Atelier Seventy-Six presents Sense of Place during London Design Festival 2026
Wasted, a new collection by Emma Louise Payne
An immersive, house-wide exhibition exploring the five senses through contemporary craft, design and material innovation, featuring Penhaligon's, Emma Louise Payne, Amechi Mandi, Studio Above & Below and Mentsen.
For London Design Festival 2026 (12th - 20th September), 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.
Occupying the rooms of Atelier Seventy-Six's domestic setting, Sense of Place challenges the visual bias that has long dominated contemporary design. Instead of asking simply how objects look, the exhibition explores how they are touched, heard, smelled, tasted and ultimately experienced. Each room becomes a sensory environment where designers, artists and makers investigate the emotional and physical relationships we form with the objects that shape everyday life.
Leading the exhibition's exploration of Scent, British fragrance house Penhaligon's transforms the house's basement and adjoining garden into an immersive olfactory installation celebrating its Home Collection. Specially made ceramics by Emma Louise Payne will become scent carriers, diffusing fragrance through porous clay and demonstrating how material and perfume together can shape atmosphere, memory and ritual.
At the heart of the exhibition, Taste is explored by Emma Louise Payne through Wasted, a new collection of ceramic cocktail glasses, carafes and small plates that transforms discarded materials into objects for gathering. Created from reclaimed clay, reprocessed ceramics and surplus glazes from Payne’s studio practice, the collection reveals the stories held within waste while exploring how sustainability can enrich the rituals of food, drink and shared experience.
The installation will be brought to life in collaboration with The Henley Distillery, whose micro-distillery has crafted a series of experimental spirits using ingredients typically discarded as kitchen and garden waste. Extending the exhibition's wider conversation around circularity, the tasting experience demonstrates how overlooked materials can become the starting point for flavour, craftsmanship and shared experience, transforming waste into moments of hospitality and celebration.
London-based art and technology practice Studio Above&Below presents Quantum Trace, a new immersive installation that uses Sound as well as laser light, projection and custom software to transform quantum computation into a continuously evolving sensory experience. Blurring the boundaries between digital art, sculpture and living systems, the work reimagines technology as an atmospheric presence woven seamlessly into everyday life rather than a screen demanding attention.
Immersive installation by Studio Above&Below
Elsewhere throughout the house, each sense is explored through a specially commissioned installation from leading creative practitioners. Textile designer Amechi Mandi investigates Touch through a series of richly tactile woven textiles, including cushions from his new 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 into bold contemporary designs that celebrate storytelling, community and cultural heritage while inviting visitors to engage physically with texture, craft and material.
Happy cushion by Amechi Mandi
Completing the mix, Design studio Mentsen interprets Sight with a sculptural lighting installation that examines perception, form and the changing qualities of light, reinforcing the exhibition's wider exploration of how our senses shape the way we experience, understand and connect with the spaces we inhabit.
Rather than existing as individual installations, each intervention contributes to a single narrative about how sensory experience shapes our understanding of home. Together they encourage visitors to slow down, engage more deeply with their surroundings and reconsider design as something lived with rather than simply viewed.
Emma Louise Payne says:
"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."
Founded in 2025 by ceramic artist Emma Louise Payne, Atelier Seventy-Six is an evolving platform dedicated to fostering meaningful dialogue between makers, materials and audiences. Through exhibitions, collaborations and public programming, it champions contemporary craft while creating opportunities for cross-disciplinary exchange. Sense of Place continues this mission by bringing together artists, designers and brands who share a commitment to material innovation, sensory experience and thoughtful making.
For further information, please contact Martha McNaughton - martha@maycommunications.co.uk / +447515169628.
