I am writing this with a heavy heart, because this is to be the very last confessions of a design geek post. I have been writing this blog for seven years and in that time I have gone from being someone who is passionate about design, to someone who blogs about…
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What’s your favourite colour?
What’s your favourite colour? It’s a question we’ve asked everyone we’ve interviewed since Design Geek was founded almost seven years ago. Answers have varied from People Will Always Need Plates co-founder Hannah Dipper’s “Rocker Yellow – the dirty yellow of an Eames Rocker, roughly 610C” (yes, that’s a Pantone reference!)…
Features
Andrea Mestre’s Totem speeds up your morning routine
Do you lose precious minutes every morning looking for your keys? Have a daily 7.30am panic about where your train ticket is? Andrea Mestre has created Totem, an organising system that keeps essentials at hand to save time and reduce stress in the mornings. Standing approximately 180 centimetres high, the spine has a…
news
Charlotte Abrahams selects 40 designers for ‘Spotted’
The 40 new design brands were selected for the originality and quality, but also the commercial viability of their products – the latter being very much part of exhibiting successfully at a trade show. “Spotted just goes from strength to strength and this edition promises to be the most exciting…
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Arts Council awards £80,000 funding to Design Nation
The development work will start immediately and will enable Design-Nation to undertake significant sector research, to create new opportunities for its members, and to launch at least two new showcases of contemporary craft and design. “We are delighted that through this grant the Arts Council is recognising our efforts in…
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LaSelva Studio’s adjustable lamp rotates 360 degrees
The Faro lamp, produced by Bolia, comprises a cylindrical black marble base on top of which a half spherical spun metal shade containing the light fixture sits, held in place only by a magnet. A small ring made of rubber inside the top of the base prevents the shade from slipping…
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Vicky Thornton’s ‘funny shaped jugs’ raise money for Maggie’s
The potter has previous form – in 2012, in the aftermath of treatment for her own breast-cancer she embarked on the C-cup project (referencing both the bra-size and the ‘c-word’ – cancer), hand-throwing 36 cups in three difference shapes and colours. “The different designs reflected the varying size and shape…
look like love
Andrew Cunningham’s homewares are made from timber off-cuts
Rejecting mass production methods, Norfolk based designer-maker Andrew Cunningham has designed a collection of home accessories created entirely from reclaimed and sustainably managed English and tropical hardwood offcuts that larger companies can’t use. “Function is a major feature of my designs as well as a clean uncluttered aesthetic,” Andrew tells Design Geek, “I…
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Daniel Schofield uses silver to purify water
The Pioneer Carafe and Glass set by award-winning designer Daniel Schofield is handmade from borosilicate glass, more commonly used in laboratories. The addition of a silver-plated hammered copper cuff to the rim of the carafe, acting as a spout, and a loose piece of the material shaped like two interlocking…
Architecture
Maggie’s Centre wins top Wood Award
Judges voted unanimously to award the top prize to the Maggie’s Centre at the Robert Parfett Building at the Christie Hospital in Manchester, commenting that the structure “brought together the best in engineering, fabrication and architecture.” The single-storey building is constructed from a natural timber frame arranged around a central…
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Emma Johnson designs Brutalist-inspired ceramics
Emma Johnson’s latest collection, entitled Atro City, takes inspiration from the often heavy and asymmetric forms of Brutalist architecture. She has re-imagined the aesthetic with a fresh and modern approach, creating a series of simple ceramic forms. The collection comprises a tea pot, cup and saucer, sugar bowl and milk jug…
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Morag Myerscough x Luke Morgan installation celebrates diversity
The eight-metre high pavilion, entitled Arrival Zone, comprises a scaffolding structure supporting a mixture of hand-painted, brightly-coloured and neon plywood shapes, symbols, patterns, ribbons and wind-powered mobiles, all in the duo’s distinctive style. Inside the installation glows as natural sunlight passes through the thousands of metres of neon wrapped ribbon,…
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Pebble-shaped CalmingStone is designed to combat anxiety
The device comprises a handheld device shaped like a large pebble which uses biofeedback to help people manage anxiety – through a copper ring that measures the user’s heart-rate, an internal light source that creates a pulsing glow that allows the user to “tune into their body”, and a set…
Features
Ann Kristin Einarsen’s planters are inspired by salt and pepper pots
Ceramics designer Ann Kristin Einarsen has based her latest collection, Rolla, a series of functional planters, on the Plus Salt and Pepper Grinders designed by Oslo-based design trio Norway Says for Muuto. The two-tone planters’ rounded forms comprise two elements, a base to hold water, and a pot to hold the…
creative spaces
Fuglen combines coffee, cocktails and vintage furniture
Fuglen is the brain child of Norwegians Einar Kleppe Holthe, Peppe Trulsen and Halvor Digernes and combines coffee, cocktails and vintage furniture in a winning combination. It was Einar’s passion for coffee and a lucky coincidence that sparked a chain of events that led to Fuglen’s current incarnation. The award-winning…
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Blackburn to host the UK’s first National Festival of Making
Developed by a new ‘Festival of Making’ community interest company – a collaboration between Lancashire-born designer, Wayne Hemingway, festival producers, Deco Publique, and creative place-making social enterprise, Placeshakers – the festival aims to celebrate and recognise the craft and ingenuity of a region where 25{ff546b69e23b1524d799f96c6ba7a638e1f677053b0a2a1568b05315fd5f8fc7} of the population still works…
Features
Heather Scott’s wall-mounted plant stand elevates the humble houseplant
Designer-maker Heather Scott has created a wall-mounted plinth to display plants, working with Falmouth based plant studio and shop Toro. The brief was to change the way that house plants are presented, moving them from floor or tabletop to eye level by somehow affixing them to the wall. “My inspiration for the Toro…