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…
Tag: design
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
Native & Co’s Mu collection celebrates cedar wood
Furniture and tableware brand Native & Co launched their latest collection entitled Mu at September’s London Design Festival. The collection, comprising six designs, celebrates the natural qualities of cedar wood, highlighting the grain in a variety of shapes from a simple circular platter and traditional plate, to a smooth ripple effect…
D&AD launch ‘New Blood’ award briefs
The D&AD has launched its annual New Blood awards, with 16 briefs developed in collaboration with real clients, to which young designers can respond and be in with the chance of winning a D&AD pencil. “This year’s brief line up for New Blood Awards 2017 has just been released,” says…
Troels Flensted creates a ceramic collection without using clay
Troels Flensted’s Poured Collection is handmade in Copenhagen and created by combining a mineral powder and water-based acrylic polymer. Various coloured pigments are added to the mixture before it is poured into a mould. The marble-like effect is unique to each smooth, polished piece, giving the feel of ceramic, but…
Trifle Creative design new office space for MOO
Moving offices can be a daunting prospect, especially when your employees adore their previous home. Trifle Creative turned a drab, corporate shell into a warm and welcoming creative space that MOO’s London team couldn’t help but fall in love with. How do you move 200 employees from a topsy-turvy Shoreditch…
Bethany Stafford designs building blocks for grown-ups
Bethany ‘s sculptural collection of ceramic block forms, entitled Brutalist Inspired Ceramics, comes in a range of contrasting and complementary colours, ranging from orange and petrol blue, to mid-grey and putty. The individual ‘Block Forms’ are bound with ‘Banded Forms’ (coloured elastic bands) that create bright compositions. Taking her inspiration…
Emily Wiles turns a love of textiles into fluid ceramic forms
Emily Wiles has used her background in textiles to create a series of delicate porcelain pieces that take on the form of softly draped material. The folding and draping process used in textile and garment construction is the starting point for each piece, making every one unique. The decorative pieces…
Norway pioneers ‘design for all’
Throughout September, London’s Somerset House played host to 37 countries all responding to the theme of Utopia by Design. Contributions varied wildly from the conceptual (Albania’s Bliss – “a concentric arrangement of stainless steel columns and benches designed to encourage self-reflection and solidarity”) to the emotional (France’s Le Bruit des…
The best of the London Design Festival 2016
Top image from V&A Dundee showcase at V&A London – oak swing by Isabelle Moore, clothes on manakin by KellyDawn Riot and Hayley Scanlan.
Violeta Kozlova’s jewellery releases perfume as it moves
Violeta Kozlova’s work focuses on traditional methods of crafting jewellery, creating folded, metal shapes in geometric forms. Once soldered into shape, each is powder-coated in either white, light or dark grey, and then finished with gold or silver leaf. Her first collection comprises pendants, rings, bangles, brooches and earrings. All one-off pieces,…
interview :: kara leigh ford
Kara Leigh Ford’s work is available from The Maker Place.
37 countries interpret utopia at Somerset House
The exhibits, which include installations, artworks, prototypes and designs, are each a response to the Biennale’s 2016 theme Utopia by Design, chosen as part of Somerset House’s Utopia 2016: A Year of Imagination and Possibility, to mark the 500th anniversary of the publication of Thomas More’s text. “When we set…
interview :: bend goods
Bend Goods will be at the London Design Fair 22 – 25 September 2016. Register for your tickets here.
Life drawing influences Samantha McNamara’s Ink ceramics
Comprising a series of thrown clay vessels and dishes, Samantha McNamara’s collection is available in a range of mini coloured clusters in white, blue, violet, green and blush. Each colour-way combines the muted hues with a contrasting band or line, which enables them to work independently or as a collection…
The London Design Festival – A Design Geek’s Guide
Saturday 17 September 2016 Must see: Creative Matters Creative Matters is a four-day ‘creative futures’ forum including talks, workshops, master-classes, round-tables, installations, exhibitions and networking events. Don’t miss Yeshen Venema’s product photography demos and workshops – all day – and the Design Geek Round Table on Internships at 4pm, hosted…
Tandem’s space-saving furniture hangs from the walls
Comprising four individual pieces – a wardrobe, a desk, a shoe rack and seat, and a storage shelf – the Hanging Collection combines birch plywood with different facing materials including oak, melamine and desktop linoleum in a range of colours for a personalised look and feel. The minimal designs include soft, curved edges…
Francesca Moutafis makes six ceramic forms from two moulds
The new designer’s graduate collection, entitled Ambiguous Tableware, comprises six different clay vessels, each available in one of three earthy colours, and glazed on the inside only. As a group, they resemble archetypal tableware, but individually their simple, open forms defy definition, enabling the user to determine the function of each. Francesca’s research into ceramics,…
London Design Fair celebrates Indian design
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…
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…
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…
Book about tidying up inspires furniture collection
LYNKO is a series of wooden-hinged powder-coated metal frames, with a selection of accessories that turn them into storage systems for bedroom, kitchen or bathroom. Developed in response to a more transient population, they are designed to be customised and then folded up and brought with you as you move…
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…