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British designer Taylor sets up among the familiar and friendly in a perfect little public house.
Furniture designer Alexander Taylor has done the eminently sensible thing and chosen to set down his Samsung LCD TV in a pub. Not any old pub, of course. The Three Kings is located just off Clerkenwell Green in London, a focal point of the city’s architecture and design quarter, a place of light industrial chic and Dickensian ramshackle.
‘This is a very much a regulars pub and is a little off the main streets of London,’ says Taylor. ‘It has a comfortable and relaxed atmosphere and is usually busy with like-minded people. This would be a great place to sit and watch the Samsung LCD TV and have a beer and some good food.’ Assuming the like-minded regulars don’t start trying to switch the channel.
The Three Kings itself is tiny. It might have been an ancient ale or coffee house or an afterthought insertion in a building meant for other things. Whatever its history, it is not a standardised roll-out, ancient or modern, nor a now ‘by-numbers’ gastro pub. There is no sense of a designer’s hand here, just worn wood panelling, distressed upholstery, layers of posters and odd papier-mâché figures.
What it has, just like Taylor’s furniture designs, is a definite playfulness, a wit and a warmth. And a sense of happy accident.
But Taylor, like Samsung, is obsessed with the design possibilities of new technology and manufacturing techniques. His designs are thoroughly modern. ‘This contrast is what makes the Samsung LCD TV and my designs work within this space,’ he says. ‘I believe in contrast and the beauty of old versus new. The TV is clean and uncomplicated, which is why it sits so well in the more traditional surroundings of a pub like this.’
As for which of his designs to bring with him, says Taylor, ‘I chose the ‘Antlers’ coat hook for its versatility, the way it fits pretty much into any situation and surrounding. Then the crisp graphic lines of the ‘Tank’ light provides a refreshing order to the relative chaos of the space.’
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