British designer Jasper Morrison started collaborating with Cappellini back in 1988, and so for this 30-year milestone, it made sense to mark it with an exhibition at the Italian brand’s St. John’s Street spot. Beginning with the metal ‘Thinking Man’s Chair’ and including stops like the simple ‘Hi Pad’ chair from 1999, and ‘Simplon’ table from 2003, the exhibition charts the journey of Morrison’s contemporary vision that is imbued within the brand
Turning heads in Trafalgar Square is Es Devlin’s Please Feed The Lions. The fluorescent red lion roars with words that the public can ‘feed’ it, creating a crowd-sourced collective poetic voice. Over the past year, Devlin has worked with Google’s Machine Learning to bring this experience to life. The glowing piece is hard to miss, and has certainly been a crowd-pleaser for design lovers and beyond
Using its new 2018 collections, Cassina reinterprets the design of its Brompton Road showroom under the guidance of art director Patricia Urquiola. Set against a backdrop of rust hued walls, the warm space delivers different living sets that include Michael Anastassiades’ first pieces for the brand alongside its range of reissues for 2018. The ‘Issue of Reissues’ was also the focal point of a talk between Urquiola and Wallpaper* editor Simon Mills during the week, further exploring how this is part of the Italian brands’ DNA
Over in the Brompton Design District, Skandium responded to the Jane Withers-curated theme of Material Consequences with an Eco Townhouse installation. For this, they invited Danish brands Montana and Skagerak to takeover the spaces using furniture that are responsibly made in some way. Montana took to creating a vibrant interior showcasing how ethical making does not mean a minimal aesthetic
Montana built different modern home set-ups for visitors to discover on the first two floors. ‘We are thrilled to collaborate with Montana and Skagerak in transforming it into a hub of sustainability’. says Charlie Perry, managing director of Skandium. Scandinavian suppliers stand head and shoulders above the rest of the world when it comes to mitigating the environmental and even social impact of their products, and as such, Skandium is populated with superlative examples of sustainable, responsible design’
Elsewhere in Brompton, Prague-based collective Okolo joins forces with studio Sigmar London for a project that investigates the architectural legacy of Hotel Praha that was demolished in 2014. Through photographs printed on sheer curtains, they divide the different set ups that feature many surviving modernist pieces that existed in the building itself
Completed in 1981 with an almost unlimited budget, Hotel Praha was an emblem of communist rule and the team highlight this important era by recreating the allure of the political monument
Danish fashion designer Henrik Vibskov has created The Onion Farm inside The Tapestries Gallery at V&A Museum this year. Visitors enter a tunnel that is reminiscent of an automatic car wash, featuring draping lights and fabric onions along the way for a whimsical experience, a contemporary contrast from the 15th-century textiles that surround the installation. Photography: Andy Stagg
Bürstenhaus Redecker has been making brushes in Versmold, Germany since 1935, and for London Design Festival, Michael Marriott has curated a selection of these for a display at SCP. Showcasing the craftsmanship behind the seemingly everyday object, Marriot gives the brushes a heightened presence by putting them on a playfully pink backdrop. ‘The main thing for me was to identify brushes that had a particular story to tell, ones that linked to different aspects of German culture and the world in general’, says Marriot
V&A Museum celebrates ten years of collaborations for London Design Festival with a display of Pentagram branding from the past decade. On view in the members lounge that opened last year by architects Carmody Groarke, the hanging posters showcase the design week’s journey through powerful graphics. Photography: Andy Stagg
Elsewhere Pentagram has also created Dazzle in the Creative Studio at the V&A Museum. The typographic display was inspired by experimental camouflages from the First World War on ships. The concept was pioneered by British artist Norman Wilkinson and was inspired by Cubism and Vorticism – Pentagram reinterprets this using lettering and monochrome graphics. Photography: Andy Stagg
