Design Village/ Puff & Flock

Designersblock collaborated with the UK’s largest trade interiors event, Interiors UK, to curate a Design Village at the Birmingham NEC. The Village contained unique products and market stalls from up-and-coming and award-winning designers, B&Bs designed by top interior designers and even a Village Local where you could grab a pint and chat with the exhibiting creatives. ARTS THREAD select a few of the best things on show at the Village:

Mentsen/ Puff & Flock/Charlie Sekers

London-based interdisciplinary design practice Mentsen showcased a variety of items from a display shelf to tote and shopping bags. We loved seeing Puff & Flock’s playful collection of furniture created in collaboration with Stuart Melrose, especially the chest of drawers with arms! Charlie Sekers’ neon Lightlight also caught our eye. Made from a continuous line of hand-formed neon, Charlie ‘draws’ a 3D outline of a typical table lamp.

POSTextiles

POSTextiles showed their range of innovative material samples which resembled choral, seaweed and other objects from the ocean.

Peter Bullock

We were mesmerised by Peter Bullock’s live shoemaking performance. Peter sat in the Village all day, expertly crafting his high quality, exceptionally British footwear, seemingly unphased by the droves of visitors milling by.

The New English

We’ve expressed our love for The New English and their incredible tectonic plates several times before, and we can’t stop singing their praises. The New English had a market stall and a fireplace mantel installation in the center of the Village, with our favourite ceramic pieces being the Silence of the Lambs inspired cup and saucer sets.

Mentsen
Puff & Flock
Charlie Sekers
POSTextiles
The New English

Camilla Barnard

ARTS THREAD and Designersblock teamed up once again to bring you some of the best and brightest emerging design talents, this time at Interiors UK, Birmingham. From our Call for Entries, we selected six unique creatives from the realms of illustration, ceramics, product design and textiles.

University of Brighton 3D Materials Practice BA (Hons) graduate Camilla Barnard was there, displaying her three dimensional illustrations. Using wood, Camilla recreates everyday objects such as telephones, pencils and screwdrivers, all to surprisingly life-like effect.

Camilla explains: ‘I made the objects to trick my classmates. When they were looking for tools I would trick them into picking up the wrong ones. It will annoy them at first but I think it also makes them really appreciate the real thing once they have it.’

Catherine Frere-Smith

Catherine Frere-Smith also joined us to showcase her beautiful prints for interiors and fashion design. The Chelsea College of Art & design graduate also showed her lovely Old Farmhouse collection of hand embroidered fabric birds.

Sarahjane Harrison/Holly Wilson

We were pleased to see so many visitors at the Designersblock Design Village were enjoying sitting on Sarahjane Harrison’s Urbanisation chairs. The Liverpool Hope University Design BSc graduate printed the upholstery with photographs of Liverpool which she took during her investigation into how Chinese culture has affected the city.

If you visited The Local pub in the Design Village then you would have spotted University of Worcester Illustration BA (Hons) graduate Holly Wilson’s brilliant owl illustrations. The incredible amount of detail which goes into Holly’s illustration really impressed us and visitors.

Karin Soderquist/Katy Jennings

Camberwell College of Arts graduate Karin Soderquist had several of her 3D illustrations dotted around the Village while Royal College of Art
Ceramics & Glass MA graduate Katy Jennings had a display full of her ornamental Knitwear Birds. The birds are purposefully chipped during production in order to give each one its own individual ‘personality’.

Camilla Barnard
Catherine Frere-Smith
Sarahjane Harrison
Holly Wilson
Karin Soderquist
Katy Jennings

Birmingham City University, Tender

Birmingham City University presented their interpretations of Global Color Research and Mix Publications trends for Autumn/Winter 2012-13 at Interiors UK 2012. The students from the University’s Institute of Art and Design interpreted two up-coming trends: Ember and Tender.

The Tender trend draws reference from late 18th and early 19th century design. Georgian shades of blue and grey are given a contemporary twist by being mixed with contrasting pinks and azure and a touch of glitter.

Birmingham City University, Ember

Ember contained an autumnal palette of oranges, browns and reds. The trend drew inspiration from natural and manmade objects, fruits and foliage, volcanoes, derelict buildings and fire damage.

Helen Stevens/Lianne Mellor/Camila Prada

British retail adviser and television presenter Mary Portas teamed up with House of Fraser to find Britain’s next top homeware designers. The top entrants were exhibited at Interiors UK where the designers were given the chance to pitch their ideas to Mary Portas’ business partner, Peter Cross. ARTS THREAD select some of the best designs on show.

Helen Stevens of Surface Philia presented her beautiful collection of printed ceramics and textiles which drew inspiration from Portas’ own designs. Lianne Mellor showed some cute tea party sets which featured delightful watercolour depictions of British wildlife enjoying typical British pastimes. We also really liked Camila Prada’s bone china tableware which came shaped like adorable little creatures.

