A distinctive design exhibition featuring 16 emerging designers from across the United Kingdom has transformed a London gallery space by incorporating an actual vintage car as the centerpiece. The Car Boot Sale exhibition, organized by gallery Slancha and held at Formd gallery in Shoreditch during London Design Festival, showcased innovative works created from recycled materials, found objects, and flea market discoveries, all arranged around a cherry-red Fiat 126 that had to be carefully maneuvered into the space.
The ambitious installation required removing the gallery's door and frame to squeeze the vintage vehicle inside, creating an authentic car boot sale atmosphere. Gallery founder Lewis Miles managed to source the Fiat 126 through eBay just one day before the exhibition opening, after the originally planned four-by-four vehicle became stuck three-quarters of the way through the entrance. The last-minute vehicle swap added an element of spontaneity that perfectly captured the unpredictable nature of actual car boot sales.
Slancha founders Findlay MacDonald and Harvey Everson curated the exhibition with a strong focus on democratizing participation in London's competitive design scene. Half of the featured pieces came from Slancha's existing roster of early-career designers, while the other half were selected through an open call process. "Space is at a premium here," MacDonald explained. "We had the opportunity to partner with Formd to own the space and put on a show of reasonable scale that people might not necessarily get into otherwise."
The car boot sale theme emerged from the founders' childhood memories and their desire to showcase diverse work across multiple disciplines. "Growing up, we both loved going to car boot sales with our family," MacDonald said. "We thought it was a great way of showing an eclectic mix of work that can all work together in its own harmonious way. It's also quite an emotive thing for a lot of people, so we thought it would be a great way of encouraging rough and ready ways of making work, as well as translating the memories that people have."
Throughout the exhibition space, works from the 16 designers were arranged in small groupings on carpets, shelves, tables, and crates, mimicking the organic layout of genuine car boot sales. Several contributors embraced the ethos by working exclusively with found or reclaimed materials. Scottish designer Oliver Spendley carved primitive ashtrays from stones collected in the Scottish Highlands, while Thomas Wheller presented an "instinctively carved" tray crafted from reclaimed Scandinavian pine.
Other designers took a more direct approach by sourcing materials from actual car boot sales. London-based This Is Byron melted down pewter tankards and other vintage paraphernalia to create a series of unique ashtrays. Newcastle designer James Stephenson transformed unwanted cutlery into functional wall hooks and sculpted a photorealistic oyster-shaped tray. These pieces demonstrated how discarded items could be given new life through creative intervention.
The exhibition also featured ambitious furniture projects that embodied the car boot sale aesthetic. South Korean design duo Studio EastxEast presented their Central Saint Martins graduation project – a multi-functional piece assembled from various flea market finds that could serve as a chair, table, and shelf. This "Frankenstein-ed" furniture piece exemplified the creative potential of combining disparate found objects into cohesive functional design.
Several contributors worked with their own production offcuts and waste materials to create innovative pieces. Manchester-based Jake Robertson utilized his workshop offcuts to construct the Pendant Lamp with Holes and fashioned a chair from standard aluminum bars combined with leftover valchromat. Glasgow jewelry designer Militsa Milenkova employed a hydraulic press to transform aluminum snippets into delicate tea light holders, while London designer Emilia Tombolesi used a blow torch on scrap copper to create a beautifully patinated lamp.
A significant portion of the wooden pieces focused on revealing manufacturing histories by exposing construction processes. Marc Sweeney and George Richardson contributed sculptural lathe-turned pieces, with Richardson's Knuck shelf deliberately retaining the square profile of standard timber lengths at crucial joining points. Design duo Korrom hand-turned Scottish sycamore to create candle holders inspired by antique spindle legs and crafted a geometric lamp from psychedelic red Ettore Sottsass veneer.
The exhibition included additional works from talented designers including Iona McVean, By Jamps, By George Exon, Emmely Elgersma, James Grossman, and Adit Abhey Poonia. Each contributor brought their unique perspective to the theme while maintaining the cohesive aesthetic of resourcefulness and creativity that defines authentic car boot sale culture.
The Car Boot Sale exhibition was part of a notable trend at this year's London Design Festival, where emerging designers gained increased prominence in the absence of major brand launches. Other standout exhibitions included Max Radford Gallery's acclaimed Grain Pile show at Clerkenwell Fire Station and the Mirroring Dialogue exhibition, which highlighted design talent from London's African diaspora community.
The exhibition ran from September 16 to 21 as part of London Design Festival, offering visitors an immersive experience that celebrated both nostalgia and innovation. By combining the democratic spirit of car boot sales with high-quality contemporary design, Slancha successfully created a platform for emerging talent while challenging traditional gallery presentation methods.
