Hasta La Ideas

Seven aerial installations by young designers Faye Toogood (above), Vic Lee, Paul Cocksedge, Philippe Malouin, Aberrant Architecture, Gitta Gschwendtner and Dominic Wilcox will be installed above the streets of Seven Dials in London during the London Design Festival next month, as part of a project curated by Dezeen.

Called Seven Designers for Seven Dials, the project is a collaboration between Dezeen and the Seven Dials shopping district, and will run from 14 September to 5 October 2012.

Each of the designs, which draw on different aspects of the history or character of Seven Dials, will also be showcased in an exhibition at Dezeen Super Store, our pop-up design emporium located in area. You can see details about each installation below.

Above: Queen Street, one of four illustrations by Vic Lee

London-based illustrator Vic Lee will create a series of flags that draw on the shady history of the Seven Dials area. The illustrations will incorporate the old street names during the 17th and 18th centuries, a time when Seven Dials was a slum famous for its gin shops.

Above: Dial by Paul Cocksedge

Paul Cocksedge will create a mysterious interactive installation called Dial, consisting simply of a large floating telephone number suspended between two buildings. Only those curious members of the public tempted to call the number will discover its secret.

Above: Bunting by Philippe Malouin

Philippe Malouin will erect a giant installation of bunting made from transparent PVC to celebrate and highlight the Seven Dials area and its landmarks. Blown by the wind, the sixty bunting lines will point the way to the Seven Dials monument.

Above: Catchpenny Quackery by Aberrant Architecture

Aberrant Architecture’s installation will consist of 18 large metallic coins hanging above the street. Each coin will feature a unique symbol that advertises one of the bogus products and services that used to be offered by quack doctors in the Seven Dials area in years gone by.

Above: Aerial Escape by Gitta Gschwendtner

German-born designer Gitta Gschwendtner has also taken inspiration from the area’s slum history, when each of the seven apexes facing the Seven Dials monument housed pubs linked by underground escape tunnels. In Gschwendtner’s installation, seven interconnected ladders will link two windows either side of Earlham Street to seemingly provide an escape route across the road and beyond.

Above: The Birds of Seven Dials by Dominic Wilcox

Dominic Wilcox will create an arch across Neal Street made out of empty bird cages, referencing Charles Dickens’s description of Seven Dials as a place full of bird shops and bird cage makers. Each cage will be left open to symbolise the memory of the bird shops and birds long departed from the street.

Above: 7 x 7 by Faye Toogood

Hanging high above the heads of passers-by on Monmouth Street, Faye Toogood’s installation will be a series of 49 outsized workers’ overcoats, representing the different trades within Seven Dials that have shaped the area over the years.

Seven Designers for Seven Dials
14 September to 5 October 2012

Seven Designers for Seven Dials is a collaboration between Dezeen and Seven Dials. More information about each of the installations can be found at:  www.sevendials.co.uk/events.

www.dezeen.com
www.sevendials.co.uk

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aerial installations curated by Dezeen appeared first on Dezeen.

London designer Paul Cocksedge recently completed another sculpture resembling pieces of paper caught in the breeze, although this time the leaves glow like a swarm of fireflies.

Installed in the courtyard of a hotel in Lyon, the 25-metre-long Bourrasque sculpture was completed for the city’s annual Festival of Lights.

The 200 suspended sheets were made from an electrically conductive material that lights up when a current passes through it.

Each sheet was the same size as a sheet of A3 paper and was moulded into shape by hand.

Previous paper-like structures by Cocksedge include a cloud of Corian in the hallways of London’s Victoria & Albert Museum and floating steel sheets of poetry at Beijing Design Week.

Photography is by Mark Cocksedge.

The following text is from Paul Cocksedge Studio:

Bourrasque – Lyon – Fête des Lumières – 8th to 11th December 2011

A ream of paper scatters in a gust of wind, soaring high into the black winter night, every sheet glowing bright, against a backdrop of the most exquisite 17th century architecture…

The site is the grand courtyard of Lyon’s Hotel de Ville, and the occasion is the city’s annual Festival of Light, a winter tradition drawing thousands of visitors to its festive attractions.

