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…
Tag: furniture
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…
Furniture
The Centiped is Olga Akulova’s take on a vintage shop counter
The Centiped was originally designed as a bespoke piece for a penthouse apartment on the 30th level of a condominium in Kiev to showcase the homeowner’s accessories. “We couldn’t find anything appropriate to display accessories because we didn’t have much space for a freestanding piece in the interior,” says Olha…
Furniture
interview :: bend goods
Bend Goods will be at the London Design Fair 22 – 25 September 2016. Register for your tickets here.
Furniture
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…
Furniture
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…
Furniture
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…
Furniture
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…
a day in the life
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…
Furniture
Charles Dedman’s reinvents traditional crafts
As a designer myself, I know what a challenge it can be to come up with new ideas – and sometimes the imagery and ‘inspiration’ at every turn just makes it worse. The days of the excitement and anticipation of waiting your turn to thumb through the latest edition of Frame magazine are…
a day in the life
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…
a day in the life
Maya Alvarado runs fixing workshop for Two Saints
This week, Benchmark’s resident Fixpert, Maya Alvarado tests out a new handle for Sean Sutcliffe’s portable samples case, collects scrap material and charity shop finds, and leads the second workshop for local homeless charity Two Saints. 06:00: I wake up in Hungerford and get ready for work. I pack some…
Furniture
Studio Haran champions sustainable design
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…
interviews
interview :: marlene huissoud
This is the latest in a series of interviews with one of the 70 designers identified by the Design Council as Ones to Watch. As we start to consider whether insects will become the food source of the future, bee-keeper’s daughter Marlene Huissoud goes one step further. In her ‘From Insects’ project, she uses by-products from the honeybee…
interviews
interview :: todd bracher
I met American industrial designer Todd Bracher during Clerkenwell Design Week earlier this year. He was in town to promote his Trea Chair for Humanscale – designed for a younger more mobile workforce and inspired by exoskeleton of a lobster. “An exoskeleton moves in harmony with the living organism it protects,”…
long reads
The new minimalism
CDs, DVDs, stereos, alarm clocks, calendars, desktop computers, landline telephones, even books – the list of things that have been replaced by the tiny technology in our smart phones and tablets is staggering. Now that so many objects have been eliminated from our homes, the minimalist aesthetic is finally within…
out and about
out and about :: 2015 graduate shows
Graduate show season has drawn to a close, so I thought I’d share some of the most inspiring projects I’ve seen this year. I visited Plymouth College of Art (where I spotted, among other things, Melanie Wood’s neon carpet concept above), the Royal College of Art, Central Saint Martin’s, New…
interviews
interview :: made by michael
I discovered Michael Daae Christensen’s work at Northmodern in Copenhagen at the beginning of this year, and then met him in person at the Stockholm Furniture Fair in February. Despite still being a student at Denmark’s TEKO, (part of VIA University College), he has already established his own studio, Made by Michael,…
interviews
interview :: nordvink
I met Sanna and Anne of Danish design studio Nordvink at Northmodern in Copenhagen at the beginning of this year and was immediately captivated by their simple yet functional approach to design. Six months later, I finally pinned them down to find out more about how they work… What’s the most…
interviews
interview :: richard hardy
I met Richard Hardy at Clerkenwell Design Week and was immediately impressed with his playful approach to sustainable design, pairing ‘waney-edges’ with bright primary colours to create responsible furniture with mass appeal. I couldn’t wait to find out more about what makes him tick… What’s the most important thing to know…
interviews
interview :: feist forest
Feist Forest is based in an “old tin tabernacle” in Devon and launched just six weeks ago. They make wooden work tables for “the vagabonds, dreamers and makers who courageously make great ideas happen.” With a pitch like that, how could I not feature them on the blog? I spoke…
interviews
interview :: dan hoolahan
This is the second in my series of interviews with young designers identified by the Design Council as “Ones to Watch.” Dan Hoolahan‘s Freeform furniture range was listed in the Everyday Living category alongside 2014 Design Museum Designer in Residence Torsten Sherwood and silversmith Juliette Bigley whose work I first…
interviews
interview :: baines&fricker
I have been a fan of husband and wife team Baines&Fricker since they launched their design company at 100{ff546b69e23b1524d799f96c6ba7a638e1f677053b0a2a1568b05315fd5f8fc7} Design in 2011, but I am especially excited about their new collection, which launches at Clerkenwell Design Week a week today. I caught up with Eliza Fricker for a sneak preview……
interviews
interview :: baines&fricker
I have been a fan of husband and wife team Baines&Fricker since they launched their design company at 100{ff546b69e23b1524d799f96c6ba7a638e1f677053b0a2a1568b05315fd5f8fc7} Design in 2011, but I am especially excited about their new collection, which launches at Clerkenwell Design Week a week today. I caught up with Eliza Fricker for a sneak preview……
interviews
interview :: ambrose vevers
Clerkenwell Design Week is just around the corner and confessions of a design geek is the official blog partner again this year. I thought I’d have a sneaky peak at who was exhibiting at Platform, the space for new designers, and I found Ambrose Vevers – a “wood wizard” based…
out and about
out and about :: northmodern
My first overseas trade show of the year was a new one – Northmodern in Copenhagen. I was really excited to be back in a city I visited for the first time only last August and keen to check out the new design talent at the show. One of the first…
here's one I made earlier
here’s one I made earlier :: landscape of gravity
This month I’m sharing some of my favourite posts from 2014 – I loved Kirsi Enkovaara approach to pattern creation – really clever, with stunning results… I spotted Kirsi Enkovaara‘s final project Landscape of Gravity at Show RCA 2014, the Royal College of Art’s degree show. Being a girl who…