LDF 2014 | Central | Blog 2 of 3
Moving across the city centre now (which some might still call west), where there were some of the main LDF14 events alongside little pop-ups. Here is my top 20. Every year there design festival Landmark projects; I’m sure most people will remember the Tom Dixon EPS chair giveaway in 2006. This year Airbnb had set up residence along with the help from 4 design collaborations: Patternity, Jasper Morrison and StudioLSE.
1 -Trafalgar square – A place called home
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Above is Raw-Edges home, as you can see by the image the walls slide, so you can shrink and expand the spaces. Playful and ingenious…my flat could do with these!
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Next was the geometric and kaleidoscopic Patternity home. I loved the interactive element, so the visitor can actually create new patterns. As you can see I was also chuffed to have inadvertantly coordinated with this instillation!
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The Pigeon fanciers home by Jasper Morrison was pared down, with a witty nod to its location; being surrounded by plenty of pigeons!
2 - Dinner with the designers
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One of my highlights was the Heal'sDinner with the Designers. For the second year running Heal's invited its nearest and dearest from the design community from designers they work with to journalists and influencers in the design industry, with special guests Philippe and Jasmine Starck. I'm privileged to be part of the Heal's team and loved talking to guest about the new Collections that have been recently launched for AW14 and also the new brand TOG which had its exclusive UK debut on the same day.
The dinner was lovely too!
3 – Aram Gallery
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Zeev Aram's opinion behind his stores is that any space can be dedicated to an established designer product along side a pieces from a college graduate. The Aram Gallery space was occupied by their Future Stars? exhibit. Many of the pieces had a geometric theme; Kim Thome's Light Array uses flour cent tubes in the already existing space.
In the above screen Kim uses diffusion lighting gels - usually used for stage lighting.
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Maria Jeglinska's Drawn objects; Her patterns and motifs are hand painted and scale gives them an almost tribal feel.
4 – 19 Greek Street
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19 Greek Streets key ethos is Design, artistry and sustainability, which creates a fascinating curated space. The work inside the 3 floor converted building freely crosses over from, product, craft to art.
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Above is Vino mirror by Ilna Vuorivirta; where the two mirrors are slightly angled so the person looking in the mirror can see them selves but also the environment their occupying.
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I love the painterly effect of the above Meltin Pot Table by Dirk Van Der Koij. Which is actually made from all the castoffs and left overs of thermoplastic from his other products.
5 – Wiki House
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Wiki house is an open sourced non profit organisation - so you can actually download, amends, print/cut and build with no construction skills! They did exactly this for LDF just by Tottenham Court Road and was totally complete in 9 days.
6 – Hay pop up
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The Danish Brand HAY , had the ultimate 'pop-up' space for LDF, prime trading location on the home floor of Selfridges. Setting up they Mini Market populated with Hay and Wrong for Hay products.
Designjunction has now firmly established itself as an essential stop (for several hours) during the London Design Festival, appearing to get bigger every year with an increasing amount of established and up and coming brand clambering for space.
7 – Dezeen and Mini Frontiers. 6 cutting edge designers were tasked with presenting their visions for the future of mobility.
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The Little jelly like cars are Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg creation of a vehicle ecosystem.
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Lucy McRae, created an amazing instillation which included dance, gymnastics, audience participation and allot of silver foil! The silver materials is actually what they use for emergency blankets, the work is based on research by NASA using pressured space suits. Not highly flattering, but surprisingly relaxing if you were lucky enough to have a go.
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Dominic Wilcox created an entire driverless sleeper, stained glass car. I think this is the only way you can look up at the stars and they appear more beautiful.
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8 – Flash Factories - Live workshops - were visitors can see industrial and hand made production of items from upholstery, to tiles to cut crystal, which are processes usually behind closed factory doors. Above are concrete geometric tiles being hand made by Bert & May and also upholstery by the Norfolk based Coakley and Cox...here there just finishing off one of my designs; the Cocoon Chair for Heal's.
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9 – Dead Good. I spotted their Naked Chair by Gala Wright and Magnus Long, simple contours and very comfortable.
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10 – Bethan Gray for Workhouse.Workhouses aesthetic is British style and here with their new Ella Sofa Collection; part of a modern take on the traditional chesterfield.
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11 – Ajoto. One for the Christmas list.Made from one pieces of metal rod (from aluminium to brass) the simple design still feels like luxury, especially the brass versions as they're so weighty - lovely!
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12 - Vitamin. Vitamin had been very busy this year, with several nee items launched at Designjunction. My favourite items were the turned wooden pots with smart shaped lids.
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13 – AMMA Studio. Is a collaboration between interior designer Samuel Amoia and artist Fernando Mastrangelo. There have created these amazing Drum stools, in some beautiful colour combinations. Their organic shapes and textures almost are reminiscent of Nastional Geographic aerial shots of the earth.
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14 –Umut Yamac.Above his Perch light. Made from folded paper and brass; the pivoting brass claws complete the circuit and the light illuminates. This pivot pint also means the light can delicately sway or perch.
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15 – One We made Earlier. Within the shop section of Designjunction were these great chunky necklaces...but which one to buy?!
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16 – Daniel and Emma. I spotted this Auzzie pairs work back in 2010 at 100% Design with their stationary collection. They've now increased there collection in volume and scale; introducing they Mish Mash chairs hand made in Adelaide.
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17 - A Childs Dreaminstillation and charity auction. 19 designers have personalised iconic design pieces from the Ercol stacking chair to Anglepoise lights. At the end of Designjucntion the items were all being auctioned off with proceeds going to aid further research into SIDS, Stillborn and Neonatal Death Syndrome and support grieving families.
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18 – Rhian Malin Ceramics. Apologies for the blurry image - above are the Hand Held Vessels range, thrown porcelain which has then been gently manipulated into shape, to fit the users hand; making each one unique.
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19 – Kaymet. I have been a fan of Kaymets trays and trolleys for quite some time; even being able to vitas their humble factory in East London (blog to come). They have been and making anodised aluminium ware in London since 1947, and even though the designs haven't changed hugely, they would still fit nicely in any home; which a huge range of colours and finishes.
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20 - General Cafe Stop.2014 is the Year of the Bus, funded by Modus, designed by Michael Sodeau. The benches upholstered in a TFL fabric by Kirkby Design were a welcome opportunity to rest my already aching feet!
With time running out the next phase of my LDF adventure was East.