London Design Festival highlights

Upstairs in Shoreditch’s creative hive, the Tea Building, Scene at Crib 5 are hosting ‘Blink Again’, an interesting exploration into trompe l’oeuil. Design and illusion is an area usually marred by gimmicks that drown most sense (and often function) but there’s a subtlety at work in much of these pieces, which stops them straying into kitsch territory. FAT architects’ ‘Heroes of the Invisible’ vases, which on first glance look just a little lopsided. On closer inspection though, the negative space around the edges reveals the profile of a face. It’s not a new idea, but it is done particularly well here. Nick Fraser, whose reclaimed gas pipe storage we admired in Milan, has turned a chair on its side and added a tabletop. The top can be removed and the chair used normally, which adds practicality should you need an impromptu extra chair or table at any time. Pearson Lloyd’s mirrors with concentric circles boggle the mind for a second or two, but again, the design doesn’t get in the way of the function.