‘Curated Connections: Common Ground’ - Design, Craft and the City in Dialogue at London Festival of Architecture

The fourth edition of ON&ON Designs’ Curated Connections series opened on Monday night at Fletcher Priest Architects, Fleet Street Quarter, as part of the London Festival of Architecture 2026. The installation runs until end of June.

ON&ON Designs, Creative Project Foundation, Fleet Street Quarter and Fletcher Priest Architects launched ‘Curated Connections: Common Ground’ on 1 June 2026 with an opening reception and panel discussion at the new Fletcher Priest studio, 100 Fetter Lane, EC4. The fourth edition of the Curated Connections series, the activation presents the work of three Polish studios, Zieta Studio, Pani Jurek and Katarzyna Krej, across the studio's interior gallery and public garden.

Rooted in the creative exchange of the UK Poland Season, Common Ground responds to the LFA 2026 theme of Belonging, exploring how objects, buildings and installations create common ground between people in a city.

The Installation

Throughout June, the Fletcher Priest studio and garden are transformed by works from three studios at the forefront of Polish design. Visible through glass from street level, the installation dissolves the boundary between studio interior and public realm, occupying both the interior gallery and the public garden at Fletcher Priest Architects.

● Zieta Studio. Architect and designer Oskar Zięta's studio is known internationally for FiDU technology, a process that inflates flat steel into complex structural forms. Bench from Whispers installation, the studio's public sculpture at Ludgate Hill, are reimagined within the Fletcher Priest garden, extending the work's dialogue with the surrounding city.

● Pani Jurek. The Warsaw-based studio, co-owned by Magda Jurek and Michal Borecki, works at the boundary of ceramics, architecture and material culture, treating the fired clay object as both craft and spatial element. Their work occupies the interior gallery, where the handmade holds its own alongside the built.

● Katarzyna Krej, Glass designer and sculptor Katarzyna Krej creates delicate, atmospheric works exploring colour, transparency and light through traditional glass-making techniques. Her biomorphic sculptures, formed by pulling softened glass into fine woven threads, bring intimacy and quiet intensity to the installation's interior spaces.

 Panel Discussion: Making Common Ground

The opening was followed by a panel discussion moderated by Ellie Stathaki, Architecture and Environment Director at Wallpaper*, bringing together Oskar and Agata Zięta (Zieta Studio), Michal Borecki (Pani Jurek) and Ed Williams, Managing Partner at Fletcher Priest Architects.

Framed by the LFA theme of ‘Belonging’, the conversation centred on what makes a public space truly public, and what it means to activate it. The panel explored the idea that art and architecture operate at different speeds, and that the most enduring spaces are those claimed collectively: inhabited by all, lingered in after hours, owned by the people who use them rather than the institutions that build them.

Ed Williams spoke about the importance of activating the edges of buildings and thinking beyond the typical working day. Designing a building that can operate after 6pm and at weekends is important to increase its utility. Post-pandemic, he noted, our designs have become more open and porous to the public, and that is something to build on and celebrate.

‘Where possible, our projects are designed to incorporate public space. Activating them with a mix of public and occupant uses, events and extended utilisation is key to embedding them in the community and creating a sense of belonging’, says Ed Williams, Managing Partner, Fletcher Priest Architects.

Oskar and Agata Zięta reflected on the tradition in Poland of leaving space for public life, open ground that invites activation rather than prescribes it. Bringing people together outside, she argued, remains one of the most powerful things design can do.

Michal Borecki pushed back on the idea of art as decoration in public space, arguing instead that it must have a reason to be there, embedded in the process of making the space itself. He pointed to city projects using art in the urban realm, and how these can genuinely change the way people feel about where they live.

‘Art in public spaces should not be just decoration. It needs a reason to be in the space and it should be part of the process of creating it. If you create something for people, it will be forever.’ says Michal Borecki, Pani Jurek

The panel closed on a note of shared optimism: if spaces outlast buildings, and belonging comes from use rather than ownership, then common ground is less about who a space is for and more about what it makes possible.

Fletcher Priest Architects and Fleet Street Quarter

Fletcher Priest Architects have been part of the Fleet Street Quarter community long before their move to the new studio in August 2025, now occupying ground floor, mezzanine, first floor and public garden. Their roots in EC4 run deep, the LFA partnership and Common Ground: Curated Connections are one expression of that ongoing commitment, not its beginning.

‘Curated Connections grew from a simple idea: that design can create meaningful dialogue between people, disciplines and cities. What began during last year’s UK/Poland Season through collaborations with Moroso, Mint Gallery and Henge Showroom has evolved into an ongoing platform connecting the Polish and British creative industries. We are delighted to continue this journey with Fletcher Priest Architects in their new home in the heart of Fleet Street Quarter’, say Anka Simone & Joanna Caron-Delion, Founders On&On Designs

Further LFA Events at Fleet Street Quarter and Fletcher Priest Architects, June 2026

● Throughout June - Fleet Street Quarter LFA activities - info link - Outdoor Art Workshops with Bella Gomez Free drop-in creative workshops at Whispers on 11th, 18th and 30th June, 12:00–14:00 Live Performance by New Generation Youth Steel Orchestra Returning to the Fleet Street Quarter with an outdoor musical performance at Whispers on 3rd June at 18:00.

● 25 June. Fletcher Priest Architects Studio Lates: the LFA's major late-night event, with studios across the city opening their doors, including FPA.

Details

● Location - Fletcher Priest Architects, 100 Fetter Lane, London EC4A 1ES

● Installation - Until end of June 2026, open daily 9.30am–6.30pm

Co-financed by the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage under the Creative Industries Institute's ‘Development of Creative Sectors programme’.

photos by Alka Murat