Emma Cowlam/Tara Willis

Emma Cowlam’s wallpaper was wonderfully illustrated with continual line drawings of women rushing around urban environments. Tara Willis presented some humorous illustrated handkerchiefs as a replacement for traditional greeting cards.

Helen Stevens
Lianne Mellor
Camila Prada
Emma Cowlam

House of Hackney

During our stay at Designersblock’s Design Village at Interiors UK we decided to check-in to their unique Designer Bed & Breakfasts.

Created by Donna Wilson, House of Hackney, Morag Myerscough and Luke Morgan, these three unique interior spaces acted as sources of inspiration for interior designers, hoteliers or visitors thinking of sprucing up their own bedrooms.

House of Hackney covered the entire space with their luxury Dalston Rose collection. The floral collection draws inspiration from the quintessential English rose and traditional British home decor with a dark twist.

Donna Wilson

Donna Wilson brought the outdoors indoors with her Squirrel Tree Forest design. We especially loved her signature woolen creatures which inhabited the bed and bed-side cabinet and the playful foliage which covered the walls.

Morag Myerscough & Luke Morgan

Morag Myerscough and Luke Morgan collaborated with one another to produce their vision for a contemporary bed & breakfast. The bold, graphic wall coverings were very eye-catching and we liked the intermittent pops of bright colour and typography.

House of Hackney
Donna Wilson
Morag Myerscough

We’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who came down to visit us and our 10 exhibiting designers at Designersblock during the London Design Festival. The event was a great success! Just in case you missed it, we’ve created this short film which pieces together all the highlights from the week.

Read all our coverage of Designersblock.

Visit our 10 designers’ ARTS THREAD portfolios:
Chris Stoneman
Emma Lundgren
Hannah Coxeter
Malene Rasmussen
Nadine Spencer
Ornella Stocco
Rosie Thompson
Sarah Birnie
Satoru Kusakabe
Tim Pryde

Ruth Blackford

Kingston University’s MA graduates staged an exciting showcase of their work at Tent, London during the London Design Festival in September. The work on show was diverse and innovative, covering numerous disciplines including Architecture, Fashion, Illustration and Animation, Design Product & Space, Curating Contemporary Design, and Production Design for Film and Television. ARTS THREAD selects a few highlights.

Illustration MA graduate Ruth Blackford’s final project caught our eye. Inspired by the exploitation of workers in the garment industry, she states: “The reality of life in a garment factory is a far cry from the workers’ rights stipulated by law or the ethical commitments proclaimed by the big brands and retailers. My experience working as a textile designer for fashion has given me insight into this subject. Using my textile skills, I was keen to raise further public awareness of the conditions suffered by the workers and draw attention to the public’s demand for cheap clothes and the refusal to acknowledge unethical practices.”

Chenbin Wu

Chenbin Wu’s distinctive illustration work also drew us in. Inspired by traditional Chinese literature and symbols, Chenbin has blended Eastern and Western references together. Her intricate dragon images incorporate a range of materials such as Chinese symbols, fragments of maps and airmail envelopes. Other images featured funny, surreal fish/human hybrid creatures, depicted riding bicycles, running with umbrellas and firing crossbows. Other work included a 3D fantasy landscape in paper where pyramid mountains, burning trees and fairytale castles were set against a cosmic backdrop.

Chen Ying Gao

In the Design Products and Space area, Chen Ying Gao’s Rickshaw Shower project really impressed us. Tackling one of the problems encountered by the 3.6 million migrant workers in Beijing, this project offers a simple solution to the lack of bathing facilities that are available to the workers. Chen’s low-tech mobile shower can be easily connected to a standpipe. The idea is an admirable one; to improve the harsh lives of the migrant workers, by providing a cleansing, refreshing shower and ten minutes of welcome ‘self’ time.

Kingston University MA Fashion / Han Gu

The MA Fashion area of the exhibition was striking and offered a chance for visitors to get up close to some of the beautifully crafted work that had been showcased on the catwalk at the Freemasons Hall during London Fashion Week.

Han Gu’s final collection included a beautifully simple dress with an intricate, decorative collar and belt. Another favourite was Stephanie Jayne Price’s elegant collection in black. However, one of the most outstanding exhibits was Stephanie Nieuwenhuyse’s ‘Biomimicry’ project, which utilised discarded plywood. The designer had meticulously cut and pieced together pieces of wood to create a superb, sculptural, articulated bodice for a dress. Stephanie has also successfully applied her technique to shoes and belts. This clever, creative work merges fashion with craft to stunning effect.

Stephanie Nieuwenhuyse, ‘Biomimicry’

Kingston University MA Fashion on ARTS THREAD

Public Resonance, Samuel Weller

For London Design Festival Yamaha Design Studio teamed up with Design Products students from the RCA to produce Resonance. This exhibition showcases their joint developments in enabling ‘greater intimacy’ between the performer and their audience.

Resonance is a taster of ‘how musical instruments and live performance will look and feel in the future.’ On display throughout the store, this exhibition relied on interaction, giving a different and unique experience.

