As one of the largest design trade shows to take place during the annual London Design Festival, Tent London hosts over 280 international exhibitors each September, showcasing the very latest in contemporary design. For your Friday viewing pleasure, I’ve taken the liberty of gathering a few of the most interesting, beautiful and out and out spectacular pieces from the designers slated to exhibit. I hope you all find some thing or things to love!
Above: Alto, a large, polished brass, mirror-like sculpture by the Chile based design studio, The Andes House.
How gorgeous are these glass vases by Oslo based designer Catherine Maske?! Libelle shown at left and Blue Wing Butterfly Vase shown at right.
Trialog – a three legged wooden chair designed for sitting in reverse. The back/arm rest serves to provide comfort, prevent slouching and encourage better posture and body language in the sitter. Side saddle and traditional forward faced sitting are also possible in this three legged chair. Designed by German born Philipp von Hase.
More glass beauties from Oslo based designer Catherine Maske. The Tokyo Box Collection is made of several shapes in opaque and transparent glass, designed to be stacked in a variety of ways. The goal of the project was to create food storage containers with a decorative beauty. Mission accomplished.
The Gravity Cabinet by Al- Ghalia Interiors is composed of a black or white polyurethane finished credenza placed atop 91 crystal glasses.
Copper Mirror Series, by the Norwegian born and London based Hunting & Narud. Available through the London based Gallery Libby Sellers.
Teixidors’ handwoven Squares blanket made from 100% French merino wool. Available through the London and Barcelona based shop, Zuzunaga (€288 approx $380).
The HALUZ (long bench) by Czech Republic based Thomas Vacek, is composed of a solid ash wood frame filled with willow branches. It is also available in a rocking chair form.
The Cloudia lamp opens from a cocoon like bud into a glowing fan shape. Designed by Wona Lee, as part of the Project Group-H.
The Taiwan based company AOI.CYCLE combines handcrafted stainless steel frames with rich leather detailing to produce one very beautiful collection of bikes..
The shade of the Flying Skirt lamp hangs as a limp swath of fabric when not in use. However, when switched on, it begins to rotate around its central axis forcing the shade to expand to a full billow. During this rotational period, the shade may be sculpted like clay on a potter’s wheel. Designed by Studio Partick Laing.
Inspired by the patterns found in bird feathers, Denmark based designer Alexandra Raben weaves steel frame structures with elaborate networks of threads to create her “Intricate” lamps.
Taiwan based company Rüskasa draws inspiration from Scandinavia and Asia to produce modern-day heirloom pieces. The maple and walnut “tufted wooden benches” shown here, are all laboriously and meticulously crafted by hand.
Norwegian designer Lars Beller Fjetland explores beauty, weight and balance with his new prototype lamp Cloche. The fixture is composed of just three separate pieces; one a cast iron base, another an ash wood stem and the third a stunning copper dome. Photo by Maagne Sandnes.
UK based designer Jules Sturgess utilizes the incredible strength of carbon fiber to achieve the ultra light and thin structure of his furnishings. One of his most recent pieces, the Marea lounge, is ergonomically designed to fit the human form in comfort, without the need for any additional cushions or padding. Amazing.
Sweden based designer Charlie Styrbjörn Nilsson created this beautiful take on the old ladder by implementing the traditional techniques of bending wood. In addition to creating a strikingly sculptural piece, the bending process has yielded a series of extremely strong and functional ladders. Photos by Jonas Lindstedt.
The Dine Light (£625 approx. $973) by Curiousa & Curiousa gives a nod to Louie Poulsen’s similarly shaped Danish classics. Composed of three separate parts – an outer plate, an inner cup and an intermediate bowl – each may be customized by color.
Aika pendulum clock and Tiuku pendulum clock by Helsinki based designer Ari Kanerva. To search for availability in your area click here.
The Soho pattern seen here was inspired by 17th and 18th century cartography. Set within the pattern of a hand marbled paper, UK based designer Gabi Bolton drew out her own version of a Soho, that turns in upon itself as it endlessly repeats. Available in both fabric and wall-covering through Bolton’s company, Original Little Bird.
Made from a combination of brushed metal, powder-coated steel and matte Plexiglass these explorations into light and shape mark the debut collection of Berlin based Swedish designer and architect Björn Andersson. The pieces’ functions range from a stool and nightstand to pendant lighting to table and floor lighting.
Inspired by the brass clasp closures found in vintage handbags and and the use of rattan in these Palmgreens handbags, designer Mathiew Gustafsson and furniture maker Niklas Karlsson collaborated to create a new line of meticulously crafted high end furniture called Grand. Shown above is the large semi transparent wardrobe , Grand Light and its smaller sibling, Grand Lock. Photos by Petter Cohen.
Originally custom designed the to meet the stringent requirements of the historic London Library in St. Jame’s Square, the VéVé lamp now comes in a wide variety of forms and finishes and is available through The Gravity Workshop. Photo by Henry Bourne.
Tent London 2013 begins September 19th and runs through the 22nd. For more information I invite you to visit the Tent London hub here.
Until Next week!
