I think this is my last out and about post from 2014’s London Design Festival, but don’t worry there’s lots from Designblok, Prague, Lodz Design Festival and the Biennale Interieur in Kortrijk to come. My last day of the LDF14 took me West to 100{ff546b69e23b1524d799f96c6ba7a638e1f677053b0a2a1568b05315fd5f8fc7} Design, the Brompton Design District and new for 2014, the Queen’s Park Design District.
I spotted this gorgeous Capside light by new designer Loic Bard at Clerkenwell Design Week – I love the way the light escapes through the cracks.
Hope and Hammer launched at 100{ff546b69e23b1524d799f96c6ba7a638e1f677053b0a2a1568b05315fd5f8fc7} Design, so these are hot off the press. They are hand turned in American walnut, white oak or sapele.
Exhibiting in the UK for the first time, Korridor Design is a Danish furniture and home accessories brand founded by two architects Lærke Rune and Henrik Ilfeldt. Lærke told me that Henrik would do everything in neon pink if she didn’t stop him!
The Berg tables by Faerid Design use colours found in Icelandic fauna to offset the hardness of the aluminium and cement inspired by local lava and rock formations.
I loved this little Rainy Pot by Daily Life Lab, a simple and playful way to water your plants.
The Llama by design graduate Jodie Watts caught my eye – three legs and two table tops and you have a strangely zoomorphic side table.
Following a successful launch at Clerkenwell Design Week, PR man Nick Wiltshire aka The Makings curated another selection of handcrafted design. First up, East London treasure, Barn the Spoon aka Barnaby Carder’s carved wooden spoons. Each spoon takes between 20 minutes and two hours to carve from cherry, sycamore, alder or birch using just an axe and a knife.
I loved Joseph Hartley’s‘s simple forms and clever designs – those peg lids are ingenious! He designs and makes his vessels in a central Manchester workshop, using wood, clay and cloth and low tech tools such as a lathe, a potters wheel and a sewing machine.
Beatrice Larkin is a textile designer specialising in weave – these blankets are a delicate take on Brutalism, the mohair reflecting the water damage often seen on concrete buildings of the era.
Just around the corner at Mint, I spotted Entropy 3 by Harry Morgan – I love the use of concrete.
Austurland: Designs from Nowhere was curated by Karna Sigurðardóttir and Pete Collard and was the highlight of the Brompton Design District. It explored small-scale design and production in East Iceland, using locally sourced materials and craftsmen. Contributing designers include Max Lamb, Þórunn Árnadóttir, Julia Lohmann and Gero Grundmann. I loved the Seaweed Light by Julia Lohmann.
And finally, the trip to the newly established Queen’s Park Design District was worth it for this alone – interior stylist and Zoe Brewer‘s first furniture collection, created in collaboration with the fantastic social enterprise Out of the Dark which creates beautifully crafted furniture as a means to train, educate and employ young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Further reading for the especially geeky:
- out and about :: 100{ff546b69e23b1524d799f96c6ba7a638e1f677053b0a2a1568b05315fd5f8fc7} norway, LDF14
- out and about :: home london, LDF14
- out and about :: tent london, LDF14
- out and about :: guide to the london design festival 2014
Very creative pieces, out of the box design.