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.Wow, what a roller coaster week of inspiration London Design Festival has been! I must confess that Design Junction is my absolute favourite staple on the Festival calendar, a guaranteed smorgasbord of inspiring design that I’ll be crushing on for months after.Take this main image above, I have been swooning over Bethan Gray designs for a while (see my design crush at the start of the year here) and her new collection on display at Design Junction truly doesn’t disappoint, amazing use of colour and materials, totally beautiful, pink and teal, marquetry, scallop shapes, all massive ticks in my box. Out of all the showcases, this show is the one with pizzazz, an inspiration hub, bits from which I will be taking as my jump point for thinking about new design over the next few months. So today I’m sharing my favourite pieces and trends, I could have included many more but I’m keeping some back for future posts. Let me know which are your favourites too.
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You see that amusement game above at the bottom left, yes? And you also see that collection of cool rubber-wares on the bottom right, yes? Well, much to my personal amazement (and my husbands chagrin) I won the latter throwing balls into the former! I wondered if the game was rigged so that even losers like me could get a win but a design friend has confirmed I actually had amazing beginners luck. Hooray to that. Hooray also to a fabulous line of rubber kitchenwares to put pots and cups on by Loris & Livia that takes its design credentials from the flooring of London Underground tubes. Such a lovely concept and a beautiful result. Mirroring the terrazzo trend (with a design technique from the same era in common) but in a uniquely cool way.
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This sofa is everything. I am nowhere near cool enough for it but I can see that it is everything. It’s called Working Girl and made by collaboration between Deadgood and Kirkby Design, it’s the kind of sofa that commands its own statement display unit which happily it got. If you are cool enough for it, go ahead here.
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On a more muted note but equally as beautiful is this blush pink (yes I’m still not tiring of this colour way) sofa from the same company Deadgood. I could completely picture this in our home, which is worrying as I’m quite sure it’s out of budget. Still very lovely if you can afford it.
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I am so pleased that Olivia Aspinall made it to Design Junction after a Kickstarter campaign I followed some months back, her work is definitely special. There’s a lot of terrazzo around right now (in fact I have a post coming up on it soon) but hers is exquisite. I could find a space for any of these designs but these wooden pots, made in collaboration with Leoni Bullcock, are the true show stealers for me.
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Very Good and Proper are a new company to me and I really like their pieces. I love the simplicity of their products, they don’t scream for attention but rather nod with good taste. This sled console and canteen chair are both so simple and so perfect. I would love either of them in my home, who hasn’t got space for a pink pegboard door?!
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Of course plants are still in abundance everywhere in home styling right now but this company merits a mention for devising a plant that even the laziest of us can own. This plant, from a company called Pikaplant, grows via its own unique Eco system, it uses the oxygen and water inside the jar to grow itself. This sounds like something from Frankenstein’s lab but it’s really quite beautiful. I’m definitely thinking of getting one, I also love the clever use of the upside down mason jar which I guess only works for plants like this which don’t need watering!
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I could pretty well live in the Icons of Denmark showspace and feel very urbane and sophisticated! They have a great design ethic, and this chair, cutely named The Smile Chair, is the epitome of Danish-relaxed-but-considered-beauty in my eyes.
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Floor Story is a firm that always bring the goods to the party, making rugs out of bold designs that others may balk at, the irreverence and sense of fun in their rugs would surely make even the most straight laced of us smile? I just love the Studio Flock, Two Lovely Gays and Camille Walala collaborations this year, if I could choose one it would be the Studio Flock rug pictured hanging on the top left with an interrupted triangles design.
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Foldability are an interiors firm who prove that you can do pretty much anything with the power of origami! Some of these designs are so intricate and baffling, the clever lady behind it was responsible for the very beautiful cover set of the Elle Deco xmas issue last year (see here) and her work is just incredible in real life, one of those stands that people crowded round to view and rightly so.
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Another Scandinavian contemporary, a firm i really love Design House Stockholm, exhibiting in a UK show for the first time. One of my best friends bought me some miniature kitchenwares from them nearly a decade ago and we still have them out on display, ditto the Elsa Beskow collaboration from a few years ago. This range of cushions, using twisted yarn and traditional Thai techniques of production, is called Melange. As far as I’m concerned I have no idea how I don’t already own them, they are so pretty!
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According to Design Junction everyone has a favourite WW chair (so named after the Windsor chair its inspired by and the wire used on the spindles), mine is the pink and red. H Furniture have just won an Elle Decoration new designer award, you can view the full collection online. There is a great craftsmanship behind all of their products but these colour popping chairs really make an impression. Which would you choose?
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I so love the lighting from Vita Copenhagen, each light is inspired by nature within the city and blends something both magical and bold. I rather like the pendants in pastel colour ways but they are all bold and fabulous.