Curator Jane Withers and collector Charles Asprey joined forces to launch the London Fountain Co which unveiling its first contemporary polished cast bronze public drinking fountain, The Fleet Drinking Fountain, by Michael Anastassiades at V&A Museum. Read more here. Photography: Andy Stagg
The fruits of London-based designer Matteo Fogale’s Uruguayan residency come together at Hilos Invisibles at Aram Gallery. The exhibition includes furniture by different local Uruguayan designers and Fogale, all inspired by modernist Julio Vilamajó Echaniz. These new designs are integrated with archival material from drawings to photographs creating an engaging outlook on the flourishing Uruguayan design scene. Photography: Emma Archer
M-L-XL, Laetitia de Allegri, Minimalux, Abigail Booth and WD-DP were all enlisted by Modern Design Review for this year’s iteration of Ready Made Go at Ace Hotel London. For this, de Allegri produced pieces to be used for special events on the 7th floor of the Shoreditch haunt including a napkin holder, a bread basket and a caddy, all configured from stainless steel sheets that have been geometrically welded together. Photography: Peter Guenzel
For their Ready Made Go 4 project, Venice and London-based duo Marco Campardo and Lorenzo Mason (founders of M-L-XL), have created a games table out of cast Silicastone from surface material specialists Alusid. The playfully architectural table uses the palette of a chess board but in an more muted gradient. Photography: Peter Guenzel
In Pimlico, Danish brand Carl Hansen & Søn is celebrating a new flagship store that focuses on the domestic market. The 220 sq m space was something of a blank canvas, so the brand employed its palette of heritage colours throughout the interior, finishing walls in hues of dark green, burgundy, subtle grey and navy blue. Read more here
Shoreditch’s Oneroom gallery plays host to a colour-coordinated takeover by lighting experts Foscarini. The townhouse space leads with a white and black display on the first two floors and ends with a vibrant Memphis-style set up on the third (pictured), all curated by Carlo Ninchi & Vittorio Locatelli of Oneroom
In North London, a pop-in design exhibition curated by friends and neighbours Louisa Grey and Morgwn Rimel opens showcasing two different residential installations. In the ‘Blue House’, pictured here, Rimel has collaborated with West Architecture to design a loft inside a former Methodist congregation hall. The high-ceilinged space features bright pieces by the likes of Paustian, Sabine Marcelis, Muller Van Severen and Emily Forgot. Photography: Michael Sinclair
Offering an area of calm is the ‘Grey House’ by Louisa Grey. The ground floor living space focuses on craft, with products from the likes of Frama and Mass Productions. Both set-ups also include botanicals from Urban Flower Co, sound design by Playlister and Urbanears, and scents by The School of Life for a enveloping experience. Photography: Rory Gardiner
In addition to launching new outdoor furniture, Sebastian Wrong invited artist Lorenzo Vitturi to stage an intervention on Established & Sons’ current collections. Vitturi created compositions using the shapes and colours of the pieces, veering away from their usual functions, for an abstract display titled ‘Remixed Properties’. Photography: James Champion
Swiss tech company Punkt has upped the complexity (but not the ethos) of its mobile phone offering. The new MP02 is an updated version of its first mobile, the MP01 launched in 2015, which called, texted and that’s about it. The new iteration comes with a little more whiz-bang, courtesy of 4G LTE, tethering capabilities and BlackBerry Secure Software – the first ever non-BlackBerry handset to have this. The Jasper Morrison-designed aesthetics remain simply, beautifully, (thankfully) similar
British lighting brand Tala opens a new HQ in East London by Archer Architects. The interiors pay homage to the building’s industrial heritage with reclaimed pinewood flooring and original steel columns shaping the 7500 sq ft space. Formerly a textile warehouse, the location includes an engineering lab for research as well as areas to entertain
Chairs by the likes of Paulo Alves, Andrea Macruz (pictured) and Gustavo Martini come together for ‘The Brazilian Art of Seating,’ an exhibition exploring contemporary chair designs from the South American country. Following its showing in Milan earlier this year, the twenty designs make their London debut at the Brazilian embassy for a dynamic showcase of modern design
