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…
Tag: furniture design
Fixperts Resident makes remote fixes through social media
This week, Benchmark’s resident Fixpert, Maya Alvarado transforms nutcrackers into bleach bottle openers, finalises two pairs of adapted nail clippers for limited hand dexterity, and makes a plastic art tray test for a young woman with autism… 05:55: I wake up and get ready for work. I make a smoothie with…
Maya Alvarado learns about the risky, the worthwhile and the possible
This week, Benchmark’s resident Fixpert, Maya Alvarado visits the Dingley centre to meet an occupational therapist to get feedback on some of her ideas, and makes Heidi a playing cards tray… 07:00: I wake up in Hungerford and gather my camera, measuring equipment and sketchbook. 07:30: I leave for the Dingley Centre…
Maya Alvarado has a day of testing with Fix Partners
This week, Benchmark’s resident Fixpert, Maya Alvarado builds an art tray prototype for Fix Partner Philly’s wheelchair, visits new week-old twins, and delivers a resonance board to the Dingley Centre… 06:20: I wake up and get ready for work. I have some Swedish ‘quilted bread’ with honey and a cup…
Fixperts resident helps the homeless make things with Benchmark offcuts
This week, Benchmark’s resident Fixpert, Maya Alvarado gathers oak offcuts, packs up tools and materials and leads a making workshop for residents at local housing charity Two Saints’ hostel… 06:20: I wake up and ensure that my camera batteries are charged, as today my sister Rhianna will make a film…
Benchmarks’ resident Fixpert Maya Alvarado designs ‘wearable toothbrushes’
This week, British Furniture Manufacturer Benchmark’s resident Fixpert, Maya Alvarado delivers the second sofa fix to The Dingley Centre, puts up a new coat hook for their staff and designs some alternative toothbrushes… 06:20: I wake up in Hungerford and get my things ready for work. Today I will be investigating…
interview :: silje nesdal
I met Silje Nesdal both in Oslo for the 100{ff546b69e23b1524d799f96c6ba7a638e1f677053b0a2a1568b05315fd5f8fc7} Norway preview and then again at 100{ff546b69e23b1524d799f96c6ba7a638e1f677053b0a2a1568b05315fd5f8fc7} Norway itself during the London Design Festival last year. I immediately loved her style and her approach to design, so this interview has been a long time coming. We talked yellow coats, post-war design…
Team Benchmark go on a canoeing day trip with Heidi and her family
This week, Benchmark’s resident Fixpert, Maya Alvarado heads out with Kevin, Mike, Colin and Danny from the Benchmark team on a canoe day with Heidi and her family… 05:30: It’s Saturday. I wake up very early at my parents’ house in North London to make my way back to Berkshire…
Michael Carroll’s furniture combines metal and wood to ingenious effect
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…
Design PR quits her job to launch ‘Ruthless People’ furniture collection
Lisa McMillan, formerly of leading design PR agency Camron, has turned her back on a career in public relations to launch a six-piece furniture collection, entitled Ruthless People. The collection, which comprises a dining table, a stool, two mirrors, a side table and a floor light, is made from mild…
Maya Alvarado adapts a sofa to make it safer for children with special needs
This week, Benchmark’s resident Fixpert, Maya Alvarado visits The Dingley Early Years Centre, finds some seats to fix and starts the refurbishment of a small sofa… 06:20: I wake up and get ready for work. Today I’m looking forward to visiting the Dingley Centre, a specialist early years centre for…
Maya Alvarado meets a new Fix Partner and prototypes paddles
This week, Benchmark‘s resident Fixpert, Maya Alvarado visits Fix Partner Anne at the Red Cross Charity Shop, seeks out potential fixes and makes paddle prototypes for canoe trip with Heidi… 07:30: I wake up and get ready to go and meet my new Fix Partner Anne who manages the Red…
Students at Aalto University create 14 different chairs from blackened ash
14 Product and Spatial Design Masters students at Finland’s Aalto University School of Arts, Design, and Architecture each responded to the brief for a café chair to be made from the same material – blackened ash – resulting in 14 different prototypes. Kuu by Mette Kahlos The chairs are all…
interview :: studio haran
I met husband and wife team Studio Haran on my travels during confessions of a design geek’s Cornish Design Season at the end of last year. Falmouth University graduates Joel and Helena design and make sustainable furniture and lighting from their farm courtyard workshop. They work with FSC graded timber –…
Iselin Lindmark Dubland’s side table is designed for “lazy sofa days”
Norwegian School of Art and Design (KHiB) graduate, Iselin Lindmark Dubland, has designed Birk, a coffee table with concealed storage for magazines, laptops and television remotes, and a removable tray perfect for TV dinners. The four-legged table is made of birch wood with a one metre by 50 centimetre elongated…
Andrea Ponti launches side table inspired by Hong Kong street signs
Italian designer Andrea Ponti’s Kanban steel and concrete side table references Hong Kong’s industrial architecture in its materials and Kowloon’s distinctive neon signage in its form. The table comprises a concrete drum-shaped base with a steel cuff at the top, out from which protrudes a side arm, which supports the…
A day in the life of the Benchmark Fixperts Resident
This week, British furniture manufacturer Benchmark‘s Resident Fixpert Maya Alvarado continues work on Mrs Ellis’ tray, learns from her mistakes and finds inspiration from some more fellow Fixperts… 06:20: I wake up and the house feels cold! I make a camomile tea to warm me up and get ready for work. 07:10: As I arrive at Benchmark, the…
interview :: elliot eakin
Eliot Eakin Furniture is based in Chicago where its eponymous founder draws inspiration from the iconic buildings surrounding him, which count Frank Lloyd Wright and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe amongst their architects, working with local craftspeople using metal casting, fabricating, upholstery and woodworking, to bring his ideas to life. We…
A day in the life of the Benchmark Fixperts Resident
This week, Fixperts Resident Maya Alvarado tries her new Benchmark uniform for size, puts the finishing touches on Heidi’s utensils, continues work on her tray for Mrs Ellis and gets inspiration from some fellow Fixperts… 06:50: I wake up and get ready for work. It feels too early for breakfast, or perhaps I am just…
Max Lamb slices up 187-year-old tree to make 130 functional objects.
