Market Root

Shaping a new cultural current through fashion, craft and collaboration

Market Root is a designer-led space, yet its energy moves more like a living ecosystem — one where garments, objects, and creative ideas flow organically between people who think visually, experimentally, and collaboratively.

This energy was especially vivid at the sixth edition, held on 6–7 December at Hackney Depot. Sixty-two teams of designers and makers filled the industrial venue with fashion, craft, and cross-disciplinary work. Despite the expanded scale, the space never felt crowded. Instead, a natural rhythm emerged: designers discussed construction techniques at shared tables, photographers and illustrators exchanged impressions nearby, and visitors moved freely through it all, immersed in an atmosphere that felt unmistakably London.

This cultural dynamic is shaped by the vision of co-founders Soojin Yang and Hyeonju Kim. Drawing from their backgrounds in design and community-building, they have guided Market Root toward an identity that is intentional without rigidity — open and spacious, yet rich with lived-in creative texture.

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Fashion brands such as JIN LEE reflect this spirit from within. Speaking on the evolution of the event, they shared: “What once felt like a gathering of strangers now feels like family — makers who support each other, friends who show up, and new faces who become part of the story.”

Through fittings and conversations, garments reveal new possibilities depending on who engages with them. In this way, Market Root demonstrates that fashion is not shaped solely by its creators, but also by the creative community that surrounds, interprets, and challenges it.

With each edition, the visual language becomes more assured and the curation increasingly considered. Yet there remains a looseness that invites discovery: a stylist noticing a silhouette by chance, a photographer imagining a future collaboration mid-conversation, or a maker shifting direction after an unexpected encounter.

This openness reflects a broader shift within London’s creative landscape — toward porous, interdisciplinary spaces where experimentation matters as much as refinement. Market Root occupies this in-between zone: not strictly a market, and not quite an exhibition, but a network in motion where emerging designers and creatives refine their identities in real time.

Each edition offers a brief snapshot of where London’s young creative culture stands today — and where it may be heading next. It is a space shaped not by spectacle, but by a quiet, charged sense of possibility.