In his installation “Bourrasque”, designer Paul Cocksedge has combined his interest in the nature and morphology of paper with a subject that has long been an important element of his design work: light…

In both scale and technique, this is an ambitious project. “Bourrasque”, measures 25 metres in length and reaches over 15 metres at its highest point. The 200 A3-sized sheets are made from electroluminescent (EL) material, a technology which has recently advanced rapidly to produce a range of sophisticated colour temperatures, in thin and extremely flexible sheets. Each of these double-sided sheets has been individually moulded by hand in London, and then assembled on site in a structure of extraordinary finesse and detail barely visible to the human eye.

Paul Cocksedge explains: “I’ve been fascinated for a long time by the various properties of light: how it emanates, how it diffuses, bends, reflects, and scatters. With these EL sheets I’ve been able to explore much further the idea of light as a flat object, as something touchable and malleable – not housed in a glass bulb or a neon strip, but an object you can bend and twist – and almost see it come alive in your hands…”

You might see these luminous sheets as documents that have suddenly escaped the confines of the offices and archives housed in this historic building, merrily fluttering on the wintry air… Equally, one might be reminded of the future of the paper medium itself, and specifically the new prototype developments in the physical shape of written media: thin, flexible tablets for downloading newspapers and magazines, perhaps even television and film.

As with all Paul Cocksedge’s work, “Bourrasque”, shows his acute sense of the role of technology in design, combined with a characteristic lightness of touch, with elegance and joy.

Beijing Design Week 2011: London designer Paul Cocksedge installed giant pages of poetry made from rolled steel sheets outside the China Millennium Monument during Beijing Design Week.

Both Chinese and English poems were inscribed onto the curled sheets of the 20 metre-high metre-wide sculpture, entitled Manuscript.

Visitors could sit or lie down on the individual pages.

Paul Cocksedge showed another new project at the recent London Design Festival – see our story about vinyl records warped into amplifiers for smartphones here and see more projects by the designer here.

See all our projects from Beijing Design Week here, including our roundup of highlights, and see our snapshots from the festival on our Facebook page.

Photography is by Mark Cocksedge.

Here’s some more information about the project from Paul Cocksedge Studio:

Manuscript -­ An installation by Paul Cocksedge Studio for Beijing Design Week

Paul Cocksedge Studio has been selected by 2011 Beijing Design Week and the First Beijing International Design Triennial to exhibit a major installation set to be a key highlight of the festival which this year features London as its guest city.

Entitled ‘Manuscript (Seats of Poetry)’, Paul Cocksedge Studio’s sculptural design celebrates a wonderful Chinese invention, manuscript paper, the foundation of global literature and communication. It follows Cocksedge’s ongoing interest in this inspirational material, and his investigations into its morphological potential.

At 20 metres long by 6.7 metres high, the sculpture’s impressive scale also presents itself as a monument to the industrial capability of China. The individual sheets making up this complex structure are precisely fabricated and assembled by local manufacturers.

Upon closer inspection the piece is made up of rolled steel pages inscribed with poems carefully curated from Chinese and English sources. ‘Manuscript’ is about the exchange of words, poetry and knowledge between Beijing and London.

Sited on Chang’An Avenue, the main east-­‐west axis of the city, this temporary piece has been designed to be explored visually and physically by visitors to the China Millennium Monument, a cultural and events complex built to celebrate the turn of the millennium. Passers-­‐by can sit and rest on the curved sheets and absorb the pages of poetry in one of the world’s most impressive public spaces.

Aric Chen, creative director of Beijing Design Week, said of the selection process:
‘In cooperation with the British Council, we solicited nominations that were narrowed down to three very talented London designers and firms who were invited to submit proposals for the installation. While all of their concepts were strong, Paul’s brilliantly combined poetry -­‐and not just in the literal sense -­‐ with technical confidence in a way that truly celebrates design.’