Max Lamb, who grew up in Cornwall’s St Austell and is now based in London, felled a 187-year-old tree on his Grandfather’s Yorkshire farm and sliced it into 130 useable objects to save it from being used as firewood. The slices were displayed in order of diameter at Somerset House…
Carl Austin’s furniture is made using traditional boat-building skills
Having moved to Falmouth from Leicester 11 years ago to pursue a lifelong dream of working with wooden boats, three years ago Carl Austin changed careers again, this time putting his boat-building skills to good use in designing and making outdoor furniture. His oak and larch steam-bent creations feature seats…
Anna Hart Design creates first London outpost for Cornish coffee company
Penryn-based Anna Hart Design has created the interior for Origin Coffee‘s flagship store – a combined training space for the baristas that use their coffee all over the capital and further afield, and coffee shop for locals. The 60-square-metre coffee shop on Charlotte Street, Shoreditch, and 56-metre basement education space…
The 2016 confessions of a design geek bursary shortlist – voting is now closed
We have a shortlist! Huge thanks to our esteemed panel of industry experts: Anthony Joseph of Joseph Joseph, Mark Hampshire of Mini Moderns, Jessica Sims from West Elm, Ian Rudge and Alejandra Campos from Home at Top Drawer, and me – confessions of a design geek founding editor, Katie Treggiden….
A day in the life of the Benchmark Fixperts Resident
In this week’s column, Fixperts Resident Maya Alvarado shares a day in her week working with British furniture manufacturer Benchmark looking for ‘fixes’ in their workshop and in the local community – this week she starts work on doors to prevent dust gathering on the workshop’s sample shelves and makes…
A day in the life of the Benchmark Fixperts Resident
In this week’s column, Fixperts Resident Maya Alvarado shares another day looking for fixes at British furniture manufacturer Benchmark – this week she has an idea for a floating Fixperts Day, visits a nearby school for children with learning difficulties, and meets up with local resident Mrs Ellis to start work…
Megan Czaja’s Oblio stool is designed for people who can't sit still
Pratt Institute graduate Megan Czaja has designed a stool for ‘Kinesthetes’ – people who need to be active in order to think. The three-legged maple stool has a seat balanced on a silicone and foam half-sphere, which plugs into a maple convex base, without a fixed connection, enabling the sitter…
Megan Czaja’s Oblio stool is designed for people who can’t sit still
Pratt Institute graduate Megan Czaja has designed a stool for ‘Kinesthetes’ – people who need to be active in order to think. The three-legged maple stool has a seat balanced on a silicone and foam half-sphere, which plugs into a maple convex base, without a fixed connection, enabling the sitter…
Irish design competition calls for innovative projects that address global challenges
(Andrew Ludick in collaboration with Ceadogán Rugs as seen at Liminal during Milan Design Week.) Government-backed initiative Irish Design 2015 (ID2015) has launched a global competition for designers with a connection to Ireland that will reward innovative products, projects and concepts that have “the potential to revolutionise the way we…
A Day in the Life of the Benchmark Fixperts Resident
In this week’s column, Fixperts Resident Maya Alvarado shares another day looking for fixes at British furniture manufacturer Benchmark – this week she hunts for puffball mushrooms, makes a new handle for the fridge in the workshop kitchen, and meets up with local resident Mrs Ellis to talk about her…
Julian Jay Roux takes a year out from Design Academy Eindhoven to learn his craft
Design Academy Eindhoven student Julian Jay Roux has taken a year out from his Industrial Design course to complete a one-year Contemporary Craft BA at Plymouth College of Art in the south west of England to explore the relationship and distinctions between design and craft. The designer’s graduate project,…