Public Resonance is a project by Samuel Weller, who has taken a very literal approach, to allow a performer to actually ‘resonate’ with their audience. Samuel has taken street furniture and exploited their various vibrations with a ‘portable percussive tool kit.’ The idea continues with architecture and public transport, allowing artists and audiences to collide wherever, whenever.

What inspired Samuel? The busking community and the fun spontaneity of street performers.

Human Speaker, Nic Wallenberg

The Human Speaker is another very literal interpretation by designer Nic Wallenberg. Nic’s device is a collar which when worn turns the person’s mouth into a speaker. Playing on the vibrations from your throat, you can control your music with your mouth and lips. With each collar producing two musical notes, when multiple people wear the collars, group interaction is encouraged to produce a more diverse composition.

Touch the Sound, Lingjing Yin

What if our body became the acoustic container of our memory? One of the many questions that inspired Lingjing Yin’s project, Touch the Sound, which ‘explores how the human body can be used as a mediator between sound touch and emotion.’ Lingjing’s development of stylish hardware and software allows the changes in a person’s electrical charge to be recognised, thus producing musical notes. Touch the Sound has even been taken a step further, now developed for the use of autistic people.

RCA Design Products

Samuel Weller
Nic Wallenberg
Lingjing Yin

Kinetic Frenetic, Lola Lely

A new Fendi store opening on Sloane Street celebrated London Design Festival by inviting RCA Design Products students to create a series of window and in-store displays, which pay tribute to British design.

The displays aimed to signify the innovative uses of Fendi craftsmanship, incorporating cast-off materials along the way. British designer Simon Hasan, who has previously worked with Fendi and is an RCA graduate himself, guided the project.

Kinetic Frenetic – Craft and the Futurist Machine is a fun, playful installation by Lola Lely. Inspired by the Italian art movement ‘Futurism,’ Lola wanted to produce a piece that ‘celebrates the art of craft, the motion of industry, progress and the future, whilst respectfully acknowledging the past.’ The window display is enjoyable to stop and watch, taking in the detail, as the Kinetic machine runs on cogs and pulleys, scrap metal and leather cut-offs.

Starting with a Blank Canvas, Meret Probst

Starting with a Blank Canvas is a vibrant, eye catching window display by designer Meret Probst. Inspired by the coloured leather of Fendi, the canvas starts out blank, then drips of coloured dye have been slowly released from hanging domes. These run down the canvas and onto a selection of bags, transforming its original beauty into a ‘decorative and ever-changing picture.’

The Anatomy of Fendi, Samuel Weller and Imme van der Haak

In store, a beautifully authentic display of Victorian glass bell jars by Samuel Weller and Imme van der Haak resides on the lower floor. The duo have taken the partially concealed and silhouetted element of Fendi’s designs and created The Anatomy of Fendi, an exciting voyeuristic peek at the construction and unseen detail that goes into the handbags. The designers have deconstructed the Fendi bag and displayed them as sculptural pieces; fitting so naturally amongst the shops displays and yet telling a story of their own, these bell jars are a favoured piece.

RCA Design Products
Fendi

Sophie Woodrow

Ceramic highlights at Origin this year ranged from uncanny realism to shameless fantasy.

ARTS THREAD was charmed by Sophie Woodrow and her collection of bizarre white porcelain creatures. Pulled directly from her imagination, Sophie created these magnificent sculptural pieces using the age-old technique of coiling and pinching. Inspired by the beauty and variety of animals, the surreal creations are intended to reflect on the separation between human culture and the natural world.

Penkridge Ceramics

Serving as a sharp contrast to Sophie’s surreal designs, Penkridge Ceramics presented some stunningly realistic ceramic and pewter fruit, vegetables and horse chestnuts. They were so convincing that we wondered what a grocer was doing exhibiting at a craft fair! On closer inspection we realised that, through attention to detail, highly skilled development and application of glazes, the designers at Penkridge had achieved the impossible and recreated natural objects so that they are pretty much indistinguishable from the real thing.

Charlotte Sale

Glass artist Charlotte Sale, of the BBC’s ‘Britain’s Next Big Thing’ fame, is one of only a few female glass blowers in the country. Her high quality, dynamic vessels are incredibly tactile and available in a range of vivid colours. Now selling at Liberty’s she has come a long way in a short time since graduating in 2009 from the Royal College of Art.

Lilly's Lightbox Company

Upcycling is a concept ARTS THREAD comes across more and more and at London Design Festival we found it applied in many varied ways to furniture. At Origin, we found Lilly’s Lightbox Company, run by Berliner Felicia Strehmel. Incorporating her passion for photography, Felicia uses individual drawers from reclaimed antique chests of drawers to create light boxes that feature her photographs. The result is a lovely retro, nostalgic aesthetic.

Visit the Origin website for more information on this year’s show. To discover more about these designers:

Sophie Woodrow
Penkridge Ceramics
Charlotte Sale Glass
Lilly’s Lightbox Company