Colleen Ellington/ Lucy Alice Porter/ Sophie Adamson

Interiors UK 2012 showcased the work of this year’s New Design Britain Awards finalists with the winners in each design category being announced on the 23rd of January. Each winner in the four categories (furniture, furnishing accessories, surfaces and fabrics) were awarded a placement within the industry.

Although Colleen Ellington and Lucy Alice Porter didn’t take home first prize in their categories, we were really impressed with their work. Colleen, who graduated from Cleveland College of Art and Design, created some vibrant, luxe surface designs for interiors covered with decorated with animal and figurative motifs. Lucy Alice Porter’s series of owl and squirrel shaped wall decorations were also really eye-catching.

Heriot-Watt University – School of Textiles and Design graduate Sophie Adamson scooped up the top prize in the fabrics category for her Pouffe design. Drawing inspiration from bird feathers, Sophie created a wonderfully thick yarn which incorporated both hand and machine knitting techniques.

Rachel Hagger

Taking home first prize in the Surfaces category was Rachel Hagger who designed hand-printed wallpaper covered with an architectural motif. Drawing inspiration from Cavern Home interiors and Trove wallpapers, Rachel layers the different images to great a busy, bustling cityscape.

James Uren/ Roland Beaven

James Uren was lucky enough to take home both the people’s choice award and the award for best furniture design. James’ Luso Lounger is a modern reinterpretation of the classic Chaise Longue while his Dorso Stool is an investigation into different ways of joining wooden components together using a second material. Roland Beaven was awarded the prize in the furnishing accessories category for his Peaucellier Lamp.

Send to Print/Print to Send/ Riccardo Bovo, Flock Lampshade/ Chaur Har Lee, Rapidform Shoe

Send to Print/ Print to Send at The Aram Gallery gives visitors a glimpse into how 3D printing is revolutionising contemporary design.

Whether it be for furniture, architectural prototypes or even for accessories, designers are adapting their design processes to accommodate this new technological innovation.

‘Flock Lampshade is the result of a Design Fabrication MicroSystem,’ explains Riccardo Bovo who has created a system in which users can customise a design for an open source printer to produce.

‘The design is constantly redefined in shape by the user with the system and at any moment is ready for production. The time between design phase and production phase therefore drops to zero.’

Chaur Har Lee’s collection of conceptual footwear was one of our favourites in the exhibition. The award winning designer, who has been designing and making shoes for over a decade explains: ‘I often employ a crossover of making and manufacturing processes from fields other than shoemaking in order to realise my concepts. This gives me much scope for creativity in the design stage.’

Sam Jacob, Versioned Chairs

Sam Jacob’s Versioned Chairs explore ‘five canonical chairs through acts of translation’. Sam begins with a photograph of the original chair which he then describes to a group of people who mus then draw what they imagine the chair to look like. Each sketch is then digitally modelled and turned into a 3D form.

Sam says of his project: ‘Versioned Chairs exploits the limitations of different media, it moves from photograph to text to sketch and back to 3D, their misreadings and mistranslations often entirely unrecognisable from their original course.’

Chloë McCormick and Nicholas O'Donnell-Hoare, Tapestry Spectacle/ Michael Eden, Large Yellow Oval Bloom

Chloë McCormick and Nicholas O’Donnell-Hoare combine traditional tapestry weaving techniques with 3D printing to produce customisable glasses. The frames are printed with small holes which the owner can then thread wool through to produce their own design.

Large Yellow Oval Bloom by Michael Eden is a contemporary re-imagining of a classic Wedgewood tureen. By employing new 3D printing technology, Michael can manipulate the surface in a way which would not be possible using traditional methods. The garish yellow finish gives the piece a radioactive glow.

Send to Print/ Print to Send is on until 25 February 2012 at The Aram Gallery, 110 Drury Lane, Covent Garden, London WC2B 5SG

Rosemary Anrude/ Daniel Schofield/ Stuart Melrose

Following our successful collaboration at the Farmiloe Building during the London Design Festival, ARTS THREAD are once again teaming up with Designersblock to bring you the best emerging graduate and student design work. This time we’re heading up north to Birmingham where we will be taking part in the UK’s interiors trade exhibition Interiors UK – and we’d like you to join us! Visit our Designersblock competition page for further details on how you could be exhibiting your work in front of Britain’s top retailers and buyers.

