With Limitations: A New Take on Contemporary Design at Aram
A new exhibition at Aram — “With Limitations” — explores how constraint can inspire creativity, bringing together emerging UK designers working with restricted space, materials, budgets and resources.
Redefining Exhibition Spaces
Aram, renowned for curating contemporary furniture and design, is hosting “With Limitations”, an innovative exhibition by the UK collective Design Everything, from 11 September to 10 October 2026. Unlike traditional exhibitions, this show transforms Aram’s gallery into a fictional flat, fully furnished with 123 objects by 102 emerging UK designers. The installation immerses visitors in the lived realities of creative practitioners, where every object responds to constraints — be it limited space, budget, time, or access to materials and equipment. This approach offers a candid look at the resourcefulness shaping today’s independent designers, moving away from the static, untouchable displays that often dominate design shows.
Creativity Through Constraint
The heart of “With Limitations” is the idea that obstacles can drive innovation. The exhibition spans furniture, textiles, graphic and industrial design, with each piece telling a story of adaptation. Designers tackle constraints in distinctive ways: Sammi Cherryman’s “Stan Junior” coat stand, for example, is crafted from a single leftover material, while Tabatha Pearce Chedier’s “Quadrant Stool” is shaped by restrictions of time and access to tools. Jacob Marks assembles everyday objects — like receipts and umbrellas — into new forms, showing how ingenuity can thrive when resources are scarce.
Elsewhere, designers like Eleanor Murphy and Lewis Duckworth turn technical and spatial limitations into creative opportunities. Murphy developed her own dies and experimented with swaging without paid manufacturing, and Duckworth’s aluminium pieces bear the marks of hand-bending in a makeshift workspace. Others, like Izi Thexton and Abby Ghent, adapt domestic constraints into their process — creating quilts or ceramics in tight quarters, often without conventional equipment. Resourcefulness and reuse recur throughout, as designers repurpose salvaged materials and let imperfections become defining features.
“By creating a fictional flat inside Aram’s gallery populated exclusively with work by emerging designers, we wanted to offer a different kind of exhibition – one that visitors can truly immerse themselves in rather than simply walk around.”
— Jacob Marks, member of Design Everything.
Community, Access, and the Future of Design
“With Limitations” is more than a showcase; it’s a not-for-profit platform for conversation and community. The exhibition is free for participating designers, lowering barriers that often keep early-career talent out of major shows. Live demonstrations and talks with established figures — including Martino Gamper, Kim Collins, and Ella Doran — bring together diverse voices and lived experiences, inviting visitors to engage with the realities of contemporary design practice.
This exhibition continues Aram’s legacy of supporting experimental and inclusive approaches to design, reflecting the hybrid living-and-working environments that define the next generation of creatives. By transforming the gallery into a space for dialogue and discovery, “With Limitations” challenges traditional boundaries and champions the ingenuity, ambition, and collaborative spirit of the UK’s emerging designers.
“With Limitations” thus offers a fresh perspective on contemporary design, celebrating the ingenuity and resourcefulness that can emerge when designers are forced to work within constraints.
“The designers involved are full of ideas, community-minded and ambitious, embodying the entrepreneurial spirit and artistic energy that the UK’s creative scene is known for. Together, they’ve created a living exhibition that brings visitors into their world while showcasing some of the country’s most exciting emerging and independent talent.”
— Grace Eden, Creative Manager of Aram.
Hightlight Image:
© Courtesy of Jacob Marks
