Milan 2014: fluid compositions of coloured glaze cover the ceramic tops of these metal-framed tables by German designer Elisa Strozyk (+ slideshow).
Strozyk created the table tops by covering them with different liquid glazes, which were then mixed together by rotating each piece and blowing air across the surface.
This technique makes the glazes “pool and mix together”, creating “traces of fluid movement and smoke-like patterns, which are solidified in the heat of the kiln,” said Strozyk.
Shades of grey, blue, brown and white swirl and blend together on the table tops, which have a reflective glass-like finish to them created by the glaze.
“Glazing clay is one of the oldest techniques to decorate products of everyday life,” said the designer. “The process of firing transforms the liquid suspension of metal oxides and powdered minerals into various glass-like surface-finishes.”
Strozyk also carved criss-crossing lines into the glaze on the surface of one table, allowing the ceramic base to show through the rust-coloured shades decorating the top.
The round ceramic tops sit on simple metal frames, which come in copper and steel and are available in three different sizes.
The tables were shown as part of the Berlin Design Selection in the Ventura Lambrate district of Milan last week.
Japanese studio Level Architects squeezed this all-black house onto a narrow plot in Tokyo‘s Fukasawa district, adding sloping offset walls around the lower floors to protect residents’ privacy (+ slideshow).
Confronted with a long, narrow site measuring 4.6 by 17.3 metres, Level Architects‘ main concern was to create a sense of spaciousness and introduce natural light to the four-storey interior of House in Fukasawa. But this had to be done without allowing other people to see inside.
“Rather than allowing the constraining width of the plot to be felt, the goal was to create the illusion of an open connection with the surrounding area while still instilling the sense of privacy desired by most home owners within Tokyo,” said the architect.
Privacy is achieved through the windowless surfaces of the two long facades. Walls also extend from the lower storeys on the building’s shorter sides to restrict views of the interior from the surrounding streets.
The sloping roofline at the rear of the property was dictated by local building regulations, while an inclined wall above the garage allows eastern light to enter the open-plan first floor and blocks direct light from the setting sun.
A skylight at the centre of the house creates a bright area over a white-painted iron staircase that extends between all four storeys. Featuring suspended treads and minimal balustrades, it allows daylight to permeate the lower floors.
The house’s living spaces are all located on the first floor. A double-height living room with full-height windows and a terrace deliberately contrasts with the low-ceilings of the space containing the kitchen and dining area.
Bench seating surrounds two sides of the living room, while a stepped unit mounted on the other wall creates a desk and shelving which continues onto the raised level that leads to the kitchen.
The ceiling heights of the two bedrooms above differ due to the changes in the height of the spaces below. One also opens out to a secluded balcony.
A narrow loft creates a quiet study at the very top of the house, while the ground floor accommodates bathrooms, a garage and traditional Japanese room lined with tatami mats.
Here’s some project text from the architects:
House in Fukasawa, Tokyo, Japan
Located in a quiet neighbourhood where the average house is 2 stories high, the site has a narrow dimension of 4.6 meters wide and 17.3 meters long; very typical of a Tokyo city centre lot. Though the site is narrow, the length of the site created a focal point in the design. Rather than allowing the constraining width of the plot to be felt, the goal was to create the illusion of an open connection with the surrounding area while still instilling the sense of privacy desired by most home owners within Tokyo.
In order to create that sense of privacy, a wall design was incorporated on the North and South sides of the home. The southern wall is cut away in a manner which allows the eastern light to fill the interior of the house, but at the same time shield the inhabitants from the harsh rays of the setting sun. The northern wall is utilised as a reflecting board by capturing the southern light and brightening the interior, all the way down to the first floor where light is hardest to reach.
The second floor level, which is completely open and connected, utilises a very high ceiling for the living room and a low ceiling for the kitchen to differentiate space. The living room is also designed with a set of steps running around three sides of the room to create a built-in sofa and activity space where cushions can be placed, amplifying the sense of openness. The centre of the house hosts an iron staircase and top light which allows for light to filter down through the house, generating unique atmospheres which separate the individual spaces.
The third floor is broken up by different room heights as a result of the design of the second level but which is all connected around the staircase. The Master Bedroom incorporates a slanted ceiling, a result of the setback code common around the city of Tokyo, but which adds a unique element to the room. The loft space opens up to the stairwell, exposing the room to the indirect light coming down from the ceiling window.
The design adjustments made in the section planning of the house emphasised the idea of a long house, one which generates a creative use of line-of-sight and height differentiations to create the sense of a house larger than its narrow width.
Milan 2014: London studio Doshi Levien has designed an armchair for Danish brand Hay with a curving high-backed seat that resembles a traditional Japanese fan.
