LUMEN DRIFT is an immersive installation created for Clerkenwell Design Week 2025, inspired by the extraordinary story of Mary Moore and Ann Wade, which began 200 years ago in Clerkenwell.
The installation was created by hand and in-house, using materials from the family-owned furniture manufacturer Martínez Otero, with lighting from Studio Fractal and Architainment. The installation was fully interactive, with visitors able to walk through it and interact with it.
“As always, we were delighted to join in this celebration of every aspect of design from our home in the heart of Clerkenwell. The installation references a fascinating story buried under layers of history. The team here has found an extraordinary way to bring it to life.”
Concept
In London’s Clerkenwell district, a desperate theft in 1825 sealed the fates of two young girls. Mary Moore, 16, and Ann Wade, 15, were arrested for stealing fabric valued at 16 shillings from Inskip’s Haberdashery on St. John Street in Clerkenwell, a bustling centre of London’s textile trade.
The poverty-stricken girls, likely driven by the desperate economic conditions of post-Napoleonic War London, faced the full force of Georgian justice when they were brought before the Sessions House in Clerkenwell Green. With only the questionable testimony of the shop owner and his assistant as evidence, the girls were convicted without defence or jury. Their sentence was death by hanging.
For three harrowing months, Mary and Ann languished in the condemned women’s section of the notorious Newgate Prison. They suffered from malnutrition and disease, unable to pay for better conditions in a prison system that monetised every comfort.
The turning point for Mary and Ann came when their sentences were commuted, likely because of Elizabeth Fry’s groundbreaking prison reform work: spared death, they would instead be exiled to Australia. Fry, a Quaker minister, was horrified by the conditions she found in the women’s section of Clerkenwell’s notorious prison.
After a gruelling 140-day sea voyage, Mary and Ann arrived in Australia, where they found new beginnings: records show that Mary had eleven children, while Ann became a prosperous publican.
LUMEN DRIFT invites visitors to embark on their own journey through a tactile forest of cloth evoking the stolen haberdashery fabrics. Illuminated by an hour-long lighting display created by Studio Fractal, the cloth became a portal between centuries, through which visitors could remember those who found themselves swept into history’s undercurrent.
Afterlife
In line with circular design principles, the materials from LUMEN DRIFT will be re-used by the architecture educators Matt + Fiona, as part of their work giving young people hands-on experience in shaping the built environment.
