This month, alongside 18 other cities, London committed to the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Declaration: pledging to a near future of net-zero carbon emissions. Thinking on both micro and macro scales, this year’s London Design Festival addresses sustainability in unconventional ways. A few of the festival’s installations open a world of possibilities for the gauche material plastic, while others are offering a plastic water bottle alternative. From mud-spraying drones and vibrant vessels to textured tables made from pigmented polyurethane foam dust and energy efficient lighting, we spotlight the boldest design innovations that will make their debut at 2018 London Design Festival 2018.
PlasticScene at Gasholders
At Gasholders in Kings Cross, the iron gasholders recently turned luxury flats will play host to an exhibition of new design objects co-curated by Modern Design Review and furniture designer James Shaw. PlasticScene features the work of an international roster of designers including Dirk van Der Kooij, Studio ilio, and Thing Thing, among others. An essential stop on your London Design Festival itinerary, the collection reveals some inventive and unconventional approaches to reclaiming plastic waste that prove the material has far more to offer than is often expected.
17-23 September; Gasholders 10, Retail Unit 1, 1 Lewis Cubitt Square, London N1C 4BY
Mud Shell by Stephanie Chaltiel at Design Junction
This year’s Designjunction is given an urgent twist with Mud Shell, a housing project developed by architect Stephanie Chaltiel that merges earth architecture with drone technology. On the Riverside Walkway, Chaltiel has joined forces with students from the Architectural Association in London to produce one of her mud shells, an inhabitable structure comprised of a prefabricated light formwork that is coated in several layers of natural materials by drone spraying technology to become a sturdy and permanent structure. Due to its fast construction time and minimal labor requirements, Mud Shell has the potential to serve in emergency housing situations such as refugee camps, says Chaltiel.
20-23 September; Oxo, Doon Street, Riverside Walkway, South Bank, London, SE1
Material of the Year showcase at London Design Fair
For its second Material of the Year showcase, London Design Fair in East London has selected the infamous yet ubiquitous plastic, prompting a reconsideration of our approach to this much-maligned material. The exhibition features the work of four designers going ‘beyond the chipper’ in their use of plastic as a unique material. In particular, the elegant marble-effect surfaces of Weez & Merl’s table and lighting collection made from waste plastics sourced in Brighton & Hove, and the engineered beauty of Charlotte Kidger’s brightly coloured pots and vases, constructed from pigmented polyurethane foam dust (pictured), both give plastic new lease on life.
20-23 September; Old Truman Brewery; 91 Brick Ln, London E1 6QR
The Fleet Drinking Fountain by Michael Anastassiades at V&A Museum
Anastassiades. Addressing the disappearance of free public drinking fountains, and their plastic bottle replacement, Withers and Asprey approached Cypriot-born London-based Anastassiades to realise a contemporary version. Made from polished cast bronze – which references historical fountains and other street furniture but is also hygienic – the faceted form, Anastassiades says, is an abstraction of a classical column with a scooped top to imply drinking from a bowl. ‘It needed to be more of an experience than just a place to stop and fill a bottle,’ says Anastassiades. ‘It needed to blend into the environment and not to scream for attention.’ Read more here. Writer: Ali Morris
15-23 September; V&A Museum Cromwell Rd, Knightsbridge, London SW7 2RL
001 LED by Plumen at Toykyo bike
Back in 2010, Plumen launched the world’s first energy efficient designer light with its 001 bulb. Designed by Plumen and Samuel Wilkinson Studio, the new 001 LED boasts a longer life, over 20,000 hours to be precise. In addition, the piece has a sleeker silhouette that uses neither aluminium or mercury, making it 100 per cent recyclable. Experience the ambient pieces lighting up Tokyobike in the Shoreditch Design Triangle with a glowing window installation. Styling: Emma Kay. Photography: Charles Emerson. Writer: Sujata Burman
17-23 September; 87-89 Tabernacle St, Shoreditch, London EC2A 4BA
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Inside Valentino’s glamorous new Sloane Street store, inspired by the art of haute coutureThe latest in Valentino’s ‘The New Maison’ store concept opens on London’s Sloane Street this week, offering an enveloping marble and carpet-clad space of ‘intimacy and uniqueness’
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Aesop’s Salone del Mobile 2024 installations in Milan are multisensory experiencesAesop has partnered with Salone del Mobile to launch a series of installations across Milan, tapping into sight, touch, taste, and scent
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Dial into the Boring Phone and more smartphone alternativesFrom the deliberately dull new Boring Phone to Honor’s latest hook-up with Porsche, a host of new devices that do the phone thing slightly differently
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‘R for Repair’ at London Design Festival displays broken objects, re-formedIn the second half of a two-part exhibition and as part of London Design Festival 2022, ‘R for Repair’ at the V&A displays broken objects, re-formed
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Inside Bali’s new Circular Design WorkspaceAt Museum of Space Available in southern Bali, creative director Daniel Mitchell reimagines the possibilities of plastic waste
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Design Museum exhibition puts waste front and centre‘Waste Age: What Can Design Do?’ at the Design Museum, London (until 20 February 2022), presents design’s proposals and solutions to the issue of waste
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Rossana Orlandi presents Guiltless Plastic at Milan Design Week 2021Guiltless Plastic is Rossana Orlandi’s thrilling exploration of the material’s potential for recycling and upcycling in design
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Bird baths and bee beaches invite nature to Marcel Breuer’s Marshouse‘For the Birds & Bees’ (until 18 September 2021) by design gallery R & Company and landscape designer Edwina von Gal aims to bring back wildlife to Marcel Breuer’s Marshouse, and increase awareness on the importance of birds and pollinators
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Can farmer designers save the planet?The future of farming, the climate crisis, and how we can feed ourselves sustainably are at the heart of a new exhibition, ‘Farmer designers: an art of living’, at Bordeaux Museum of Decorative Arts and Design (until 17 January 2022)
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Recycled eggshells make cracking sustainable wall tilesEthical design brand Nature Squared elevates the egg with its collection of eggshell wall tiles in collaboration with Hong Kong designer Elaine Yan Ling Ng, now presented at Rossana Orlandi in Milan
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Melbourne’s NGV Triennial presents a radical design re-thinkCombining design ingenuity with scientific research, these global designers have created new materials and methods that can change the way we build our architectures and produce our objects, and through their project they raise awareness towards global ecological issues
