out and about :: pulse preview

It’s another week when there’s so much going on that I’m having to squeeze two out and about posts into one Monday! This evening, I wanted to tell you about Pulse, and specifically LaunchPad – the section dedicated to new designers. As you might have already gathered, confessions of a design geek is the official blog partner for the second year running, and I am delighted to announce that I have also been selected as judge of the Best New Launchpad Exhibitor award!

Those of you who received The Edit in the post, will have seen my interview with Home Slice and my “three to watch.” I first met Steph and Ellie (aka Home Slice) through my work with Boost, an initiative run by the Southbank Centre Shop to mentor new designers and from an idea to their first manufactured product. I asked them what they were most looking forward to about Pulse. They said: “We’re very excited to show people our new, complete range. We’ve been away all winter creating things and building on our current Chip Shop and Greasy Spoon story and creating a new range of cushions, so we’re very excited to finally be able to show them to everyone. Not to mention being able to meet tons of new people and talk them through the collection. We have a lot of enthusiasm for what we do, so it will be nice to talk to other people about Home Slice – rather than just each other!”

My three to watch were Jessica Hogarth, winner of the confessions of a design geek Bursary in January of this year, Caslon&Co and roddy&ginger. Jessica says: “Architecture of all kinds is a big inspiration to me. The buildings in the village I grew up in feature heavily in my first collection of products. High-rise urban environments have inspired abstract geometric patterns that can be seen on some of my products.” You can see the full interview here.

Recently featured in my here’s one I made earlier column, Caslon&Co’s gorgeously understated range of cushions and kitchen linens are made using ‘ornaments’ and ‘fleurons’, which are traditional printing blocks once used to add flourishes to posters and book title pages.

Finally roddy&ginger, whose designs are inspired by “something close to me, a mid-century rocking horse I found in a junk market, a welsh blanket, a book I loved as a child, a garden in Spain…” Read the full interview here.

I can’t wait to see what else I’ll discover. Register for your ticket here.

Further reading for the especially geeky:

• out and about :: pulse 2012
• interview :: home slice
• interview :: jessica hogarth
• here’s one I made earlier :: caslon&co
• interview :: roddy&ginger