Design Milk, September 2013

An in-depth look at the making of Joanna Ham’s newest venture into the art world – a series of complex screen prints entitled Woman…
JOANNA HAM

Joanna Ham is a really exciting new artist who burst onto the scene with the launch of her Woman series at Craft Central’s Imprint during the London Design Festival. Based in London, she is better known as the creative force behind homewares brand HAM, through which she creates bold black on white prints depicting farmyard animals taking part in uniquely human activities. Whilst beautifully created and meticulously executed, they perhaps bely the talent of this young artist, who has a BA(Hons) from The Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, Oxford University. If that’s the case, her newest work, released under her maiden name Joanna Ham, is about to set the record straight.

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Design Milk, September 2013

Another post as part of my Design Milk London Design Festival coverage – this time about an installation in the Royal Festival Hall as part of designersblock…
Gerald Lazerides

Gerald is a paper dog who was created in 2008 as part of a rebranding exercise carried out by British design studio Lazerian. Since then, it seems Gerald’s taken on a life of his own. Lazerian founder Liam Hopkins collaborated with fellow 3D designer Richard Sweeney to bring Gerald to life. The original Gerald was made from a flat paper pattern, which was hand cut, folded, and glued.

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Design Milk, September 2013

Bjorn Andersson launched at Tent London during the 2013 London Design Festival – I interviewed him for American design blog, Design Milk…
Bjorn Andersson

Bjorn Andersson spent 10 years working as an architect on projects that took him all over the world from New York to Shanghai. He has recently relocated to Berlin to open his own studio and focus on industrial and lighting design. The launch of his first product range Cutting Corners at Tent London marks the official launch of Bjorn Andersson Studio. He has already been named “Newcomer product of the month” by German architecture and design site BauNetz and now it’s our turn to get to know him…

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Design Milk, September 2013 (video)

I worked with 100% Design’s film crew to create two short films for Design Milk, interviewing a number of up-and-coming designers about their inspirations – here’s the first one…
Lorna Syson 100% Design

2013 was another great year for 100% Design with the Emerging Brands and International Pavilion areas being particularly strong. We asked our favorite designers to tell us a little bit about the inspiration behind, and the making of, their products. Here are the first four – look out for Part 2.

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Design Milk, September 2013

This is a Q&A with textiles designer Sian Elin that I wrote for Design Milk. Sian was exhibiting at Tent London as part of the London Design Festival 2013…
Sian Elin

I have loved Sian Elin’s work since she launched at Tent London last year, so it was great to see her back one year on still going strong – and even launching new products. I thought it was about time I found out a bit more about what makes her tick. We talked eastern inspirations, what defines good design, and favourite colours

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Design Milk, September 2013

I worked with Tent London to curate a selection of 2013’s best design graduates, under than banner of BRINK. This is the post I wrote for Design Milk covering the results…
BRINK

My big project at the London Design Festival this year was BRINK, a collaboration with Tent London. I scoured graduate shows up and down (and outside of) the UK and curated my selection of 2013′s design graduates. Wonseok Jung studied robotics before doing his Masters at the Royal College of Art. The Bird is absolutely mesmerizing—the movement of its wings is slow and accurate. People were constantly wandering up to the stand with their heads tilted upwards, unable to take their eyes off it!

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Design Milk, September 2013

More coverage of the London Design Festival for Design Milk – well, editor Jaime keeps me busy! This one covers LDF stalwart, the Brompton Design District…
Brompton Design District

Having explored the V&A and the Young Creative Poland exhibition, the next stop on my tour of the Brompton Design District was Mint. Founded in 1998 by Lina Kanafani, it’s a must-visit in this part of town. Mint had curated an exhibition called ‘Cabinets of Curiosity’ for the Festival in collaboration with the Czech gallery, Krehky. New limited edition cabinets and the curiosities within them had been designed exclusively for Krehky. Each piece was selected by Mint based on its ability to incite wonder.

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Design Milk, September 2013

This is a profile piece I wrote for American design blog, Design Milk, on one of the stars of 2013’s London Design Festival, Kangan Arora…
Kangan Arora

I met Kangan Arora when she was exhibiting with other Central Saint Martins graduates at Pulse last year, so it was great to see her with her own stand at designjunction. We talked inspirations, childhood dreams, 60s Bollywood music and masala chai… here is the designer describing her work in her own words:

My country inspires me endlessly. I like visuals more than words. My work is about colour, print and pattern… and a bit more colour for good measure.

