Friday 19 October 2012

New Design Gallery in London

A new design gallery showcasing socially responsible design has opened in Soho coinciding with London Design Festival. The new gallery located at 19 Greek Street has been established by Marc Péridis, creative director of design studio Montage. The design collection features furniture from Brazil which has been curated by US specialists Espasso plus pieces by designers including Studiomama and Australian collective Supercyclers.
On the lower ground level is a screening room and an exhibition space featuring non-commercial works, including woven plastic chairs produced by former prisoners in Colombia for fashion house Marni.
On the first and second floors, Espasso showcases Brazilian design from the middle of the 20th century to the present day, including contemporary designers Arthur Casas and Carlos Motta.
The third floor gallery contains furniture from a number of international design studios, including pieces made from reclaimed pallets by Nina Tolstrup’s Studiomama and cardboard furniture to be used after natural disasters by Parisian studio Nocc.
Montage occupies the top floor of the Victorian townhouse alongside an exhibition space for Supercyclers, a collective of designers who seek to reuse waste materials in their work.

Tuesday 16 October 2012

Waste Wood Chair by Marjan Van Aubel and Jamie Shaw

London-based designers Marjan Van Aubel  and Jamie Shaw have investigated ways of incorporating waste shavings into design using bio-resin. Between 50% and 80% of timber is wasted during the standard manufacturing process of furniture which was the influence behind their Waste Wood chair.  When bio-resin is mixed with the wood shaving and scraps a chemical reaction occurs expanding it into foam. By adding colour dye and varied-sized shavings from different workshop machines, a colourful, lightweight and mouldable material is created.



Thursday 4 October 2012

London Tent 2012 Report

The second stop during my trip to London Design Festival was this years Tent event. One of larger events being held over the 10 day festival. The event was held together with Super Brands London and was put on show in the Old Truman Brewery.
With such a vast amount of design talent and innovation it was hard to highlight the best on display.
The stand that stood out the most for me at this years event,had to be the carved geometric wood pieces by Hungraian designer Laszlo Tompa. His collection included a range of lighting aswel as stylishly carved boxes. The innovation, skill and standard of craftsmanship was next to none.

Another intriguing piece of design was the domino covered cabinet designed by Dutch design company Schelling and Borsboom. Stylist design with a bit of humour.



This next piece was probably one of the designs I have talked about the most since London Design Festival. A coffee table design by UK designer Toby Poolman which captured your attention as soon as you entered the top floor. A piece which demonstrated excelent innovation and craftsmanship but made the user question its production and the characteristics of its wood material.



It was great to see Eco design palying a big part of this years London Design Festival. One of the best examples of eco design and upcycling was the work of UK designer Sarah Turner. Her beautiful lighting has been designed using recycled plastic bottles which she cuts and forms into 3 dimensional flowers. When speaking to Sarah, it didnt suprise me to hear that she was commisioned by Coca Cola to design a chandelier for this years London Olympics.