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Each year I try to feature picture postcards from my travels of an installation that has really struck me at London Design Festival. There are always some incredible showcases which display the varied creative flair of the design world. I thought last years (Scholten & Beijing’s Time for Tea) would take some beating, but this years is just as much of a delight. I don’t have too much to say about this. Because. Well. Will you look at the aesthetics! Breathtaking. If asked to describe what Kirkby Design have done to someone that hadn’t seen it I would invariably rely on Wes Anderson for reference. If Wes Anderson made tubes… etc. My main thought is Why can’t all tube trains look like this!?!

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The new collection, Underground Vol. II, from Kirkby Design, their second collaboration with TFL, is a reimagining of archive textiles from the London Transport system. If you are a Londoner, a number of them may feel incredibly familiar, but in a way that is hard to place. The collection, which takes inspiration from the designs commissioned for different tube lines, spans almost a full century with some patterns from the 1930’s being reworked. Of course, they are not complete replicas, the design has been deconstructed, sometimes to a far more linear interpretation. The fabrics too, designed for domestic use, are far more luxurious. I love the delicacy of the palette biscuit and blossom most within this collection, some of them make me think of Art Deco and ocean liners.

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Kirkby Design redecorated and re-upholstered the carriages of an old Victoria line tube carriage for London Design Festival, and the experience was really special. Super glamourous, an installation that transported you (no pun intended!) from the mundane to the very plush. One would need a fairly smart pad to really make this collection sing, could you imagine it in a hotel? I loved this installation so much. What do you think of the collection? Do you have a favourite design? I think if I had to choose, mine is Metropolitan or Bakerloo in Blossom. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

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