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Clerkenwell Design Week reviewed
Thursday, 23rd May 2013 at 9:16am
It's been a hub of activity near the office this week as Clerkenwell Design Week kicked off in great style. So far we’ve managed to take a look at what’s on display in the Farmiloe Building, which provides a fantastic backdrop for the exhibitors to showcase their designs, with four floors of the building filled. The vast colours and textures on display from international interior design and architecture suppliers provide a stunning contrast to the exposed brickwork and floorboards of the elegant Victorian former glassworks. A few stands caught our eye including James Burleigh’s classic furniture with a modern twist and splashes of colour.
Duffy London made us smile with playful yet beautiful designs such as the UP dining table and the swinging chairs.
The trail of showrooms and fringe events creates a really fun atmosphere and luckily the weather has stayed dry encouraging visitors to spill onto the streets with chatter and inspiration. A scenic walk up to the House of Detention was peppered with installations in gardens and pop up shops. The House of Detention was really exciting as it was underground, there was an acoustic performance and all the stands were in the cells of the Victorian Prison – a huge contrast for those who had just been to ExCel May Design Series! Particular favourites were Foundation Rugs graffiti style soft decorations; Mirror Glow’s beautiful pieces which really lended themselves to the surroundings and Merve Kahraman’s genius and luxurious furniture.
Clerkenwell Design Week has established itself as the UK’s leading independent design festival. The event finishes on Thursday 23rd May so there is still time to see what’s happening at any of the 60 showrooms taking part.Tagged Clerkenwell Design week, design, architecture, James Burliegh, Merve Kahraman, Foundation Rugs, Mirror Glow
Australia's emergency 'Softstop' sign system
Wednesday, 22nd May 2013 at 1:19pm
Getting people to notice road signs can be difficult, especially on busy commuter route.In Australia the government is trying to tackle this head on, as they have experienced problems from people ignoring warning signs when entering a tunnel in which there was a fire.
As a possible solution, the 'softstop' sign was created. A sign made from water and light it was brought to fruition by an R&D programme that used technology from Laservision, a creative technology firm that designs architectural lighting, permanent attractions and special events primarily for the entertainment industry, along with pump manufacturer Grundfos.
The combination of the two allows for a sign that appears directly in front of the car, making it difficult not to spot.
Watch it in action below.
Tagged Innovation, technology, design, Laservision, Grundfos, road safety, safestop
Pop-up garden along the Thames
Wednesday, 22nd May 2013 at 11:20am
The Design Museum has opened a pop-up garden in 'The Tank' outside the museum along the Thames. The garden is a joint venture with Swiss design company Vitra.The garden, with its overgrow grass, features designs from some of the biggest names such as Charles and Ray Eames, Jasper Morrison, Jay Osgerby and Verner Panton. It also provides a space for visitors to sit and enjoy the area and sights.
All the pieces featured are also on sale at the museum shop or online here.Tagged Design, furniture, pop up, Thames, Design Museum, Vitra
Mirare Maze Folly at Clerkenwell Design Week
Wednesday, 22nd May 2013 at 9:56am
This week is Clerkenwell Design Week, running from 21st to 23rd May. We have been sent this wonderful piece of work that is featured in the event, designed by Mobile Studio.
Called Mirare Maze Folly, the piece reinvents the classic garden maze, with walls that are made entirely of clear acrylic and uses plays on light and reflection.
The maze is a new addition to Mobile Studio's family of modular systems offering infinite size and configuration, retaining the idea of permeability and sitting almost like a ghost folly within the design festival.
Find out more about the maze and the design week here.Tagged Clerkenwell Design Week, Design, innovation, Mobile Studio
The best in Neon
Thursday, 16th May 2013 at 9:33am
London-based light artist Chris Bracey is currently displaying his works in his first solo exhibition at Scream Gallery in London titled 'I've looked up to heaven and been down to hell'.
The artist, who learnt his trade from his father, has manipulated his lights into incredible designs using themes which mix religious iconography, retro fairground bulbs and neon advertising styles.
Bracey has also provided dramatic installations for films such as Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut, Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the Batman films.
Many of Bracey’s works are self-produced neons, referencing popular culture – “Shine A Light in the Darkness of Your Soul” was written by Martin Gore from Depeche Mode and “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out” is from a song by The Smiths.
His work also draws upon iconic imagery such as tattoo designs and the sights of Las Vegas and Soho, London.
The exhibition is on display until the 1st June 2013.
The Chalk Room
Tuesday, 7th May 2013 at 11:52am
Design studio JamesPlumb has followed up their refit of East London based store Hostem's shop floor with a new showroom in the basement of the same building.