In the meantime, we preview a selction of talents on show with Designersblock in January in Birmingham.

For this year’s Interiors UK, Designersblock are curating a village complete with local bar (co-hosted by our own Alex Brownless), market stalls and shops where visitors can become fully immersed in the latest furniture, lighting, accessory and lighting designs from the country’s top creatives.

Whilst wandering around the village, visitors will uncover the work of furniture designers such as Sheffield Hallam University graduate Daniel Schofield who will be presenting his ‘Out Kid’ and ‘Slide and Hide’ designs, Kingston University graduate Rosemary Anrude and Exeter School of Arts Stuart Melrose who will be showcasing his new furniture created in collaboration with Corian and Puff & Flock.

POSTextiles/ Patrick Stevenson-Keating

Amongst the textile designers on show, visitors should keep an eye out for the work of the twelve St Martins graduates who have formed the experimental textile collective POSTextiles. Patrick Stevenson-Keating, winner of the Designersblock award for outstanding creative thought at New Designers 2011, will also be in attendance presenting ‘The Quantum Parallelograph’ and his ‘Home Particle Accelorator’ alongside some new work.

House of Hackney/ Donna Wilson

In addition, Designersblock have also commissioned three leading contemporary designers to create their own interpretation of the classic British Bed & Breakfast. We can’t wait to see the incredible interior spaces which House Of Hackney, Donna Wilson and Studio Myerscough will come up with!

Interiors UK runs from 22 – 25 January 2012 at the NEC, Birmingham.
For opening times and further details visit the Interiors UK website.
To apply for our Designersblock competition, visit our ARTS THREAD Opportunities page.

Fabien Cappello, 'Christmas Tree Project'/ Nina Tolstrup, 'Paletable'/ Stuart Haygarth, 'Tail Light'

Five of Europe’s leading designers come together for Grandmateria II at the Gallery Libby Sellers, London. Inspired by the mythological tale of the Philosopher’s stone, the five designers have set out to ‘turn lead into gold’ by taking simple, ordinary materials and transforming them into extraordinary design items.

Furniture designer and Royal College of Art, London graduate Fabien Capello took advantage of the 1.8 million Christmas trees which are thrown out into the streets in January to source the materials for his collection of modest stools.

Nina Tolstrup, owner of London-based design company Studiomama is showing her series of home furnishings created from reprocessed wood sourced from discarded pallets and lighting designer Stuart Haygarth is displaying his Achille Castiglioni inspired light which is made from vehicle tail lights!

Nicolas le Moigne, 'Slip Lamp'/ Simon Hasan, 'Geno Chair and Stool'

Swiss designer Nicolas Le Moigne has previously displayed his work with Libby Sellers in 2008 and this year is showing his fibrocement ‘Slip Lamp’. The fifth designer taking part in Grandmateria II, Simon Hasan, is showing pieces from his ‘Geno’ collection of furniture made from boiled leather.

Grandmateria II runs until the 7th of December 2011 at Gallery Libby Sellers, 41-42 Berners Street, London, W1T 3NB

Libbery Sellers website.

Oskar Peet & Sophie Mensen ,'Syzygy'

Why are things the way they are? This is the question which the twelve participating creatives tackled when producing their new work for ‘Objects Rescoped’ at the Galerie van de Water during this year’s Dutch Design Week. The meanings behind ordinary objects were challenged by the designers, making us re-think and re-appreciate things around us.

Exhibition goers were invited to walk around the space and observe the work through conical ‘viewers’, directing your gaze towards specific details.

‘Syzsygy’ by Oskar Peet and Sophie Mensen is a continuous light source which draws inspiration from the moon, sun and planets of our solar system. The light features three disks, two of which can be turned to produce solar eclipse effects.

Monique Habraken, 'Tapestry from a collection of feathers from one male duck'/Eefiene Bolhuis, 'Barley'

Monique Habraken’s tapestry made entirely from duck feathers was one of the highlights of the show. The rich colours and textures from the feathers, which Monique sourced from a slaughterhouse, are absolutely stunning. Nearby, Eefiene Bolhuis’ ‘Barley’ swayed carelessly in the breeze provided by a small fan. The beautiful moving jewellery looked surprisingly realistic.

