Amtico returns to Clerkenwell Design Week in 2026 with The Amtico Retreat, marking its first appearance at the festival in seven years. Taking over Paxton Locher House, the British flooring designer and manufacturer presents a space designed to offer a more considered pace within one of the industry’s most high-energy design events.
Clerkenwell Design Week is known for its energy, with installations, talks and experiences unfolding across the district. Rather than stepping away from that intensity, Amtico reinterprets it – creating an environment that balances activity with moments of pause, allowing visitors to slow down, reset and engage more meaningfully, in a way that suits them.
The concept is underpinned by Amtico’s guiding theme for Clerkenwell Design Week – where beautiful spaces grow through collaboration, creativity and choice – brought to life through a series of interconnected spaces and experiences. It centres on creating a calm, open and welcoming environment that works for a wide range of needs, recognising that not everyone engages with or experiences spaces in the same way. From the moment of arrival, the layout of Paxton Locher House guides visitors through a more intuitive journey, encouraging them to stop, interact and spend time within the space rather than moving quickly through it.
A space to explore creativity, collaboration and choice
Inside, the experience unfolds through a series of interconnected spaces that bring together Amtico’s core themes of collaboration, creativity and choice. The Amtico in-house design team will create sector-focused displays styled to reflect real commercial environments across workplace, retail and hospitality. These life- sized, moodboard-style compositions combine flooring with furniture, lighting and material palettes, demonstrating how pattern, colour and texture come together within a scheme.
A more hands-on approach will run throughout the three days, inviting visitors to engage directly with materials. A collaborative luxury vinyl tile (LVT) display will evolve over the course of the event, allowing visitors to reposition individual LVT elements and explore how subtle changes in colour, wood or stone can transform the overall feel of a design in real time.
Alongside this, Amtico will also demonstrate its bespoke design capabilities, showing how ideas move from initial concept through to fully realised flooring outcomes.
Design thinking meets specification
While the focus is on experience, specification remains integral. Across the installations, Amtico’s core collections – including Spacia, Signature, Form and Décor – will be used to demonstrate how flooring can be adapted and combined to suit different environments.
From standard designs to fully bespoke outcomes, the emphasis is on flexibility, allowing designers to bring their own ideas to life. This extends beyond aesthetics, with performance enhancements such as acoustic backing, slip resistance and bio-attributed materials able to be layered onto designs without compromising the overall scheme.
With over 60 years of design and manufacturing expertise in the UK, Amtico is bringing together creativity, collaboration and choice. At Clerkenwell, this will be expressed through a space that is as much about how people feel as how things look.
“Clerkenwell Design Week is always busy, exciting and full of inspiration, but with that constant buzz, there isn’t always space to pause and take it all in,” says Emma Hopkins, Commercial Marketing Manager at Amtico. “With The Amtico Retreat, we want to create a space that feels like a bit of a reset – somewhere people can step into, slow down and spend time in a way that works for them. It’s about allowing visitors to engage on their own terms, whether that’s through conversation, creativity or simply taking a moment to pause. Through our luxury vinyl tile flooring collections, we’re showing how materials, pattern and design can shape how a space feels – encouraging people to connect, create or take a moment out. It’s not about stepping away from the energy of CDW but offering a different way to engage with it.”
Programme highlights
Amtico has curated a programme of workshops, talks and informal sessions running throughout Clerkenwell Design Week, designed to encourage visitors to engage in different ways – whether through hands-on making, conversation, or moments of pause.
Tuesday 19th May
- 11:00–12:00 – Fold & Flourish: Origami Planters Workshop (bookable via Eventbrite)
A gentle, hands-on session where visitors can create a miniature origami planter paired with a living succulent – a quiet, tactile way to start the day within the Retreat. Hosted with Origami Est.
- 14:00–16:00 – ‘Create your own’ LVT artwork sessions (drop-in)
An informal creative session where visitors can experiment with materials and produce small, take-away art pieces designed as reminders to take a moment of calm.
Wednesday 20th May
- 11:00–13:00 – ‘Create your own’ LVT artwork sessions (drop-in)
- 14:30–15:30 – Seminar with Dr Craig Knight: Sex and Work and Rock & Roll (bookable via Eventbrite)
An interactive seminar exploring the relationship between identity, performance, and workplace culture, and how design can better support people in the spaces they use.
- 17:00–21:00 – Unwind at the Amtico Retreat
An evening of relaxed networking with drinks, music and a curated cocktail menu inspired by the space (drop-ins welcome, booking recommended)
Thursday 21st May
- 10:00–10:45 – Bespoke Breakfast Briefing (bookable via Eventbrite, drop-ins welcome)
An informal session with Amtico’s design team exploring how ideas move from concept to fully realised flooring designs, over breakfast.
Throughout the week, drinks will be available daily, encouraging visitors to step inside, take a moment to pause and spend time within the space.
Practical information
The Amtico Retreat @ Paxton Locher House,
8-9 Clerkenwell Green, London EC1R
what3words: ///quench.tribal.quick
Visit amtico.com/commercial, or follow us on LinkedIn (Amtico) and Instagram @amticocommercial.
