Vera Chapter 2 exhibition at London Design Festival

'Vera: Chapter 2' is an ongoing project directed by Kirsty Minns and Érika Muller, who asked designers to create an original product for a fictional girl discovered in a found photograph. Daniel & Emma, who collaborated on Wallpaper* Handmade earlier this year, have designed a range of vessels titled 'Sweets'

(Image credit: press)

By Ellen Himelfarb

last updated 11 October 2022

in Features

Who's Vera? Nobody really knows - not even Kirsty Minns and Érika Muller, formerly of Established & Sons, who discovered her in a collection of anonymous photographs at a Brighton vintage shop. The girl in the photos had no provenance; her name and age were both ascribed to her by the two design impresarios.

Last year Minns and Muller - who call themselves KM and ÉM - distributed some of the 'Vera' photos to ten industry friends, along with a mandate to tell her life story through the design of an original object. The products were exhibited alongside the images during the 2011 London Design Festival.

This year some of those same designers, and others, were asked to expand Vera's narrative by responding to a single image of the girl - one showing Vera at an assigned age of seven in a floral-print dress, holding a stick of candy floss in the sunshine. And though the participants were given a common launching point, they submitted wildly varied interpretations.

Printmaker Arlette Ess, for instance, responded with a fabric printed with a seascape infiltrated by gulls. The Mexican-born industrial designer Liliana Ovalle designed three oak and Corian boxes with hidden compartments inspired by visions of boardwalk shell games. Philippe Malouin, who last year designed a series of concrete 'vide poches' to honour Vera, this year constructed four miniature wood and copper boat-shaped tealight holders, washed in coastal pastels.

Minns herself came up with a little milk jug, its handle painted in the coloured stripes of the giant swirly lollipops found on the pier.

'Vera: Chapter 2' runs between 17 and 23 September, exhibited is this year's Brompton Design District hub at 4 Cromwell Place. And down the road at the chocolatier Cocomaya, you can sit at the 'Vera' table while refueling between shows.

Fabric printed with a seascape infiltrated by gulls — The printmaker Arlette Ess responded to the brief with a fabric printed with a seascape infiltrated by gulls

Characterful glass vessels in wooden baskets — The young Italian artist Giorgia Zanellato imagined characterful glass vessels in wicker sleeves she calls 'A Family Portrait'

Small milk jug with a handle painted in coloured stripes — Kirsty Minns's 'Lucky Yellow Cardigan' is a small milk jug with a handle painted in coloured stripes that mimic those giant swirly lollipops found on the pier

Three oak and Corian boxes with hidden compartments — Mexican-born Liliana Ovalle designed three oak and Corian boxes with hidden compartments inspired by visions of boardwalk shell games. She calls them 'Vera Thinks of Boxes', from the narrative she constructed around the photograph

Wood and copper colorful 'little boat' tealight holders — Philippe Malouin's 'Little Boat' tealight holders, his second contribution to the 'Vera' series, are made from wood and copper and washed in seaside pastels

Sand-filled hourglass — The London design practice Study O Portable, founded by Bernadette Deddens and Tetsuo Mukai, came up with an hourglass called 'Sandglass'

Various metals on the floor — 'Metals' by craftsman Tomás Alonso, is a range of desktop items...

Circle shaped sliced copper — ...and a circle of sliced copper...

Wood shelves held together by leather harnesses — ... that transforms into a mobile. For last year's assignment, Alonso designed a series of wood shelves held together by leather harnesses

ADDRESS

Brompton Design District
4 Cromwell Place
London, SW7 2JE

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Based in London, Ellen Himelfarb travels widely for her reports on architecture and design. Her words appear in The Times, The Telegraph, The World of Interiors, and The Globe and Mail in her native Canada. She has worked with Wallpaper* since 2006.