A dimly lit room, decorated with some unique furniture, The Chalk Room is currently dedicated to Hostem's bespoke service, made-to-measure clothing and accessories, but shoppers can also order furniture from JamesPlumb including a chandelier made from clusters of antique lampshades and a chest of drawers built from stacks of suitcases.
To create the downstairs room the studio opened up the space, painted it dark and dimmed the lighting, creating calmness by making the corners and edges of the walls disappear.
Some of the unique furniture they have provided for the space includes a Chesterfield sofa that has a table coming out of the centre and a wardrobe that appears to be falling over.
Find out more about their work with Hostem at dezeen.
Photographs by Thomas Giddings.
Man-Made Tornado in a Museum
Wednesday, 1st May 2013 at 12:02pm
The Mercedes-Benz museum in Stuttgart has a bit of an unusual attraction.The building has the world's most powerful man-made tornado, and whilst this does attract visitors, this is not the reason for its existence.
Created from 144 jets spewing 28 tons of smoke in a 112-foot-high column, the idea of a tornado in a showroom containing over 150 luxury vehicles may seem like an odd one, but it is actually a clever fire-safety mechanism.
The building is made from a steel structure based on a double-helix, featuring a massive central atrium viewable from the floors that spiral around it. All rooms are open, all walls are curved and each of the 1800 triangular window panes on the exterior walls is unique. This however means that there are no fire zones within the building so by creating this tornado they are able to expel smoke emissions from within the building. It is said to take about 7 minutes for the jets that line the interior walls to get the smoke to whirl into a tornado and escape through vents in the roof.
Watch a video of the tornado in action below.
Tagged Tornado, man-made, Mercedes-Benz, Museum, classic cars, architecture, design, innovation
Clerkenwell Design Week
Sunday, 28th April 2013 at 10:59am
May will see the return of the Clerkenwell Design Week. The event is a showcase of architecture and design works from across the globe, with a focus on British designs.
Held in a variety of locations in the historic Central London area, it will see show regulars returning as well as some new faces such as Arper, Plumen and Foscarini.
Brands returning to the festival include Vitra, Knoll, Boss Design, Domus Tiles, Deadgood, Dare Studio, Jennifer Newman, Muuto, Magis, Zanotta, Johnson Tiles, and Dezeen.
The event takes place across 50 furniture showrooms and several special locations. The Farmiloe Building, a former Victorian merchants warehouse, will play host to high-profile international brands; The House of Detention, a subterranean Victorian prison, will form the festival’s hotspot for new designers, and the 12th century crypt and charming garden of the Priory of the Order of St John, will act as the hub for interior decoration trends.
Taking place on the 21st to 23rd May 2013, it is the fourth time the event has taken over the area, being spread out over several different sites, and will offer talks, debates and parties throughout its course.
To register for the event click here.
Regent Street windows
Friday, 26th April 2013 at 12:53pm
Have you popped down to Regent Street recently? Well if you can handle the crowds you should, as this year's RIBA Window Project is currently in place.The project includes six architecture studios working with shops along the famous road, creating unique displays in six of the most iconic stores.
Supported by RIBA and the Regent Street Association, the project is in its fourth year and runs until 6th May 2013.
Topshop has a rotating wheel of mannequins designed by George King and Mark Nixon from Neon, which will allow for different outfits to be displayed throughout the day.
The installation at Karen Millen is made of sports fabric and cable ties, and spans the 30-metre length of the window. It is the creation of Mamou-Mani.
John Tollitt and his team at Gensler drew on the emotional response one may feel driving one of their cars for their display for the flagship store of Ferrari.
The atrium of Espirit's store was transformed by naganJohnson into a beach scene, complete with a wave of chestnut paling fencing.
Carl Turner Architects referenced American artist Gordon Matta Clark's images of cut-out buildings at Jack Spade's Brewer Street store, just off Regent Street, creating fantasy New York streetscapes on the facade, in the windows and on blackboard illustrations.
Finally, interlocking panels to form freestanding screens at Moss Bros, creating a three-dimensional herringbone effect was the idea of AY Architects.
Find out more information and see more images here.
Photographs are by Agnese Sanvito.Tagged Regent Street, design, architecture, window displays, Topshop, Karen Millen, Ferrari, Jack Spade, Espirit, Moss Bros, Neon, RIBA, Mamou-Mani, Gensler, naganJohnson, Carl Turner architects, Gordon Matta Clark, AY Architects
LED flowers for film festival opening
Friday, 26th April 2013 at 9:29am
A new LED installation has been designed and fabricated by BWArchitects for the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival.
