These pieces are the perfect combination of two new trends: a desire for furniture with a narrative and a new enthusiasm for the exuberant colour palette offered by vintage textiles. I love this juxtaposition of very traditional furniture with really interesting fabrics It also encapsulates a trend for recycling - giving old, well-made pieces of furniture a new lease of life. You can find these at Lisa Whatmough's Squint boutique in east London and in Liberty's.
People will always need plates have launched these limited edition versions of thier trellick tower illustrated mugs in black and gold metalic lustre. There's also a set of three dinner plates featuring london lankmark buildings, aparently only 100 avaiable. Available at vessel
This caught my eye first at New designers and then at Tent during london design week. Sena gu is a recent graduate from the ceramics & glass department at the rca. Am liking the humor in this product as well as refined detail and finish on this lemon squeezer. you can see more at www.sena.gu.com
These beautiful pieces of Glass were presented by 100% Norway at 100% design exhibition in London. Each designer has taken the 100% Norway key theme of sustainability and interpreted it in a new way. One example is Cathrine Maske’s Blue Wing Butterfly vase which has been designed to draw attention to a national species that is close to extinction – immortalised as it is forever now within multiple layers of glass.
More info on 100% Norway... www.norway.org.uk
Last chance to visit the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2007 by Olafur Eliasson and Kjetil Thorsen ends 5 November 2007. If you haven't seen it already and your in town it's definately worth stopping by for a coffee to admire the timberclad structure which resembles a spinning top. There's a spiralling ramp which makes two complete turns, allowing visitors to ascend from the Gallery lawn to the highest point for views across Kensington Gardens as well as a bird’s eye view of the chamber below.
for more info on the sepentine... www.serpentinegallery.org
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Spotted the new Kenzo Home collection at Maison Object. It looked great, love the vibrant mix of scales patterns and textures! Check at Kenzo's web site at www.kenzo.com
More Steel bending... not a new concept but a quirky design nonetheless. Piegato by MRDO Products is a “sheet steel rack with a surprisingly high load capacity, laser cut and powder coated sheet steel” a simple design, allowing YOU to choose which you use as shelves and which as magnetic boards. www.mrdoproducts.com
Here's some lighting from Bon Marche in Paris. Particulalry liked these hand painted style shades. This store has a good variety of lighting from big brands to some smaller lesser known designers. It's always a destination store for me when I'm in Paris.
Le Bon Marche
24 Rue de Sevres
75 007 Paris.
Mater which translates as mother is another company I came across at Maison . Nice products and an even nicer stance on ethical trading and sustainability. This is what they say about themselves…
“founded in 2006, mater is a copenhagen-based company with a strong vision to create timeless and beautiful design based on an ethical business strategy. mater is committed to creating ethical, sustainable and socially responsible design in accordance with the principles of the un voluntary corporate responsibility initiative, the united nations global compact. mater is a global compact participant. we support united nations declaration of human rights, united nations global compact and the international labour organisation (ilo) fundamental principles and rights at work.” You can find our more on their website www.materdesign.com and you can also visit them on their stand at 100% Design.
Refer & Staer have updated thier ice chandelier in a new dark tint with this lovely cut glass for a extra bit of sparkle. They will be exhibiting at 100% design Sept 20th - 23rd. www.refer-staer.dk
Spotted these great little rotational moulding lamps with solar powered lights at Maison in the Design Now hall. By a company called Bloom from Holland check out www.bloempot.nu for more info.
Love this tray of candles from Pols Potten for this and other products check out www.polspotten.nl
www.konstantinslawinski.com
Loving this range of graphical recycling boxes which provides a stylish storage soloution for all that unsightly cardboard and plastic packaging before being taken away for recycling. Designed by One Foot Taller and K2 Products. The boxes are water resistant boxes and can fit neatly into standard car boots and kitchen cupboards, and are collapsible when not in use. 
