What to expect at WOW!house 2026, Design Centre Chelsea Harbour

As featured in our new COVER 83, Denna Jones finds out what the designers at this year’s WOW!House have to teach us

A sheltered loggia welcomes visitors to the 2026 A fifth edition of WOW!house at Design Centre Chelsea Harbour. Designed by Darren Price of Adam Architecture, the sheltered entry signals the presiding themes in the twenty-two rooms and outdoor spaces beyond: sanctuary, snug, privacy, cocooning furniture, moody lighting and sculpted pile rugs.

Curves feature in almost every room. The circle footprint of The Parlour by Martin Kemp Design features a circular seating arrangement with curved La Brea sofas from Kemp’s newly launched brand ‘from the Avenue’.

The room’s Wavy wool-and-silk cut-and-loop pile rug by Colbourns features a bespoke ‘desire line’-a sheared path through the curvy plush-that begins at the threshold and wends to the next designer room

Sculptural Rugs and Curved Interiors

Édition 1.6.9 rugs feature in two rooms: Hamlet, woven in wool and Tencel, in Francis Sultana’s Entrance Hall, and a re-envisaged Sicile Laiton rug in the Lalique Home Bar by Elicyon. Sculpted, carved and sheared, its jute fibres recede to allow the bamboo silk and wool fibres to catch the light. The design’s curves balance its rectangular shape.

‘The rug was integral to the scheme,’ says Kemp. ‘Its rich, dark tones ground the space and bring depth, texture and movement, while its sculptural pattern creates a sense of flow across the floor.’

Immersive Spaces and Circular Design Language

The Nucleus Immersive Room by Russell Sage Studio takes circular seating to the extreme. The tech-led room is dominated by a bespoke George Smith sofa system. Its C-shape encircles a round ottoman to create an upholstered mosh-pit-meets1970s-playpen sofa.

The room’s digital-first approach is counterpointed by Renfree and Sama Il rugs, both from Sacco Carpet. Renfree is all-wool, while Sama II is woven from cotton and Parali-a fibre made from rice straw waste, invented by Aarushi Mittal of the sustainable textile brand bearing his first name.

Tim Page Carpets provided rugs for three rooms: a custom flatweave with pile that creates sculpted depth and structural density, designed in collaboration with Albion Nord for Nord’s Turnell & Gigon Group Drawing Room; a multi-tonal wool and abaca flatweave that creates visual depth without obvious pattern for the Henri Fitzwilliam-Lay-designed Misia for Casamance Group Bedroom Suite; and Singh, a plaited rug made from natural water reeds for the Zardi & Zardi Withdrawing Room by Sean Symington Design.

Material Contrast and Expressive Colour

Black Edition’s Romo Speakeasy Salon by Studio Duggan features a fearless Jennifer Manners rug that exemplifies the power of ‘discordant harmony’, where the rug’s pistachio green wool field is challenged by its lilac, bamboo-silk curved and scrolled frame. The rug uplifts the room’s dark chocolate/ aubergine-coloured snug vibe.

Textile Innovation and Contemporary Craft

Sara Cosgrove’s analogue sanctuary for the Philip Jeffries Morning Room is underscored by Aqua, a sublime New Zealand wool and bamboo-silk rug from Topfloor by Esti. ‘My inspiration was a discontinued Armani Casa fabric that Sara loved,’ says Esti Barnes.

Her calming, interpretive pattern was approved by Sara’s team on the strength of Esti’s sketches and renders alone. Once the hub of family life, dining rooms are championed by The Schumacher Dining Room by Max Rollitt. Rollit frees the room of formality with a convivial blend of old and new.

The room features Max Rollitt Bespoke furniture, antiques, and an abaca-fibre rug by Patterson Flynn overlaid with an antique Laver Kirman carpet from Robert Stephenson Handmade Carpets. Rollitt views modern dining rooms as an essential ‘thoroughfare’ – a description that perfectly captures how the grand enfilade of rooms at the annual WOW!house is an unmissable showcase of design excellence.

WOW!house 2026 is running from 2 June – 2 July 2026.

You can also find this article in our brand new summer issue, COVER 83, available digitally now on Exact Editions.

Words by Denna Jones