London Design Festival 2026

Sanctum [Chapter II]

PROTOPIA COLLECTIVE PRESENTS SANCTUM A collectible design exhibition at Raleigh Chapel and Tokoro London, running during London Design Festival 2026

Raleigh Chapel: 11–14 September 2026 Tokoro London: 16–19 September 2026 Curated by Heiter X

Protopia Collective presents Sanctum, a two-venue exhibition of collectible design opening at Raleigh Chapel before extending to an intimate, invite-only presentation at Tokoro London, running during London Design Festival 2026.

Sanctum takes its name from the Latin for a sacred, set-apart place — an idea that finds an Estonian counterpart in hiis, the tradition of a sacred natural grove, spring, or stone left untouched and held communally sacred, where the land itself was trusted to carry memory and offering. The exhibition draws on that same instinct, treating the exhibition space as a threshold rather than a neutral backdrop for objects.

Across the works on show, material becomes a way of continuing that idea: lime drawn from stone, hemp grown and retted by hand, clay shaped by pressure and time, bronze cast through heat and transformation, glass reclaimed and reformed. Each piece arrives carrying a history before a single hand touches it — the land it was taken from, the labour it required, the seasons it waited through. That inherited weight becomes a starting point rather than a constraint, and the resulting objects sit between function and relic, between the domestic and the devotional — forms made to be lived with rather than simply viewed.

Protopia Collective's designers are joined by newly invited artists and designers, presenting new and recent work side by side — bronze beside clay, glass beside cork, with a spatial sound layer moving quietly between them. What holds the show together is not a shared material or a shared origin, but a shared instinct: that craft is a way of remembering what a place has given, and giving something back in return.

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS

Designers: Daniele Giannetti, Erik Merisalu, Fenna Kosfield, Heiter X, Kollektiir, Niki Danai, Roman de Lorenzo

With: Daanius Aas, Equivalentbehaviour, Johann Kööp, Jojo & Me, Katrina Stamatopoulos, Martyn Riley

SONICS

Sonics by Martyn Riley excavates from global frequencies; an ever-shifting auditory presence weaves near and distant extractions into an original, generative haven within the vaulted walls. The continuous and the unseen envelops the space in a protective yet unfamiliar warmth, inviting minds to inhabit alternative dimensions of comfort rooted in the hidden memory of vibration.

VENUES

Chapter I — Raleigh Chapel, 138 Church Walk, London N16 8QQ

Exhibition open: 11–14 September, Fri–Mon, 11:00–19:00

Opening: Fri, 11 September, 19:00–22:00 RSVP required: [RSVP link]

Chapter II — Tokoro London, 16–19 September The exhibition moves to Tokoro London showroom, by appointment, with a studio event on 19 September.

Sanctum is supported by the Estonian Ministry of Culture, with the support of the Estonian Embassy in London.