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Capital Gains
There’s no shortage of design highlights in London this month, as the city once again looks to reassert its strong credentials as a global design hu
This feature appears in the September 09 issue of Designer. To see the feature as it appeared in the magazine click the BACK ISSUES button and read the online edition of Designer.
The London Design Festival rolls into action again this month, attracting some of the cream of the design world. At the commercial core of all the activity is 100% Design which, whilst on a smaller scale than in previous years, will doubtless remain an impressive showcase of some of the key design-led products and their manufacturers.
Competitions abound at this year's show. Roca will once again be presenting its Jump the Gap competition in which a shortlist of 11 innovative bathroom product designers vie for the top prize.
As well as presenting its headline-grabbing Zaha Hadid tap collection, Triflow Concepts will also be announcing the winners of its own Future Talents competition for which judges including David Collins and Hadid will determine which of the entries is the most pioneering new kitchen or bathroom tap or accessory.
Finally, appliance manufacturer Electrolux brings its annual Design Lab competition to London this year, with the winner being announced during the show.
Former Design Awards Kitchen Designer of the Year Robert Timmons Furniture (RTF) will be exhibiting at Earls Court this year and will presenting a stunning new kitchen for the first time. With the desire to create something visually stunning, different and yet still practical, RTF has broken away from the traditional square edges seen on many kitchens. Introducing a 45mm radius detail to its latest kitchen collection, it has blended the sides and tops into one continuous flowing surface.
David Keech, an ex-associate of Norman Foster who worked as Yamaha's first non-Japanese designer in Hamamatsu before returning to the UK to found Keechdesign, was commissioned to drive the project forward.
Capitalising on his experience of nurturing new concepts and enforcing design integrity, Keech, together with RTF, selected a combination of Corian and stainless steel for the exterior curved cladding of the furniture. With a rubberised coating on the cabinet frontage they have created a durable, yet tactile element to the R45 Kitchen.
“Modern kitchens all seem to look so similar,” says Timmons. “So we were keen to try something new which could create us a new identity.”
Among the more unusual aspects of 100% Design this year are the Brompton Bike Tours. JAM, the show's creative director, has teamed up with Brompton Bicycles to take the design savvy on a two-hour tour of installations in the Brompton Quarter and the V&A.
Bike enthusiasts who are also some of London's leading architects and designers will lead the Brompton Bike tours. Complete with a ‘how to fold your bike' lesson and safety guidelines at the offset, the two-hour tour will return visitors to the 100% Design entrance at Earls Court Two.
Each tour will accommodate 15 people and there will be four tours each day between 24-27 September inclusive (places can be booked in advance by emailing anna@jamdesign.co.uk)
Away from the Brompton district, in Trafalgar Square, there will be something special for big chess fans – and we mean that in the quite literal sense. The Tournament, an installation created by Spanish designer, Jaime Hayón will consist of a gigantic chess set, with 2m high ceramic chess pieces designed by Hayón on a specially created mosaic glass chess board. The installation, which will be set between the two fountains in Trafalgar Square, will be in situ from Saturday 19 – Wednesday 23 September.
Each of the 32 chess pieces will be handcrafted by Hayón, working with Bosa, the Italian ceramics experts in Veneto, Italy. Many of the chess pieces will reference specific iconic buildings in London and their domes, towers and spires. Elements of the city of London and its history will be encoded on the pieces using Hayón's very personal style. Each chess piece will be unique and hand-painted by Hayón himself.
The chess pieces will be supported by a wooden base on castors so that they can be moved around easily, and there will be a metal frame within the ceramic form to provide stability. The chess board will be made of mosaic glass tiles created by Italian tiling specialists, Bisazza. Rising above the giant tiled chessboard will be elevated platforms where players will sit in large, high-backed chairs directing their pieces around the board. Members of the public are being invited to apply to take part in the chess games itself or to simply come to the Square to watch the spectacle.
Down at the Southbank Centre, Size + Matter will feature intriguing structures by designers Marc Newson and Shigeru Ban which will be in place throughout the Festival and until 18 October.
Back in the centre of things, ‘Wasted' is a project conceived and curated by Arts Co, presented in the tunnel connecting the London Underground to The V&A (where the London Design Festival hub will be based), which sees architect Ian Douglas-Jones and designer Ben Rousseau create a vast architectural seating collection using reclaimed materials.
‘Wasted‘ will attempt to highlight a UK environmental problem – the tons of traditionally un-recycled waste that end up in landfill. The climax of the project will be to show how reclaimed materials can be used to create aspirational products. This project for the London Design Festival forms the launch of E&K Arts, a range of everyday, beautiful products created in collaboration with artists from waste ( www.arts-co.com)
Meanwhile, out East near trendy Brick Lane, is Tent London. This show traditionally showcases some of the more leftfield aspects of design and features some stunning new ideas and previously unknown designers. Located in the old Truman Brewery, the show is once again made up of several component shows, including Talent Zone (up-and-coming designers), Content (a mix of different design genres and styles) and Circa (featuring examples of iconic designs).
Wherever you choose to go during the London Design Festival, you can be assured of a decent helping of creative inspiration for your time and trouble.
London Design Festival
www.londondesignfestival.com