The Uchiwa chair by Doshi Levien takes its name and its rounded shape from a rigid hand-held fan, which is made from a circular piece of paper attached to a bamboo handle.
The chair’s moulded polyurethane shell is upholstered in either soft down with a quilted cover for use in domestic interiors or more durable moulded foam for the contract market.
Designer Jonathan Levien told Dezeen that Hay gave the studio an open brief to create a comfortable armchair, with the condition that it should also be affordable.
“In a sense it was as free as any other project in creative terms, only we had to make a piece with economy of production in mind,” said Levien.
The designers spent seven months developing the product – focussing on refining the upholstery process to reduce the amount of stitching required and achieve the required affordability.
“Most of the work in an upholstered piece goes into the stitching, so we found a way to minimise this while coming up with an expressive gesture through clever pattern cutting,” Levien explained.
The chair’s shell is injection moulded in a rounded shape ,with folds on the rear adding structure and creating sharp lines that contrast with the soft upholstery of the seat.
The expansive shell is supported by a compact oak frame that matches the curve on the underside of the seat and is also available in a stained grey finish.
Designer Nipa Doshi reclines in an Uchiwa chair
An accompanying foot stool has also been developed and Doshi Levien is working with Hay to expand the Uchiwa collection by introducing a low back version of the chair.
Milan 2014: Swedish studio Claesson Koivisto Rune has created a modular chandelier, with strings of ovoid-shaped lights influenced by the shape of grapes hanging on a vine.
Claesson Koivisto Rune‘s Grappa chandelier for London company Wonderglass comprises glass diffusers produced in two slightly different lengths. These can be arranged along a central stem to create strings of glowing beads.
“Like a bunch of grapes on a vine, nature creates beauty through variation within repetition,” said the designers. “The bunch consists of a number of the same-shaped grapes but each grape varies slightly in size to the next.”
“With this mental image in mind, we have developed a concept based on stacking a series of lampshades to create columns of various lengths,” they added.
Influenced by the spectacular chandeliers that hang in palaces and grand buildings, the designers wanted to develop a modular product that can be used to create large installations as well as smaller lighting fixtures.
Combining the two elements in various configurations results in a multitude of subtly different installations that can be adapted to suit specific spaces.
The translucent glass shades diffuse light from rows of LED bulbs fixed to the surface of a transparent column and the LEDs can also emit coloured light if desired.
Installing the Grappa chandelier
Wonderglass uses traditional glass-blowing facilities in Venice to produce the elements of its chandeliers. The brand also launched designs by Zaha Hadid and John Pawson at its Milan exhibition last week.
Architecture studio Piercy & Company has slotted a family house behind a nineteenth-century stable facade in south-west London, creating a pair of rusted gable walls with a glazed stairwell in between (+ slideshow).
Located within a conservation zone near Kew Gardens, the three-storey Kew House was designed by London studio Piercy & Company to respect the scale and massing of its historic surroundings, but also create a generous modern home for a family.
To achieve this, the architect retained the ageing stable wall at the front of the property, then replicated its shape to create a pair of matching two-storey wings behind.
Both of these were then clad with pre-weathered steel, providing a counterpoint to the old brickwork. In some places the steel covers the windows, but is speckled with irregular perforations that allow an exchange of light and views.
“The deep orange tones of the weathering steel and the perforations within this skin echo the dappled light and autumnal palette of nearby Kew Gardens,” said the architect in a statement.
A glazed stairwell connects the two wings, framing an entrance patio at the front of the property and a secluded courtyard at the rear. There’s also a large basement that spans the site to unite the wings on the lowest level.
The interior layout was arranged according to how the family expected to use the space, which the architect says “ranged over imagining the children running about the house, summer dinners spilling outside and the balance of quiet nooks with social spaces, to pragmatic concerns like drying laundry and how to build a boat in the basement.”
Both wings contain living rooms on the ground floor and bedroom spaces upstairs. The kitchen and family dining room is located on the northern side, with a laundry room and pantry, while a lounge sits at the southern end and is sunken below ground by a metre.
Referred to as “the snug”, this room also features exposed brickwork, built-in oak-veneer cupboards and a narrow curving lightwell.
“The [rooms] are intended to be informal but rich with incidental spaces, unexpected light and complex vertical volumes,” said the architect.
The large basement allowed the architects to establish an on-site joinery workshop during the build. This allowed the team to experiment with different construction techniques and put together bespoke panelling and furniture.
The space now functions as a place where one of the residents, who works as an engineer, can focus on personal projects.