Florian de Visser, 'Animatorium' / Eva Gevaert, 'Babushka'

Florian de Visser showcased ‘Animatorium’, a low-tech Florian developed to make scale models and videos which were combined together to create a surreal visual experience. We really liked Eva Gevaert’s wooden ‘Babushka’ vessels. Each vessel is made from several completely different parts which fit perfectly together even though they look as if they wont fit.

Dutch Design Week 2011 website.

Oskar Peet
Sophie Mensen
Monique Habraken
Eefiene Bolhuis
Florian de Visser
Eva Gavaert

Photography by Ruud Peijenburg

Gionata Gatto & Mike Thompson, 'Trap Light'

Transnatural, Amsterdam present ‘Things That Mind Their Own Business’, a 4 month long event featuring exhibitions, workshops and inspiration days. The event aims to explore technical, philosophical and cultural questions such as ‘How can independent machines maintain a mutually beneficial relation with their environment?’ and ‘Could these machines harvest enough energy in their surroundings to also do work for us?’

Exhibiting at the ‘Things That Mind Their Own Business’ show are Gionata Gatto, designer and founder of Studio Atùppertù and Mike Thompson who are showcasing the exciting result of their collaborative efforts: the ‘Trap Light’. The innovative lamp employs photoluminescent pigments which capture escaping light, converting wasted energy back into visible light. The lights were created through traditional Murano glass blowing techniques and can be charged by any LED light bulbs.

Philippe Morel, 'Computational Chair'/ Lex Pott & David Derksen, 'Transcience Mirror'/ Tim van Cromvoirt, 'Thermophores'

Amongst the other exhibiting designers is EZCT Architecture & Design Research, Paris founder Philippe Morel with his ‘Computational Chair’. The pixel-form chair is made of laminated wood and created using computer algorithms which actively generate thousands of potential shapes which Philippe then selects to produce in a limited number.

Other designers to look out for are Lex Pott & David Derksen with their ‘Transcience Mirror’ and Tim van Cromvoirt with his ‘Thermophores’ project.

Workshops including how to create your own energy harvesting prototypes and simple genetic algorithms are also scheduled to take place during the event.

‘Things That Mind Their Own Business’ runs from 21st October – 10th February 2012 at Transnatural, Lijnbaansgracht 148a begane grond Amsterdam.

Further details can be found on the Transnatural website.

Design Event; Catherine Pickering, Design Event MART

Design Event MART is the festival’s flagship exhibition and takes place at the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead. Twenty two designers have been selected this year and for the first time, the scope of the festival extends to designers from the whole of the north of England.

ARTS THREAD picked up on the work of Catherine Pickering, ceramics graduate from Sunderland University, as well as Hannah Wales, whose mug sleeves we came across at New Designers this summer, as a graduating student in Furniture and Product Design at Northumbria University. Look out also for design studios such as Deadgood, Lazarian Design and REthinkthings.

Hannah Wales; Reluctant Hero

Design Event Presents: Neil Conley; David Irwin; Claire Baker

RCA First Hand: Happiness bench & table, Fabien Cappello; Box light, Alon Meron

Designers Marketplace; Cut it Out, Noma Bar

Visit the Design Event site for full listings of the festival running October 14-18 2011.

Catherine Pickering: catherinepickering@hotmail.co.uk
Hannah Wales
Reluctant Hero
Claire Baker
David Irwin
First Hand, Royal College of Art
Designers Marketplace

Dima Loginoff, "Curl My Light"/ Art. Lebesev Studio, "Vespertilium"

Contemporary design blog Designeast.eu present a selection of 24 modern design pieces from the realms of product, accessories, lighting and furniture created in the former Eastern Bloc.

Held at the Code-Decode showroom, the exhibition is a physical expansion of the blog’s online activities which aims to shine a light on the somewhat under-appreciated design scene in Central and Eastern Europe.

Amongst the lighting designs on display, our favourite was Dima Loginoff’s ‘Curl My Light’ lamp. The award-winning table lamp is created from powdercoated steel and has a deceptively intricate aesthetic which is no doubt inspired by Dima’s previous profession as a hair stylist.