The Office Group launches its first piece of furniture, co-designed with Danish stalwarts Norm Architects and Menu. The stackable chair seamlessly fits with the design aesthetic of TOG’s spaces while channeling Norm and Menu’s minimalist style with its sleek veneer and powder coated steel structure. Titled Co Chair, the sophisticated design has variations with and without armrest, plus different Raf Simons Kvadrat fabric upholstery options
The first installation to feature in the Sackler Courtyard at the V&A Museum, ‘MultiPly’ is a live experiment that addresses issues of housing shortage and climate change with its use of modular cross-laminated construction in hardwood
Made of American tulipwood, the pavilion – the brainchild of AHEC and Waugh Thistleton Architects – allows visitors to get lost in the nine-metre high maze of wood while admiring different viewpoints of the museum and its South West London surroundings
Alson at the V&A Museum, curator Jane Withers and collector Charles Asprey have joined forces to launch the London Fountain Co which unveils a contemporary public drinking fountain in the courtyard, designed for modern day life by Michael Anastassiades in polished cast bronze. Read more here
On East London’s Redchurch Street, Omer Arbel will showcase glassware from his recently launched brand OAO Works in an eight-day pop-up. Inspired by geometric tiling and ancient Czech glassmaking formulas, the 31.3 Polygon collection will be on display in different compositions,
revealed its vibrant universe
Design collective Matter of Stuff open a pop-up gallery in new creative quarter Kings Cross designed by Raw Edges. The showcase demonstates the work of London-based Matter of Stuff that comprises commissioning design and researching materials and techniques. Contemporary and classics designs from the likes of Bohinc Studio, Philip Cuttance, Harry Bertoia and Nendo pepper the space and form different designed room sets. Photography: John Sturrock
Discover the wonders of Ido Garini of Studio Appétit’s transformative urban garden along Grand Union Canal in Paddington. Commissioned by British Land, the project, titled Flip Book Garden, opens like a pop-up book for an interactive experience that morphs throughout the day. Garini was inspired by the heritage of Paddington Station for the installation that promises to breathe life into the area
Each room is divided by pine dowels that hang by blue cord throughout and once the installation is taken down, these wooden pieces will have a new lease of life at Camberwell College of Arts. Photography: Jutta Goessl
Joyce Wang Studio’s new series of Terrazzo furniture and objects are the result of material experiments in Hong Kong. The geometric collection, titled Flint, embraces the natural quality of Terrazzo seen in the intricate details. The range will be on view at an open studio in West London with a playful ‘Travelling Terrazzo’ ice-cream cart to celebrate
At London Design Fair in East London, the Dutch Stuff exhibition returns for the second time celebrating experimental design from the Netherlands. From ceramics to lighting by the likes of Earnest Studio, Maria Tyakina Studio, Studio Johan Viladrich and Bart Joachim (Romancing The Stone pictured), the showcase promises to present an eclectic display of Dutch design
The legacy of Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx will be reignited with an exhibition and limited edition book, Roberto’s Rio, at Ground Floor Space in Bermondsey. Based in Rio De Janeiro, Burle Marx was known for his modernist gardens and the tome zooms in on work in his native city, and how this shaped its cultural identity
Granby Workshop are reinventing the encaustic tile following research into historic clay recipes. The brand’s modern iterations have been realised in collaboration with Pentagon Tiles and will go on view at its Leather Lane showroom. The new range is made from marbled, vitrified glass, and the colours naturally form from the pigment of the clay itself
On show for the first time in the UK, ‘Biology of Metal: Metal Craftsmanship in Tsubame-Sanjo’ comes to the recently opened Japan House. The Japanese region of Tsubame-Sanjo is revered for its metal work, producing the majority of Japan’s cutlery alongside a plethora of products. Directly inspired by the annual Tsubame-Sanjo Factory Festival, where factories open to public viewing each October, the exhibition explores the timeless form of Japanese craft in response to the evolution of technology. Looking back, the exhibition further examines the intrinsics link between artistry, small industry and tradition. © Tsubame Sanjo Factory Festival Committee