Here’s the project description from Piercy & Company:
Kew House
Set within the Kew Green Conservation Area of south-west London, the four bedroom family house is formed of two sculptural weathering steel volumes inserted behind a retained nineteenth century stable wall. The brief evolved through a series of conversations with clients Tim and Jo Lucas, which ranged over imagining the children running about the house, summer dinners spilling outside and the balance of quiet nooks with social spaces, to pragmatic concerns like drying laundry and how to build a boat in the basement. In response, Piercy&Company designed the house as a built diagram of the way the family wanted to use the spaces, with an internal landscape of alternative routes and levels connecting expressive spaces aimed at creating moments of delight for adults and children alike.
First and foremost a family home, the spaces are intended to be informal but rich with incidental spaces, unexpected light and complex vertical volumes. The house is formed of a simple plan to make the most of the constrained site, reduce the building’s mass in the streetscape and respond to the living patterns of the family. Consisting of two rectangles; one slightly smaller, set back and sunken 1m lower, the wings each have living spaces on the ground floor and bedrooms above. Connecting the wings is a glass encased circulation link which allows light to pour into the house whilst providing breathing space between internal spaces.
The two shells housing the main living and sleeping areas are formed of 4mm weathering steel, a hardworking combination of structure and facade. The weathering steel is maintenance free, essential for the enclosed site, and is softened by a patchwork of expressed welds and perforated panels. The deep orange tones of the weathering steel and the perforations within this skin echo the dappled light and autumnal palette of nearby Kew Gardens. Inside, oak veneer panelling and Dinesen flooring are the basis of a light, natural and refined palette of materials.
A list of planning constraints – including a conservation area context, a change of use and no access on three sides – formed a backdrop to the project. To overcome these challenges Piercy & Company inserted the house behind a retained 19th century brick gable end and split the house into twin gabled forms in keeping with local massing. The natural patina of the weathering steel with its marks, stains and perforations giving the surfaces different characters depending on the exposure and orientation, anchor the form into its context and impart a sense of permanence.
Kew House was an experimental build, driven by the architect’s and client’s shared interest in a kit-of-parts approach and the self-build possibilities emerging from digital fabrication. The weathering steel shells were prefabricated in Hull and then craned into place and welded together.
CNC milling and the on-site joinery workshop were used to create bespoke panelling, furniture and cabinetwork that could be fitted by the client and a small team of architecture graduates, testing the theory that digital fabrication can reduce the distance between design and production. The implications of this technology for house building are manifold with bespoke fit-out on a budget becoming increasingly viable.
Client: Tim & Jo Lucas Architect: Piercy & Company Structural Engineer: Tim Lucas (Price & Myers) M&E Engineer: Arup Sustainability Consultant: Price & Myers Key Sub-Contractors: Commercial Systems International (CSI), Estbury Basements
Milan 2014: designers from MIT Media Lab’s Tangible Media Group have created a shape-shifting table that reacts to human presence with a series of 1,000 tiny motors built into the frame (+ movie).
Named Transform, the table is divided into three separate surfaces, where more than 1,000 small squares attached to individual motors that are hidden from view.
When a user passes their hand across the surface, the individual squares rise up in sequence and create a ripple effect.
The table can also create abstract shapes on its own, and transfer objects across the surface, thanks to a series of pre-programmed animation sequences.
Transform was created by Daniel Leithinger and Sean Follmer and overseen by their professor Hiroshi Ishii.
“A pixel is intangible,” Ishii told Dezeen. “You can only use it through mediating and remote control, like a mouse or a touchscreen. We decided to physically embody computation and information.”
Hiroshi Ishii, head of concept design for Transform
According to the team, the concept is a look at how furniture could evolve in future. It forms part of the MIT Tangible Media Group’s Radical Atoms project, which explores human interaction with materials that are reconfigurable by computer.
“We don’t want the furniture to become more important than the motion. We want to make it feel like it’s a unified design and they are not separate,” said Amit Zoran, one of the product designers on the project.
Transform changes shape by a series of sensors that detect movement above the surface. However, the table could change according to the emotions of people around it, and create a melody to soothe those around the table, said its creators.
“Imagine, this is equivalent of the invention of a new medium. Painting, plastic, and computer graphics. It has infinite possibilities,” said Ishii.
White ceramic tiles create a brickwork pattern across the walls and roof of this Paris boutique designed by Kengo Kuma and Associates for Chinese lifestyle brand Shang Xia (+ slideshow).
Japanese firm Kengo Kuma and Associates previously designed the Beijing and Shanghai stores for Shang Xia. For the brand’s first retail space in Europe, the architects designed an interior covered in over 10,000 tiles that extends to a layered ceiling installation.