Image: Design Soda
Final stop on my favourites trail goes to the work of jewellery designer One We Made Earlier. The lady behind it has just collaborated with Lizzie from Smug who has a wonderful eye for all things design so watch this space. If you like terrazzo style jewellery then do take a look at her website, she’s a real talent.
Decorex 2016: Trends & Highlights
September, Just when it begins to get a bit bleak and wintery London Design Week pops by to lift spirits and inspire with thousands of product launches, shows, installations and city streets and museums taken over by new design and ideas, it’s a heady week overflowing with inspiration. I’ve tried to pack a lot in this year, following a mantra of going to pretty much everything I’ve been invited to and blagging my way onto many other things, I am exhausted but I have so much to share. First up, I spent Sunday previewing all Decorex had to offer on a press tour led by interior designer extrodinaire René Dekker. So today I’m sharing my favourite picture postcards from the show. I love Decorex, it’s not made for me (or my budget), some of its outrageous, some of it is bling and in all honesty some of it is just utterly beautiful. The things that charmed me most were the more rustic lines, with favourite’s from luxury crafts to up-cycled furniture via new techniques in the use of materials. I was most drawn to wood, pattern, natural crafts and blush pink so there’s a fair bit of that too. Enjoy!
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This table! I mean, THIS TABLE! I could die for it, so simple and intricate all at once, look at those shadows cast by the cutwork top, I’m a real sucker for cutwork, it reminds me a little of the Bethan Gray’s G&T brogue tables which I still have a huge crush on, just lovely. It’s by jewelry and wall panel designer Sarah Stafford for the Future Heritage exhibit which was really exceptional this year.
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Image: Design Soda
Hands up, who’s seen this in glossy interiors magazines of late? It really doesn’t disappoint in real life, Puzzle, available through Domus, is a beautifully bold geometric pattern in inky hues, definitely on my lust list.
Image: Design Soda
This new line from Ted Todd floors is absolutely stunning, rustic rough-sawn reclaimed wood that is then treated with copper and lacquered to seal. One of those surfaces you could look at the detail of forever.
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If you are persuaded by craft integrity and more than the odd dash of peachy pink (yes me too!) then surely you love this bathroom as much as me? It’s by The New Craftsmen collective. This work was dreamt up by Malgorzata Bany and Jochen Holz. If you look past the beautiful pink for a second you will see the glassware which is blown and then set around pieces of bark, giving it the most beautiful and interesting finish.
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Image: Design Soda
A new lighting discovery from Giopato & Coombes, like so many floating bubbles, I love these light baubles with almost tea-light looking fittings.
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One of my very favourites – I love Eleanor Pritchard, the colours and pattern, muted, almost stylised but also completely brilliant and unique. I haven’t viewed her full collection in life before, it was such a treat to touch the blanket I’ve been coveting all year!
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Another piece on display with The New Craftsmen, this time by collaboration between Gareth Neal and Annemarie O’Sullivan. Wicker is a big trend right now, but this chair has a charm that extends well beyond the longevity of trends.
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This firms style of furniture upcycling is definitely something I can get on board with. Self are a duo that are entirely at ease with how to reimagine old pieces, their work is both sympathetic and bold, the colours on that sideboard and the nettle fabric on the chair, just lovely. I’d love to live in a room designed by them.
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This lighting is definitely ‘really nice’, so Hand & Eye Studio have fulfilled their stated aim! I love dipped ceramics, the large domed pendant to the forefront is very similar to a much loved jug in my kitchen. In fact I could just see them working beautifully in a rustic, slightly crafted kitchen. What do you think?
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If you like your design rustic and have a penchant for British handcrafted wood furniture then you can’t go far wrong with these simple designs by Bayleaf from Sebastian Cox. Winner of Best New Exhibitor, there’s something very beguiling about the simplicity of materials and form, the desk is made of wood from British Apple Trees which is rather lovely
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Some slightly surreal and very amazing surface design at the Future Heritage stall by The Colour of Hair, where human hair is heated and carbonised into ink upon meeting a surface. Very clever and beautiful, if not a little creepy too.
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Beautiful ceramic pieces from Katie Spragg for Future Heritage, the designs are inspired by nature found around Syon Park, such a lovely idea.
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A Rum Fellow are a bit of an institution these days, I sourced something through them 5 years ago and featured them 3 years ago in this piece on tribal interior trends. They have deservedly won best new designs in show, I love their work so much, they have a great instinct for design and a cohesion that runs throughout their multi-layered work.
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Finally this from Tamsin van Essen which is so beautiful, a museum piece almost, it’s based on the texture of chocolate and salon tea sets. It’s subtitle is ‘For the ghost of Marie Antoinette’ how perfect, I love it!
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