Paul Cocksedge said : ‘I am very honoured to have been able to contribute this work, ‘Manuscript’, to the 2011 Beijing Design Week. This structure speaks to so many different aspects of Chinese and British history and culture: poetry and writing, the power and beauty of nature, and, of course, man-­‐made engineering and design. At heart, though, ‘Manuscript’ is simply meant to inspire people to look, listen, and make new discoveries…’

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A Gust of Wind by Paul Cocksedge	Veil by Paul Cocksedge	Drop by Paul Cocksedge

Dezeen and east London venue Concrete have teamed up to host Change the Record, a live performance by designer Paul Cocksedge on Tuesday 20 September.

Watch this movie on Dezeen Screen »

Cocksedge will transform old vinyl records into analogue amplifiers for smartphones – check them out in our earlier story.

You can bring your own 12″ records and have them transformed for £25, or simply come along and watch the show.

20 September, 9.00pm – midnight

Concrete @ Pizza East
Lower Ground Floor
56 Shoreditch High Street
London, E1 6JJ, UK

See all our stories about the London Design Festival here.

Photographs are by Mark Cocksedge.

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Change the Record by Paul Cocksedge	A Gust of Wind by Paul Cocksedge	Drop by Paul Cocksedge

Milan 2011: visitors to an installation by London designer Paul Cocksedge at the Milan showroom of lighting brand Flos could view an animation of a BMW 6 Series car only by putting their heads inside a plastic lamp shade.

Called Sestosenso, the installation featured conical lamp shades suspended in a white-walled room.

Through the shades visitors can view a movie of the new BMW 6 Series projected on the wall that is invisible to others in the room.

More by Paul Cocksedge on Dezeen »
More stories from Milan 2011 on Dezeen »

Photos are by Mark Cocksedge.

The following information is from the designer:

BMW and FLOS present: SESTOSENSO, a luminary apparition by Paul Cocksedge:

Munich/Milan. Sharing a passion for design, research, experimentation, aesthetic purity and technological innovation, BMW and FLOS have joined forces at Salone del Mobile 2011 to create, thanks to Paul Cocksedge’s talent, SESTOSENSO, a celebration of light. The installation can be visited in the FLOS Professional Space in Corso Monforte 15 from 12th to 17th April.

Inspired by the quality and beauty of light and the astonishing new BMW 6 Series, the first BMW with Full-LED headlights, Paul Cocksedge has erected a seamless, curving, white wall extension to the Flos showroom and low-hanging red and white conical lamps. As with the BMW headlights, the source of light remains hidden, only the light itself is guided through a transparent body, rendering the light source invisible and forever changing its qualities. The resultant, intensely soft light caresses, seduces all around.

Stepping inside one of the impressive SESTOSENSO red lights, a video of the BMW 6 Series Coupe reveals itself on the vast white wall. As if accessing a sixth sense, there is a hint of movement in the corner of the eye. Through the light we see the car: through the car, we understand the light.

The playful sculptural pieces softly illuminate, stimulate and allow contemplation. Cocksedge gives us elegant, ‘functional brilliance’. A hand made Limited Edition of 66 SESTOSENSO light sculptures, designed by Paul Cocksedge Studio for Flos, is released for this special event, to celebrate the perfect fusion of light, design and technology.

The new BMW 6 Series Coupe presents itself as a sport car for connoisseurs who enjoy luxury and appreciate trailblazing technology. The adaptive Full-LED headlamps of the new BMW 6 Series Coupe are an innovation in the field of lighting technology. This innovative technique generates bright white light to assure an especially intensive and uniform illumination of the roadway.

This technique, which is being serially deployed for the first time in the BMW 6 Series Coupe, facilitates an impressive restaging of BMW design icons such as the round headlamps and the taillights.

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A Gust of Wind by Paul Cocksedge	Drop by Paul Cocksedge	Veil by Paul Cocksedge