The studio chose rectangular tiles with a glossy surface to reflect light through the store, describing the material as having an edge “thin enough to pass through light”.
“We used the same material for tiles to hang from the ceiling and cover the space,” explained the studio. “Taking advantage of this glazed white surface that softly mirrors its environments, we set up a place like a cloud brimming with light.”
The tiles also form a backdrop for the shopfront display windows, creating a screen that alternates between solid and void.
Located on a corner plot close to Boulevard Saint-Germain, the oval-shaped boutique showcases a range of furniture, homeware, accessories and clothing.
A tiled partition divides the store and is punctured by rectangular recesses, creating display spaces for jewellery. Tabletops and boxy stools are positioned in front, where customers can take a seat while trying on jewellery.
Glass-topped storage cases present a range of accessories, while more recessed shelving on the perimeter walls are filled with homeware items.
Scarves and shawls are tied to silver railings near the entrance and racks of clothing are set into the outer tiled walls, along with a selection of furniture. Polished wooden floors feature throughout.
The design has a similar aesthetic to Shang Xia’s two stores in China. While the Beijing store contains a lattice of extruded aluminium sections, the Shanghai boutique features a faceted white interior.
Milan 2014: Japanese architect Toyo Ito spoke to Dezeen about his design for textile brand Kinnasand’s first Milan showroom and his “site specific” architecture (+ interview + slideshow).
Kinnasand, a company founded in Sweden over 200 years ago and now owned by Danish textile brand Kvadrat, asked the 2013 Pritzker Prize-winner Toyo Ito to develop its showroom interior for Milan design week.
Ito rarely designs interior projects, but in an exclusive interview with Dezeen the architect said that he agreed to collaborate with Kinnasand as he felt that several of its fabrics were reminiscent of the transparency and natural influences inherent in some of his architectural projects.
“What I have felt from the start is that it would be important to create an architecture that is more site specific, that is going to take into account what surrounds the human begins,” said Ito, who discussed the underlying ethos that connects the wide variety of styles and forms he has experimented with.
“When I think about a new piece of architecture, I think about making it as if it was a piece of clothing that must be wrapped around a human being,” he said.
Ito’s career has spanned more than four decades. Predominantly based in Japan, his best known projects include the Mikimoto Building, created for a jewellery company in the Ginza district of Tokyo – which features a series of irregular glazed openings all over its facade – and the Tod’s building in Tokyo with criss-crossed concrete bracing that echoes the silhouettes of the trees on the street it faces on to.
His more recent projects include the Sendai Mediatheque – a transparent glass cube that aimed to remove some of the architectural barriers around how space should be used. In 2011 he completed work on the Toyo Ito School of Architecture in Ehime, completed in 2011.
At the last Venice Architecture Biennale in 2012, he curated Japan’s award-winning pavilion presenting alternative housing solutions for the aftermath of the country’s 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
For Kinnasand’s showroom, he chose to translate the properties of the company’s textiles into the materials used for the showroom’s walls, floors and ceiling.
“Some of them were transparent, others were semi-transparent, all of them were very light and it really felt like they could float over the whole space of the showroom,” said Ito, describing the fabrics.
“I decided that the architecture for this space needed to be something that would not overwhelm the essence of these fabrics. It needed to be something that could leave the textiles the possibility to float around the space,” he added.
“This is the image that I had in my mind and this is also why I decided to use the reflective glass, but at the same time I decided it needed to be something with a not too strong reflection. I wanted to create a soft but deep environment for the showroom.”
The glass walls have a frosted finish that reduces their reflectivity and are complemented by the dull shine of the electropolished steel panels on the ceiling and the polished white limestone floor tiles.
Two curving metal poles suspended from the ceiling provide rails over which the fabrics can be draped to enclose the central area of the showroom and form its only product displays.
A storage area for further fabric samples is concealed behind floor-to-ceiling wooden doors featuring minimal metal handles at one end of the space.
The clean and bright aesthetic is enhanced by basic furnishings including a rounded meeting table and chairs made from pale wood, which reference the brand’s Scandinavian heritage.
Lighting is provided by spotlights and strips of LEDs hidden behind the edges of the ceiling that wash the walls in light that can be adjusted between different colours to alter the mood of the space.
Read the edited transcript from our interview with Toyo Ito:
Marcus Fairs: How did you get to come into contact with the brand and how did you apply your architectural ideas to an interior?
Toyo Ito: About one and a half years ago, I had a visit from a Kinnasand person that arrived in Tokyo with a suitcase full of textiles and I was asked if I would be interested in doing the interior design for the showroom. And I have to say that usually I don’t do just interior design, I do architecture. But in this case, the textiles that I had the chance to see were so beautiful, so brilliant, that I really wanted to do just the interior design for the space.