We were desperate to get our hands on Art. Lebesev Studio ingenious ‘Vespertilium’ clothes pegs. The bat-winged designs, which come in a suitably Halloween themed colour palette, add a much needed touch of humour to the boring task of hanging out the washing. Anyone for some midnight laundry?

Psyho, "Unpackman"/ Tobyšlo, "Káča"

Drawing inspiration from toys and gaming were Ukraine design duo Psyho and Czech designers Tobyšlo. Psyho referenced the iconic Pacman computer game to produce their humorous ‘Unpackman’ bottle opener while Tobyšlo gave the age-old spinning top a luxurious make-over to transform it into a must have design object.

Peter Jakubik, "Panton DIY"/ Oskar Zieta, "Plopp"

Slovakian furniture designer Peter Jakubik presented his ‘Panton DIY’ which incites users to create their own ‘original fake’ Verner Panton chair design using a tree and a chainsaw. In sharp contrast to Peter Jakubik’s design, Oskar Zieta exhibited his ‘Plopp’ stool designs. These strange looking pieces of furniture are produced by blowing air between two layers of welded sheet metal.

Designeast.eu Offline runs from 1st October – 15th October 2011 at Code-Decode Showroom, Nagymező utca 9, Budapest.

Learn more about the participating designers at the Designeast Offline Website.

Budapest Design Week Website.

Vík Prjónsdóttir, "Sealpelt Dress" and "Bearcap Hat"

Budapest Design Week is in full swing! To mark the beginning of the Hungarian Capital’s 8th annual creative festival, 85 designers from 29 European countries are exhibiting examples of their work at Couleur Locale in the city’s Design Terminal.

The exhibition aims to examine the strength of colloquial design aesthetics in an age where globalisation is homogenising cultures. Local design values, folklore, traditional techniques and national sentimentalities shine through in the objects selected for the show which ranging from textiles to furniture, lighting and electronics.

Icelandic design team Vík Prjónsdóttir contributed to the show with a playful and multi-purpose knitted seal pelt and bearded cap. The innovative seal pelt acts as both a blanket and dressing gown and is made entirely from locally sourced materials.

Atelier Oï, "Allegro Ritmico", Sylvia Jokelova , "Burda is Dead"/ Sylvain Willenz, "Lock Hanger"

Swiss design workshop Atelier Oï presented the ‘Allegro Ritmico’ lamp which highlights the creative differences between the French and German-speaking parts of Switzerland while Slovakian designer Sylvia Jokelova showed her ‘Burda is Dead’ lamp. Sylvia’s work often touches on gender stereotypes and with this semi-finished design she aims to exploit the creative side of the lamp’s owner, much in the same way as women’s handicraft magazines do.

Belgium’s Sylvain Willenz (winner of Designer Of The Year 2009) showed his unique ‘Lock Hanger’ design which is constructed from three wooden sticks connected by a bakelite plastic ball.

CO&CO, "Cocodice"/ Ivanka Beton, "Flaster"

To represent Hungary, curators selected works by CO&CO and Ivanka Beton. CO&CO presented their Red Dot winning ‘Cocodice’, a new-generation dice. The dice is marked on the corners, rather than on the faces, meaning it can be used by the visually impaired. We weren’t too sure how the dice worked but as a design piece we loved its minimal aesthetic.

Ivanka Beton drew inspiration from the interiors of the grand villas and palaces of Budapest to create her ‘Flaster’ floor and wall tiles. Ivanka combines the harsh, industrial material concrete with floral and ornamental motifs in an array of bright colours.

KK Outlet, "A Very Modern Royal Wedding"

You can’t escape the Royal Wedding! Even all these months later and in Hungary! Amongst the designers representing the UK were London-based communications agency KK Outlet with their tongue-in-cheek commemorative china plates created for the Facebook generation.

Bram Boo furniture/ Velichko Velikov, "Lastika Chair"

Sylvain wasn’t the only Belgian whose work we admired – we were also drawn to the furniture designs of Bram Boo. Inspired by surrealist art and postmodernism, these desks and chairs for children are very experimental yet they retain their functionality.

