur over time, due to the compound’s characteristics. Generations of design-thinkers portray similar behaviours.”
As part of his contribution to the 2025 Biennale, Ross will debut a series of new large-scale sculptural works in the courtyard at Somerset House – his first major UK installation.
London Design Biennale is a three-week long international exhibition. The Biennale provides a global platform for design and ideas that will change our world, through installations across Somerset House alongside an expansive talks and events programme. In this fifth edition, London Design Biennale will bring nations together in a spirit of exchange and collaboration to explore design’s potential to inspire, inform and entertain and its power as a transformative global tool.
Dr. Samuel Ross MBE, designer and founder of A-COLD-WALL* and SR_A SR_A, said:
“London’s consistent spirit of experimentation and palpable artistic culture, remain a fresh forum for global thinking. Taking part in the 2025 London Design Biennale as Artistic Director is an honour, I look forward to collaborating with each practitioner, ideally fuelling a spirit of experimentation, blurring the edges of where design meets art.”
