Reading Design 2026 explores cooking as a vehicle for learning through making. The programme moves between the literal and the conceptual: proof as both the fermentation of dough and the development of ideas through time, repetition and care; fire as a force of transformation acting upon food, clay, glass and metal; and table as both an object of gathering and a place for exchange, discussion and hospitality.
Taking bread as its starting point, the workshop asks a simple question: what is required to make and share a good loaf of bread?

Over two weeks, participants will work collectively to design and construct the conditions required for bread to exist. Beginning with raw materials and simple processes, they will build ovens, make furniture, develop tableware and serving objects, and produce the tools and vessels required for cooking and eating together. Breadmaking will act as a framework through which participants explore material transformation, collective production, maintenance, and care.

The workshop will operate as a small production line. Dough must be mixed, proved, baked and shared. Every stage requires infrastructure, labour, objects and attention. Daily activities will include making, cooking, communal meals, discussions around the dinner table, reading and research, site visits and tutor-led workshops.

Reading Design 2026 is led by Guan Lee and Marco Campardo, with Ash Pales, and the Everything Now Design (Henry Chesney and Tom Phillips).

The outcomes of the workshop will then be presented as a collective exhibition during London Design Festival 2026, extending the work beyond the farm and bringing the ideas, objects and processes developed during the residency to a wider audience.