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Design Milk, September 2013

Another London Design Festival post for Design Milk, this time covering designersblock…
designersblock

Designersblock was back at the Southbank Centre for the second year and this time with a much larger presence extending right across the venue. Designersblock favorite, The New English was in the Clore Ballroom, with a typically quirky display – this time mugs on heads and plates on mannequins – of course!

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Design Milk, September 2013

This is the post I wrote for Design Milk covering my favourite London Design Festival show, Tent London…
Tent London

I think Tent was my favourite show at the London Design Festival again this year – it has loads of natural light (a rare treat during a week spent in basements, exhibition centres, and repurposed industrial buildings), a lovely relaxed festival vibe fuelled by good music and good coffee, and crucially a slew of new talent alongside established independent designer-makers.

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Design Milk, September 2013

My role as Editor at Large for Design Milk involves hopping all over Europe covering the design trade shows, and of course, this includes the London Design Festival. Here is the post I wrote covering one of the ‘big four’ designjunction…
designjunction

designjunction returned to the London Design Festival for its third iteration (its second in the former Royal Mail sorting office) with a cacophony of design, color, pattern and texture that was at times almost overwhelming in its intensity. Providing a moment of calm amongst the chaos, Thorody’s new fabric (above) is named after the founders’ cat Ivor!

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Design Milk, September 2013

This is a Q&A with design graduate Alex Mueller that I did for Design Milk as part of my LDF13 coverage – he’s definitely one to watch…
Alex Mueller

Every year at the London Design Festival there is one new designer who appears to be everywhere, one young person who bursts onto the scene with such gusto that they cannot be ignored – the ‘man of the match’ if you like. This year, that man was Alexander Mueller.

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Design Milk, September 2013

One of my favourite shows at 2013’s London Design Festival was Imprint, an exploration of the medium of print, at Craft Central. This is the post I wrote about it for American design blog, Design Milk…
Imprint Craft Central

Imprint at Craft Central was a celebration of print in all its forms. It showed that print can be more than just ink on paper – and it also showed that ink on paper can be pretty impressive in its own right. Even the poster (designed by Turnbull Grey) impressed with on-trend neon orange and grey and a gorgeous printerly quality.

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Design Milk, September 2013

Somewhat off the beaten track at 2013’s London Design Festival was Young Creative Poland – a showcase of Polish design. This is the post I wrote covering the event for Design Milk…
Young Creative Poland

Ognisko Polskie is on 55 Exhibition Road in Brompton’s design district. The Polish Hearth Club, as it translates, was opened in 1940 to provide a meeting place for emigrants, both during the war and in the following decades, after a communist regime was installed in Poland. “If the spirit of pre-war Warsaw has survived anywhere it is in the rooms of the Ognisko Polskie,” wrote historian Norman Davies.

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Design Milk, September 2013

This is a post on one of my favourite London Design Festival shows, 100% Norway, for American design blog, Design Milk…
100% Norway

It’s the 10th anniversary of 100% Norway and co-curators Henrietta Thompson and Benedicte Sunde have really pulled out all the stops to make this a stand-out show. In this short film, they talk about their curation of 10 established Norwegian designers alongside 10 rising stars.

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Design Milk, September 2013

Continuing in my coverage of the London Design Festival in my role as Editor at Large for Design Milk, this is a post on the new collaboration between Sebastian Wrong and Hay…
Wrong for Hay

On a cold, rainy day in London, I turned a corner into what Dan Cruickshank described as “one of the most evocative and most famous of London’s 18th century streets.” I found my way to number 16 and was ushered inside to another world.

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Design Milk, September 2013

Continuing my coverage of the London Design Festival for Design Milk, this is a post about the launch of the Mini Moderns Remix project at the East London Design Show…
Mini Moderns Remix

I’ve been a fan of Mini Moderns for as long as I’ve been going to the London Design Festival—I think the secret to their success is that they are constantly upping their game; constantly pushing themselves. Remix is the best example of this yet and a really exciting project.

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Design Milk, September 2013

Part of my role as Editor at Large for American design blog Design Milk is to cover European trade shows, which of course includes the London Design Festival. This is a post covering the best of the V&A…
VA_LDF13_04

The theme of the 11th London Design Festival is “Design is here, there and everywhere” – an attempt to remind us that all things man-made have been designed. The V&A is the LDF hub again this year, and the installations both stand alone and draw attention to the incredible design already within the V&A.

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