The best new brands launched at the London Design Festival

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Desk with blue A-frame legs
For new brands and designers wishing to make their mark on the international design scene, London’s world-renowned Design Festival provides the perfect launch pad. Each year swathes of discerning, design-savvy visitors descend on the city for this annual event, when the city comes alive with more than 300 events, exhibitions and happenings. We highlight six bright new brands that made their debut this year Pictured: Desk and drawing board by Dot and Cross
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Children's cupboard with two doors and two drawers white and green

Dot and Cross

At Designjunction, new Italian brand Dot and Cross presented a clever collection of children’s furniture designed to adapt and grow with its users. From a crib that turns into a sofa and a drawing board that transforms into a desk, the modular furniture designs can be added to over time or customised for use in different rooms

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Children's wooden bunk bed with yellow ladder and blue and yellow cushions

Dot and Cross

The concept was created by Margherita Rui and Alessandro Rado, founders of Treviso-based design-communications studio Dogtrot, in collaboration with Italian designers Daniele Bortotto and Giorgia Zanellato

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Angular design tool made from welded recycled metals

StandSeven

Last month marked the official launch of StandSeven, a London-based online brand committed to producing ‘limited editions by iconic designers for social impact’, working with artisans across the globe from Sri Lanka to Sierra Leone. StandSeven made an impression with David Adjaye’s ‘Stool 7’ (pictured), an angular design made from welded recycled metals. And the social impact? Each stool sold will pay for one child’s school fees for one year at a school in Sierra Leone

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Homeware and furniture on display in Monologue store

Monologue Store

With a bricks-and-mortar location on Shoreditch’s coveted Redchurch Street, new interiors store Monologue bills itself as an ‘alternative lifestyle boutique’. It promises to combine homewares from established brands like La Chance, Hay and Atipico with the work of up-and-coming talent

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Chair, tables and bookshelf on display in Monologue store

Monologue Store

Opened during the London Design Festival, the store is the brainchild of interior designer Pavel Klimczak, who hopes it will also act as a venue for installations and pop-up collaborations to support young design talent

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Beech table with wooden plate and cups and cast kettle with linen bag

Native & Co

Set to open its Notting Hill boutique in November, Native & Co is a new interiors outfit specialising in crafted homewares from Japan and Taiwan. Set up by product designers Sharon Jo-Yun Hung and Chris Yoshiro Green, Native works with small suppliers, specialist workshops and local craftsmen

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Beech butter dish with spoon

Native & Co

Not content simply selling wares by other designers, the duo hopes to design and produce its own line of homeware, in time for next year's London Design Festival

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Masam paper folding light

Masam

Masam is a new design brand set up by Paris-based paper artist Marianne Guély and architect Said Njeim. They use paper-folding techniques to create delicate lighting, jewellery and stationery

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Square lights made from Paper, leather, slate and alabaster

Masam

The debut collection, made from an unusual mix of leather, alabaster, slate and Japanese paper, was launched at the 100% Design fair

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Borosilicate glass jar with wooden lid

Tiipoi

Born in Bangalore into a family of manufacturers, London-based Spandana Gopal hopes her freshly launched brand Tiipoi will bring Indian design to a new audience. Tiipoi’s debut homeware collection - soon to be available exclusively at Harrods - consists of kitchenware made from warm metals such as spun copper and brass; locally sourced Indian woods; soapstone; and borosilicate glass

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Indian wood tray with three bowls

Tiipoi

As well as launching the new collection at Designjunction, the studio showcased a special collaboration with London restaurant Dishoom at its Shoreditch branch, and a one-of-a-kind rough cast-metal mirror at the Soane Museum in Holborn

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Black wood bowl with beech salad spoons

Tanti

New British furniture brand Tanti impressed crowds at Designjunction with its collection of wood furniture and accessories characterised by expertly crafted joints, exacting details and contrasting timbers

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Three Spatulas made from English timbers

Tanti

Pieces are made from sustainabily sourced English timbers and constructed using innovative woodworking techniques that show off the quality of the timber to the fullest. Working from a Leicester studio, the craftsmen at Tanti make everything themselves - including the packaging

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East African wooden vase

Otago Studio

Bringing East African craft to the world of luxury design, Otago is a new London-based atelier founded by interior designer Anna Rose and textile designer Eddie Sercombe. Earlier this year Otago launched its debut home accessories collection, including vases embellished with Masai beadwork and hand-embroidered linen cushions made by displaced women from the DRC. At the London Design Festival the duo launched a bespoke design service, Otago Studio, with a glittering beaded chandelier installation in the window of independent Shoreditch boutique Soboye.

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Ali Morris

Ali Morris is a UK-based editor, writer and creative consultant specialising in design, interiors and architecture. In her 16 years as a design writer, Ali has travelled the world, crafting articles about creative projects, products, places and people for titles such as Dezeen, Wallpaper* and Kinfolk.