1,600 LED bulbs were made into pink and blue 'flowers', swaying in the wind at night on the courthouse steps in NYC.
The reusable flowers were made by hand over several days and mounted to painted wood boards held in place by sandbags. For the opening ceremony a field of the swaying LED 'flowers' was mounted to thin metal rods, once the lights were activated, the wind provided the movement at different rates due to the varied lengths of steel.
Justin Weiner of Studio Kenji created a short video of the installation which can be seen below.
Tribeca Film Festival Lighting Installation from Justin Weiner on Vimeo.
Elevated bike path for Regents Canal
Tuesday, 23rd April 2013 at 11:00am
The paths along the Regents canal in London are incredibly busy with cyclists and pedestrians, especially under bridges.To offer a solution for this problem, Anthony Nelson, a landscape architect from Design International, has offered up a design for an elevated path for cyclists. The proposal, which is still being worked on, would see a steel pathway constructed that would hug the canal and it above the current path.
The new path will offer more than a safe route for the 500 cyclists that use the canal each hour as it will provide retail opportunities at off ramps. The only issue yet to dealt with is how to accommodate the larger boats that use the canal. Nelson will be working on the plans further before presenting them to the city in Autumn.Tagged Architecture, design, Regents canal, Design International, Landscape, urban, innovative, space
Design of the Year award winner unveiled
Friday, 19th April 2013 at 1:07pm
The Design Museum in London has announced the winner of the 2013 Design of the Year Award, the Gov.uk website!
The website, which won by a unanimous vote, was chosen for its simplicity and ease of use, being built to allow visitors to quickly find the services they are looking for.
Chosen from a shortlist of seven category winners, which were unveiled on Wednesday 10th April, the overall winner was announced on the evening of 16th April.
The category winners include a folding wheel for wheelchairs, the Medici chair and a medicine packaging designed to fit between bottles of coke.
The Category winners are as follows:
Architecture: TOUR BOIS-LE-PRÊTRE, PARIS
Designed by Frédéric Druot, Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal
Digital: GOV.UK WEBSITE
Designed by Government DigitalService
Fashion: DIANA VREELAND: THE EYE HAS TO TRAVEL
Directed by Lisa Immordino Vreeland
Furniture: MEDICI CHAIR
Designed by Konstantin Grcic for Mattiazzi
Graphics: VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE IDENTITY
Designed by John Morgan Studio
Products: KIT YAMOYO
Designed by ColaLife and PI Global
Transport: MORPH FOLDING WHEEL
Designed by Vitamins for Maddak Inc.
Previous winners of the award include the Olympic Torch by BarberOsgerby and the Plumen 001 light bulb by Hulger and Samuel Wilkinson.
The exihibition will remain open until the 7th July 2013, further information can be found on a previous blog post here.
Milan Design Week 2013 Showcase
Thursday, 18th April 2013 at 1:24pm
Milan Design Week an event that showcases the latest designs from around the world with a focus upon furniture took place at the beginning of the month.
Many architects have worked in collaboration with manufacturers to design pieces to be shown here, and ArchDaily has compiled a list of what they feel are the Best Architect Designed Products from the week.
The list includes work by Jean Nouvel for Ruco Line, where he explored fashion, creating Pure - a high quality trainer that idolizes “purity of form”.
Also featured is Tools for Life, a new furniture range designed by OMA for Knoll and Ron Arad’s 3 Nuns Stool for Moroso’s American Collection.
Take look at the full list here.
Interactive sculpture in motion
Wednesday, 17th April 2013 at 5:18pm
A new collaboration between Hyundai's Advanced Design Centre and Berlin-based WHITEvoid, an interactive art and design studio, has created Fluidic.
The project sees 12,000 suspended spheres acting as 3D pixels or voxels which are illuminated by an array of high-speed lasers. The magic happens thanks to 3D cameras that detect a person and react creating patterns and shapes based upon their movements.
The piece was part of Hyundai's involvement with Milan Design week, the third time it has participated in the show, and was housed at the Temporary Museum for New Design. The interactive sculpture was inspired by nature and its ability to continuously adapt to a changing context, which Hyundai think of as part of their general design philosophy.
On April 8, the day of the preview, the German choreographer Nikeata Thompson directed a special performance featuring art, music and dance in the presence of the press and opinion leaders. In the days dedicated to the public Jan Jelinek of SCAPE, a seminal figure in contemporary electronic music, gave a special performance describing the rhythmic confluence between design and sound titled "Fluidic Art meets Fluidic Sound ".
Whilst many would have missed the chance to experience this for themselves, as it was only open to the public on the last weekend of Milan Design Week, 13th -14th April, there are plans to take it on the road, updates to be posted on the Fluidic page.
