EACH YEAR…

thousands of architects, designers, and design aficionados descend upon the city of London for a week long celebration of art, architecture and design. Now in its 15th year, the citywide London Design Festival has really hit its stride, highlighting an international roster of talent and some 400+ events. While we definitely didn’t hit them all, we did our very best to gather up some of our most favorite and fascinating finds. We hope you enjoy!

 

 

COCOONS by Studio Marlene Huissoud – A truly organic series of furniture made from silk worm cocoons, varnished with a thin layer of a natural honeybee bio resin. The idea behind the collection is to find a way to use the silk worm’s product while still allowing it to mature into a butterfly, rather than kill it, as is currently the practice, in the process of harvesting its cocoons for silk.

 

 

FLAIR – JUG by Pinch Design for 1882 Ltd. – brings sculptural modernity to fine bone china via a play on form and exaggerated ratios.

 

 

AWKWARD TABLE by Mizzi Studio – Part of a larger series, this 4 seat table takes inspiration from Bikram Yoga’s “Awkward” pose, marked by a tiptoed feat of balance, strength and poise. The table’s sleek curvlinear form additionally references the studio’s signature art deco / neo futurist style.

 

 

CERAMICS by Olivia Walker – combines precisely thrown porcelain forms with organic style “accretions” to stunning effect. She looks at the accretions as a sort of fungus, coral or bacteria, that simultaneously builds upon and devours the forms beneath.

 

 

MIRABILIA WALLCOVERING by Alissa + Nienke – is an innovative three dimensional wallcovering built upon meticulous cuttings. The series plays upon shape, shadow, and pattern, to add depth and invite human interaction.

 

 

IN THE SHADOW OF A MAN by Child Studio – This debut collection explores the tension brought on by a moment frozen in time, as a glowing orb sits perched to slip, slide or roll along a downward trajectory. The collection’s title references Italian surrealist painter Giorgio De Chirico’s quote, “There is much more mystery in the shadow of a man walking on a sunny day, than in all religions in the world.”

 

 

CATWALK BENCH by BCXSY – To celebrate Giulio Ridolfo’s 13 years of collaboration with Kvadrat, the fabric manufacturer invited 19 designers to create unique works using Ridolfo’s iconic ‘Canvas’ textile. BCXSY showcased the multi colored upholstery in kinetic form via a motorized bench doubling as a rotating canvas.

 

 

COLOUR DIAL by Rive Roshan – explores the intersection of graphic, product and interior deisgn, with an emphasis on color, texture and materiality. The Colour Dial sets a glass disc atop three solid glass spheres to form a low lying table of striking impact.

 

 

SPADE CHAIR / ALUMINIUM by Faye Toogood – a metallic twist on the original sycamore Spade Chair, the aluminium version is sand cast and anodised to an irregular blackened, molten effect.

 

 

VORONOI III by Tala – takes its external form from a smoothed out version of the mathematical voronoi patterns found in the forest canopy. Adding to its natural inspiration, these mouth blown bulbs house a single LED filament spiral designed to mimic the Fibonacci sequence of pine cones and ferns.

 

 

MARBLELOUS RACK by Aparentment – Sleek black marquina marble meets silver-welded brass in this marble-based collection of furnishings made in Spain.

 

 

GAE ARMCHAIR by Achille Salvagni – Made in a limited edition of 20, this Japan inspired seat perches prettily upon three, hand-engraved, cast bronze feet.

 

 

COFFEE GRINDER by Michael Anastassiades & Auböck Werkstätte – available in polished brass or copper, this stunning functional work of art is London based studio Sigmar’s second product debut.

 

 

HANGING HOOP CHAIR BLACK by Lee Broom – In celebration of his studio’s fist decade in business, Broom took a series of his most iconic pieces and rendered them entierly in black.

 

 

NARCISSUS SERIES TWO by Ruiqi Dai – takes inspiration from the mythological Greek beauty Narcissus, who having fallen so in love with his waterborne reflection, died taking it in. Each vessel in the collection reflects this intermingling of beauty and tragedy by creating one graceful vessel then reflecting it below with a slightly distorted mirror image.

 

 

BLOOM HAND SCULPTED LEATHER by Genevieve Bennett – explores floral form via a mix of lustrous and matte sculpted leathers. The tactile compositions are used as art panels, screen upholstery or cushion embellishments.

 

 

GRAVITY by Azadeh Shladovsky – is part of the an 8 piece collection entitled QUALIA, that explores the importance of touch when it comes to the deepest, most accurate levels of visual understanding. Each each piece in the line is inspired by a single braille letter. In the case of the GRAVITY chair, cool brass and plush velvet depict the letter I – addressing the ego by inviting it to find grounding in the sensations of the physical world.

 

 

ANNIE’S WOOD/HUNDRED FOOT DRAIN, 2017 by Wycliffe Stutchbury – is a celebration of wood’s innate beauty as presented in the form of a shingled screen. The artist’s pieces are born from fallen, forgotten, or re-purposed timber, and the name of each work references the location of harvest to emphasize the importance of site on final design.