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