Watch a video of the sculpture in action below and visit the Fluidic page for more information and images.
FLUIDIC - Sculpture in Motion from WHITEvoid on Vimeo.
Tagged Hyundai, Milan Design Week, design, art, experiential, interactive, WHITEvoid, Temporary Museum for New Design, Fluidic, creative
Heat-sensitive business cards
Wednesday, 17th April 2013 at 3:30pm
The thing about business cards is that unless someone really wants one from you they tend to use it for other things.That's why creative business cards always grab the eye, especially these ones designed for photo producer Natalie Daniels.
Created by Austrian graphic design studio Bureau Rabenstein, these business cards look like undeveloped polaroid pictures, but the black space then takes on the image of anything that touches it.
The cards are produced with a special thermo-sensitive black ink under the surface of the card, which takes a temporary imprint of whatever it comes into contact with (providing sufficient heat of course).
Whilst the cost of these would be a lot greater than normal cards, they definitely wouldn't be easily thrown away and would leave a more lasting impression than your hand would on the card itself.
Take a look at more images here.
Let us know your thoughts on creative business cards.Tagged Business cards, heat sensitive, thermal sensitive, creative, clever, marketing, Bureau Rabenstein, design
Art that's good enough to eat
Wednesday, 17th April 2013 at 1:14pm
In Australia Kit-Kat decided to commemorate their limited edition white chocolate bar by holding back the last 50 and melting them.
But that isn't the full story, they got illustrator Mike Watt, to use the melted chocolate and crushed biscuits to make some incredible posters, using only a scalpel to remove any unwanted chocolate.
The posters won't last forever as after a while the hard chocolate will crack and break away from the canvas, but before all that happens they have managed to post them all up on their Facebook page.
The designs have been called Kit-Kat White Final Fifty and are a great example of creative art and design.
Take a look at them here.
Photographer captures artistic design of airports
Thursday, 11th April 2013 at 9:47pm
New York based photographer Jeffrey Milstein has captured the design of two well known airports from above. In his series entitled 'flying' he has captured scenes of Newark Liberty Airport and JFK International Airport as well as a couple of shots of the city.The images allow us to see the true artistic design of airports, which at ground level can seem sterile and daunting. Seeing them from above grasps the true nature of the design.
Milstein was inspired from his childhood, which was spent filming planes at LAX, and he is now renowned for his images of the underbellies of planes.
Milstein’s work was on display at the AIPAD Photo Show New York between April 4-7, 2013. View the full portfolio for 'flying' here.Tagged LAX, JFK, Newark, Airports, architecture, design, photography, Jeffrey Milstein
Sunken platform gives different view of lake
Wednesday, 10th April 2013 at 4:01pm
An observation platform in Vöcklabruck, Austria is giving visitors a new perspective over a picturesque scene.The platform is set below the water level in the middle of a lake, giving those from the shore the impression that people are below the water line.
The platform is a huge attraction for visitors to the region and consists of a ramp from the shore down to the cirlular enclosure which has seating provided for tourists to sit and enjoy the beautiful views.
Tagged Observation platform, architecture, design, Vöcklabruck, Austria, innovation, creativity, tourism
The Shed at the National Theatre
Tuesday, 9th April 2013 at 9:44am
A new temporary venue has been built on an unused plaza of the National Theatre in London. Called 'The Shed', the venue will show new productions that it deems "adventurous, ambitious and unexpected".
Open for a year from April, The Shed provides a new way to watch theatre, offering seats from £12 up to £20, with special days planned, including talks before or after shows.
Seats are either located at stage level or in a gallery providing patrons with an intimate view of the productions.
The building was designed and built by Haworth Tompkins, who are also incharge of the current redesign materplan for the artistic hub, and the design would seem to match the type of productiosn they plan to put on, with its vibrant colour and shape.
To find out more watch a video of lead architect Paddy Dillon talking about the design below.
haworth tompkins: the shed at the national theater, london from designboom on Vimeo.
Tagged National Theatre, The Shed, architecture, design, art, Haworth Tompkins, theatre, creative, pop-up, installationPop-up craft shop in Farringdon
Monday, 8th April 2013 at 4:10pm
Tobyboo is opening a pop-up shop in Clerkenwell for a week commencing on April 8th. The shop will showcase their work in bags and accessories, tableware and stationary among others.
They have been previously commisioned by the Museum of London for their Doctors, Dissection and Resurrection Men exhibition as well as creating a special ballerina box for a chairty auction by Coutts.
Founded by Tina Crawford, who does all her own design work and embroidery, the company sells unique pieces made in Britain.
Find out more about what they are up to on their blog.
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