This Is India, co-curated by Tiipoi founder Spandana Gopal and the London Design Fair‘s Jimmy McDonald and designed by Kangan Arora, will showcase ten emerging and established India-centric designers and brands across product, textile and furniture, including Leah Singh, Aman Khanna and Objectry. “For the 10th Anniversary of the Fair…
Category: Product
Olivia Post’s interactive light is inspired by a spinning top
The spun copper and turned oak lamp has been designed to be positioned in two ways – either resting on the wooden part and directing ambient light upwards, or resting on the metal part and directing task lighting downwards. In either position its rounded form means that the user can revolve…
Katherine Plumb’s textiles are inspired by playgrounds
Collarged is a collection of 17 printed textile designs featuring oversized abstract forms in bright primary colours inspired by playgrounds, skate parks and climbing walls. “This collection works to inject a feeling of recreation into interior environments through the use of strong, graphic pattern and placement,” the surface pattern designer…
interview :: amy isles freeman
Amy Isles Freeman will be exhibiting at the London Design Fair 22 –25 September 2016. Register for your tickets here. Portrait photograph by Paul Whittaker.
Day Design Co’s ceramics are imprinted with wood grain
Forest of Ceramics is a collection of vessels made from semi-porcelain casting slip and decorated by hand. Because Daisy uses locally-sourced timber to create the grain pattern in the clay, each piece is unique. When the collection is arranged in a group, the reason for its title becomes clear, especially as each…
interview :: aman khanna
Aman Khanna will be exhibiting at the London Design Fair as part of This Is India. Register for your tickets here.
Fern Robinson’s jewellery encourages play
The collection includes a necklace made from a ‘Slinky’ spring toy, one which is half pencil and half encased pencil shavings, a ring which doubles up as a maze toy which you tilt to get the ball inside from one end to the other and a brooch with removable crayons…
Holly Kemp’s ceramic collection is based on three simple forms
The final forms each incorporate a strong angle sitting either inwards or outwards, allowing multiple pieces to sit together in pairs or sets. The considered proportions, each with the same datum line, highlight the geometry further. The controlled, minimal aesthetic is off-set by the soft pastel shades Holly has used to present the…
Philippe Hohlfeld’s floating farms fill empty shipping containers
Due to an imbalance between imports and exports, every year 26.1 million shipping container loads travel from China, but only 12.9m loads travel back to China – meaning that half of the containers going back to Asia are empty, a fact that designer Innovation Design Engineering graduate Philippe Hohlfeld stumbled upon after…
interview :: forest + found
Forest + Found will be exhibiting at the London Design Fair 22 – 25 September 2016. Register for your tickets here.
Exhibition to highlight the link between dyslexia and creativity
It’s estimated that up to 1 in every 10 – 20 people in the UK has some degree of dyslexia – a learning difficulty that can cause problems with reading, writing and spelling, with 4{ff546b69e23b1524d799f96c6ba7a638e1f677053b0a2a1568b05315fd5f8fc7} of the population being severely affected. However, for some, the differences in the way their…
Emma Graney’s lights pair cast concrete with hand-blown glass
Taking inspiration from both nature and architecture, Emma Graney created the lamps’ block-form bases in three simple geometric shapes, off-set by fragile glass shades. The use of the traditional filament bulb, also available in a variety of different styles, adds a layer of warmth to the design and juxtaposes the…
interview :: sevak zargarian
You can find out more about Sevak Zargarian and buy his products at The Maker Place and meet him in person at the London Design Fair, where he’ll be exhibiting 22–25th September 2016. Register for your tickets here.
Alexander Loudon’s viewfinders reframe coastal vistas
In a modern take on the telescopic viewfinders many of us spent childhood holidays putting 10p into before standing on tiptoes to see a magnified version of the view that was right in front of us, people are invited to put their heads inside a concave dome that narrows into a…
Prototyping perfects George Riding’s graduate collection
New Designers is an annual showcase of graduate work and a key event in the Summer calendar, where I spend a huge amount of time scouting for new talent, being inspired, and talking to graduates about their work, as well as their plans and aspirations after leaving the confines of…
Olivia Hildebrand makes bus travel easier for blind people
Almost two million people in the UK, and one in five people over the age of 75, are living with significant sight loss – more have low or partial sight. Often unable to drive, many of these people are utterly reliant on public transport. A survey in 2014 found that…
interview :: nikki kreis
You can find out more about Nikki’s work and buy her products at The Maker Place.
Thomas Widdershoven resigns from Design Academy Eindhoven
Widdershoven will appear at the opening of the academic year on 06 September to say goodbye to students, teachers and staff, and will attend the official opening of the Broken White exhibition – a cooperation between Design Academy Eindhoven and the Van Abbemuseum – next October before officially leaving the…
Natalie Wood intertwines form and function
The things we do on a daily basis, the individual routines we go through every day, are often governed by our own quirks and needs, but there is something to be said for cultural influences too. The everyday culture of use is something that ceramic designer Natalie J Wood uses…
out and about :: new designers 2016
New Designers Week One focuses on craft – mostly ceramics and textiles – and Week Two focuses on product and furniture design. This year the standard was exceptionally high – here are our founding editor and roaming reporter Katie Treggiden’s top picks…
interview :: heather scott
You can find out more about Heather and buy her products at The Maker Place.
Max Lamb designs glasses shaped like two lemons
The use of specific glasses for specific drinks is not a new idea – wine, beer and cocktails are all traditionally served in specialist glasses said to improve aroma and flavour. But soft drinks usually just get chucked into the nearest tumbler. That’s all set to change with Max Lamb’s…
Forest+Found use nature to guide their craft
Kate Brewer, founder of Look Like Love, profiles a different new designer every week. With the tagline “support, nurture, promote” echoing confessions of a design geek’s own “discover, champion and inspire” and a similar commitment to advocating for emerging talent, the parallels between Look Like Love and confessions of a design…
interview :: gabriel tan
With thanks to Beton Brut for the images with coloured backgrounds and to Charlie Schuck for the images with white backgrounds and for those of the Shaker village. The products pictured are: Stove Chair and Domino Peg Rail, Brethren Bench, Brethren Door Stops, Petal Baskets and Handle Stool – all…
Tom Dixon creates co-working space in Clerkenwell church
“One of the conundrums of St James, Clerkenwell is that it has a very imposing outside but a very welcoming inside,” he says. “All sorts of people live in Clerkenwell, but still one [group of people] alluded us – and one that is more present and numerous in the parish…
Maya Alvarado creates a new shelving system for local charity shop
This week, Benchmark’s resident Fixpert, Maya Alvarado teams up with Benchmark’s cabinetmaker Max to fit the Red Cross fix, they bring pre-fabricated parts on site and prepare the new storage system ready for use… 09:00: It is Saturday morning, having collected the materials and tools from Benchmark’s workshop, Max and I…
interview :: rosie brewer
You can find out more about Rosie’s products, and buy them, from the Maker Place.
Clerkenwell Design Week adopts new ‘spine’ layout
Having written an article for the Clerkenwell Post about the ‘masterplan’ for 2016’s Clerkenwell Design Week, confessions of a design geek editor Katie Treggiden was better placed than most to navigate the new ‘spine’ layout of this year’s festival, so forewarned and forearmed, she set out to explore the show,…
Maya Alvarado prototypes new paddles
06:00: I wake up in Hungerford, and begin my day by researching existing paddles. Today I will prepare some different versions for Heidi to test out at the next canoe training session. I get ready and leave for work. 07:30: When I arrive at the workshop, I look over some…