London Design Festival 2018 | A Round Up
London Design Festival 2018: A Round-up
It’s been just over a month since this year’s London Design Festival, but due to six weeks of back-to-back projects (more to follow in our next post on our upcoming work), we’re only now able to take stock of what we saw at this year’s event.
In September most of House of Grey’s time was taken up curating and running our pop-up concept space, IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD. However, we did manage to sneak in a few presentations and we wanted to share with you three of the most inspiring exhibitions from London Design Festival.
First on our list is contemporary design and research gallery Matter of Stuff, who created a pop-up design exhibition at the Fenman Gallery, in Kings Cross. Taking place just before the opening of Coal Drops Yard, the event confirmed Kings Cross’s status as a true cultural hub in London. The installation was organised in collaboration with design studio Raw Edges and included pieces from Bohinc Studio, Uufie and cc-tapis. We took note of so many things at the event, from cc-tapis’s admirable eco-friendly processes at every step of production (they hand-spin Himalayan wool and use purified rainwater to wash the final products) to the combination of geometric visuals and bold colours which Bohinc Studio employed for their furniture (something which sat perfectly with our vision for the Blue House).
Next is a name which needs no introduction in the design world: Bill Amberg. Amberg’s printed leather at the Coal Office has been three years in the making and he has worked with some true powerhouses to bring it to fruition: Faye Toogood and Tom Dixon to name but two. Amberg has also collaborated with a tannery in Europe to develop the delicately printed leather hides, which he says:
“For the first time brilliantly illustrate the natural characteristics of the material I love”
The hides are suitable for both residential and commercial use.
Last but by no means least on our list is London Design Fair at The Truman Brewery, housing 550 exhibitors from 36 countries, the show included a mix of independent designers and established brands. During the event we were drawn towards returning exhibit, ‘Material of the Year’, which this year focussed on plastic. Plastic can be a controversial subject and it’s a material which we try to move away from using as a Studio, but the idea of reusing it, rather than just placing it in landfill is an extremely positive move from the industry and is one which we hope is a sign of things to come. Four designers were handpicked for their ability to incorporate recycled plastic in elegant and surprising ways in their work and educate people on the subject of recycling within a design context, the artists selected were: Charlotte Kidger, Dirk Vander Kooij, Kodai Iwamoto and Weez & Merl. Kooij has been on our radar for a while, and we were also lucky enough to have his work featured at the Blue House, so we were thrilled to see his work included.
Charlotte Kidger- Material Exploration. Photography by Louise Oates.