Results tagged “London Design Festival”

Currently for the London Design Festival, British designer Stuart Haygarth has installed picture frame "cut-offs" on either side of a marble staircase at the Victoria & Albert Museum. Titled "Framed," the installation is created from frame pieces supplied by London framer John James. Creating a zig-zag pattern, the piece takes me back to the frame wall I saw  in Atlanta last week (see blog 9/16/10).

One of the foremost design stores in London, Mint, is presenting an exhibition titled 'Homeworks' this week. Showcasing works from over 40 designers "which reinvent or transform everyday objects into captivating and provocative home pieces." Complementing the installation, they have commissioned 13 emerging designers to re-work  13 identical vintage 1950's Danish chairs from a shipyard canteen.

Award winning English designer, Lee Broom created his first furniture collections in 2007 and 2008. Called "Neo Neon" and  "Rough Diamond," the pieces were shown at the London Design Festival. Previously known exclusively for his dynamic designs of bars and clubs, Broom jumped into the furniture business with a highly narrative eye and flair for the unusual....... and he never looked back!!! In his two collections, "Lee transformed vintage furniture in it's original condition by adorning each piece strikingly with light." Both, the discarded luminaire bergere chair and the luminaire club chair have been reclaimed into sculptural works without changing their appearance, rather Broom has depended upon the element of light to bring them into this generation. The time-worn bergere relies on the addition of neon tubing, while the aged club twinkles from the addition of an array of fairground light bulbs. Both pieces rely on their iconic history, while being updated and having an air of whimsey!!! 

The chairs were re-exhibited this month in London, at the Contemporary Applied Arts Gallery, in an exhibition called "The Revivalists."  This exhibition, running concurrent to this years design festival, was curated by English design commentator Max Fraser. It reflects one of the design trends that he includes in his excellent new handbook to the London design community, LONDON DESIGN GUIDE 2010. In the book, Fraser divides the English design community into five "tribes,"  including..... the new modernists, the escapists, the reactivists, the digitalists, and the revivalists. In essence, "the revivalists are designers that celebrate nostalgia or set about subverting traditions" and these chairs are excellent examples of this "celebration!!!"