A definate purchase for me is this Laundry Bin made of recycled rubber tyres. Available from Graham & Greene, London or from vincon.com
More stylish watches...LED-heavy and close to undecipherable watches from, seahope
The decorative bowl from Eva Denmark A/S has won the Formland Design Award – Autumn 2007. Eva Solo Smiley is designed by Claus Jensen and Henrik Holbæk the two designers behind the recognised Danish design firm Tools. The bowl has deliberately been designed so that it produces a smile, and it is made of several layers of clear, coloured glass. via designscout.dk
Jason Miller's ceramic shipping container tiles. www.millerstudio.usVia design*sponge
The one thing that prevents some of us from sporting watches is that they look so, well, watch-y. Philippe Starck's Veiled watch for Fossil appears to be a simple bracelet to the unassuming eye, but the wearer won't ever lose track of time due to the electroplated crystal face that camouflages itself into the band. spotted on mocoloco
Take a look at this... Stunning David Adjaye prefabricated timber framed building constructed for London based Photographer Ed Reeve. The 150 sq. meter home using contractor Eurban’s solid spruce timber structure was largely constructed in a swift five days. Eurban claims that each cubic meter of timber saves almost a tonne of carbon dioxide emissions compared with a brick or block structure. Ed's photographic diary details the constructional phases of the build. www.edsshed.co.uk/
image by Ed Reeve.
'When Objects Work' is the vision of its director Béatrice de Lafontaine. The Belgian company produces and distributes exclusive objects designed by leading designers and architects whose work shares a preoccupation with simple forms, immaculate function and a timeless idiom.
William Morris famously observed that you should ‘have nothing in your house which you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful’. From its first collection shown at the Milan Furniture Fair in 2001, when objects work has pursued the principle that everyday objects may both useful and beautiful, commissioning designers to explore the theme of decorative art as superlative domestic equipment in the fullest and most challenging ways possible and developing innovative manufacturing solutions where necessary. Most of the pieces are still made by hand. www.whenobjectswork.be
I was delighted to be a member of the judging panel for the BDC New Designer of the Year 2007. As a regular attendee of the show I was well aware that the standard just gets better year on year. It was a daunting task particularly because the prize holds not only financial gain and also business support and guidance to launch this designer’s career.
On Wednesday after painstaking deliberation we finally managed to decide almost unanimously on our Business Design Centre New Designer of the Year and Runner up. After a well deserved cocktail in the evening we watched Boris Johnston MP officially open the show with a hilarious off the cuff speech. Congratulations to all the designers for an excellent show and special to well done and 'hat's off' to the departments at the University of Westminster who in spite of a devastating fire the weekend before, managed to pull out all the stops to present at New Designers!
www.newdesigners.com
Congratulations Nutre Arayavanish from the RCA!
BDC New Designer of the year.
Congratulations also to Claire McLachlan
Knitted Textile Designer who was Runner up.
One year on. Curated by Thorsten Van Elten
Matt J Smith / Ikuko Iwamoto / Andrew English
Jewellery & Precious Metal Work
Sarah Essex / Sarah Denny / Karen Simpson
Ceramics & Glass
Steph Smith / Thomas Allen / Mizuyo Yamashita
Rebecca Harvey / Emmy-Gai Palmer / Rachel Loo
Contemporary Applied Arts
Sarah Brown / Andrew Oliver / Gemma Bourne
Fashion Textiles & Accessories
Moira Douglas / Gee - Young, Uhm /
Here's a sneak preview of some of Habitat's new products. These items are part of the AW 07/08 'Every Product Tells a Story' range. This collection will be availble in stores at the end of August.
Check this out ...Diesel's S/S 08 Catwalk Show, staged at the Pitti Immagine Uomo fair in Florence. Representing a journey through time and liquid space to a futuristic work of bioluminescence. These animated holograms were entirely viewable from both sides of the stage as human models strutted up and down the runway. A perfect blend of cutting edge digital art and performance.
More info and visuals: here.