After an hour and half of wondering around the exhibition, we found Velichko Velikov’s “Lastika Chair’ design to be highly appealing! The Bulgarian designer references the colour motifs typically used in traditional Bulgarian ‘Chergas’ (hand-woven carpets) and is made from 40 elastic ribbons stretched across a lightweight frame.

Couleur Local runs from 30th September – 30th October at Design Terminal, 1051 Budapest, Erzsébet square 13.

For further details visit the Budapest Design Week Website.

Freshly Baked, Vera Wiedermann; ecoLUCY, Vienna University of Technology

Head over to the Frühbauer bakery for conceptual designer Vera Wiedermann’s installation entitled Freshly Baked, created especially for the design week. Focusing on bread, in both a practical and a poetic way, the simplicity of bread contrasts with the reality of mass-production. Power-transmiting nutrients, such as corn, starch, sugar, and even proteins may be consumed in a laboratory of food. At the same time entertaining machines and unfamiliar noises can be heard… Look out above – as a flour-storm descends…

During the summer twelve students studying Spatial and Sustainable Design at the Vienna University of Technology were given a project around the theme of sustainability to design lighting objects from only one material – they chose paper. Entitled EcoLUCY, the exhibits will sit alongside cardboard furniture designed by Günter Pichler from the Werkstatt Raum.

Tomás Alonso & Wiener Silber Manufactur; Philippe Malouin & J. & L. Lobmeyr

The Viennese company J. & L. Lobmeyr has been making glass for over 200 years. The Canadian designer Philippe Malouin takes a new look at the Lobmeyr production method, characterised by pieces that take a long time to make and are made in limited editions. Quartz powder slowly sifts out of a revolving and simultaneously rotating sack, visualising the time taken. Spirograph-type patterns form, becoming ever more complex, to eventually pile up as dunes.

Tomas Kral & Mühlbauer Hutmanufaktur; Patrycja Domanska & Tostmann Trachten

Equally on the same initiative is Tostmann Trachten, well-known for its high-quality traditional Austrian dress. Inspired by the “slow dress” of its bespoke tailoring workshop, the Vienna-based designer Patrycja Domanska has built her own printing tool to create an entirely new generation of traditional fabrics.

Uli Budde & A.E.Köchert

Hermann Trebsche & Ballons & Ballons; Konstantin Schmölzer, Verdarium

Lastly on the Passionswege is the collaboration between two Italian designers LucidiPevere and WOKA, who produce 19th and 20th century lighting; the company is best known for its lamps from Art Nouveau and the Wiener Werkstätte eras. Focusing on brass, highly valued as a metal alloy in making lamps, as well as its similarity to gold, LucidiPevere has created an installation in honour of the golden yellow material and its potential.

Image credits: Ecolucy © Manfred Pichler, Patrycja Domanska & Tostmann Trachten © Rüdiger Andorfer

Vienna Design Week runs September 30 to October 09 2011.

Freshly Baked, Vera Wiedermann, Bäckerei Frühbauer, Darwingasse 23, 1020 Wien, October 01-10 2011

ecoLUCY – Paper lighting objects, Vienna University of Technology, Zumtobel Lichtforum Wien, Jasomirgottstraße 3-5, 1010 Wien, September 30 – October 21 2011

Tomás Alonso at the Wiener Silber Manufactur, Spiegelgasse 14, 1010 Wien, September 30 – October 08 2011

Philippe Malouin at J. & L. Lobmeyr, Kärntnerstraße 26, 1010 Wien

Tomas Kral at the Mühlbauer Hutmanufaktur, Seilergasse 10, 1010 Wien, September 30 – October 08 2011

Patrycja Domanska at Tostmann Trachten, Schottengasse 3A, 1010 Wien, September 30 – October 08 2011

Uli Budde at A.E. Köchert Juweliere, Neuer Markt 15, 1010 Wien, September 30 – October 08 2011

Hermann Trebsche at Ballons & Ballons, Ballons & Ballons, Taborstraße 98, 1020 Wien, September 30 – October 07 2011

Konstantin Schmölzer at Verdarium, Praterstraße 1, 1020 Wien, September 30 – October 08 2011

LucidiPevere at WOKA Lamps Vienna, Singerstraße 16 und Weihburggasse 10-12, 1010 Wien, September 30 – October 08 2011