Marcus Fairs: Tell us about the way you’ve used the space here.
Toyo Ito: I had the chance to take first a look at all the textiles of Kinnasand and I realised that is was very sensitive fabric. Some of them were transparent, others are semi transparent, all of them were very light and it really felt like they could float over the whole space of the showroom. They could actually envelop, they could wrap the whole environment.
So I decided that the architecture for this space needed to be something that would not overwhelm the essence of these fabrics. It needed to be something that could leave to these the textiles the possibility to float around the space. This is the image that I had in my mind and this is also why I decided to use this reflective glass that you can see here but at the same time, I decided it needed to be something with a not too strong reflection. I wanted to create a soft but deep environment for this showroom.
In order to have the materials of this architecture not take all the attention in this space, I give a lot of attention to small details and this is why I decided to choose simple materials. As you can see for those doors, you have a surface that is very plain and flat but at the same time is very simple and linear. So you do not have a frame where the doors are actually hidden, you have some doors that become the surface itself of a very linear construction, so that it could envelop this whole environment. This is something that I really wanted to give great attention to in the details.
Marcus Fairs: The white fabric with the pattern of circular dots on it reminds me of the facade of the Mikimoto building in Ginza, Tokyo, which has a similar pattern of circular windows. Did you spot that similarity?
Toyo Ito: Absolutely, I think that the fabric right behind me is perfect for my architecture. In relation to the building of Mikimoto in Ginza, it has got a very simple surface with several sized holes in it. Also, just by having a look at the fabric behind me, I think I would really like to use Kinnasand’s fabrics and textiles in my own architecture.
Toyo Ito’s Mikimoto building. Photo by Iwan Baan
Marcus Fairs: Throughout your career, there’s a lot of different forms you use and different structural solutions. How would you describe your approach to architecture?
Toyo Ito: As you said, my style, the materials I’ve been using, has changed throughout several eras. Also the shape and the form of my architecture. But there is one thing that is consistent, which is that my own architecture is something made for human beings. You have other architects that think if human beings are not a part of the particular architecture, that architecture will look even more beautiful. I do not think so. I think that architecture is something that must be made for human begins. That human beings must be partners with the architecture itself. So when I think about a new piece of architecture, I think about making it as if it was a piece of clothing that must be wrapped around a human being. This is my image of architecture.
Marcus Fairs: Sendai Mediatheque was a hugely revolutionary building because of the structure and the way it used data, and the Mikimoto building is fun and it has a pattern on it. So what is the link between those two different architectures?
Toyo Ito: Both the Sendai Mediatheque and the Mikimoto building have got a very important point which is the structure. Of course what I wanted to create was a kind of structure that had not yet been seen until that very moment. But what I wanted to focus my attention on is that when you decide to use a new kind of structure, you have to think of how you can make it as human as possible. To turn it into a human space as much as possible.
Sendai Mediatheque, 1995 – 2000, Miyagi, Japan. Photo by Nacasa & Partners Inc.
For the Sendai Mediatheque, I decided to use pieces of wood like tubes that would give the human being inside the space the idea of being surround by a forest – so you have a human being that can enjoy a video or just some time inside the forest. And for the Mikimoto building, of course that was also commercial architecture, so we didn’t have the chance of making the interior design. As for the main architecture, I decided that it was also interesting in that case to have the light entering the building as if it were through the leaves of a forest and so in both cases, you have a very natural element that is strongly felt by the human being inside the environment and that’s the common point in my architecture.
Marcus Fairs: And the Tod’s building in Omatesando in Tokyo has a glass facade with large tree shapes set in it.
Toyo Ito: Of course Tod’s even more than the Mikimoto building, you would have the possibility to see a very strong and direct wooden silhouette, wooden structure. In that case, we didn’t have that much of a volume we could use and also the facade was L-shaped. In that case we decided to have a wooden structure and having it completely surrounded by wood you would feel like you were really surrounded and wrapped by nature and this is the image that I had when I created the design.
What I have felt from the start is that it would be important to create an architecture that is more site specific, that is going to take into account what surrounds the human begins. So it would be important to create an architecture that destroys that distance between human begins and nature. Up to now, human beings have lived in environments that are very far from nature and actually I would like the chance for human beings to live inside nature and to be surrounded by nature.
TOD’S Omotesando Building, 2002 – 2004, Tokyo. Photo by Nacasa & Partners Inc.
Of course you have to take one step at a time, and I think that if we do take one step at a time in that direction we can achieve some kind of evolution. And I can also tell you that to a certain extent, we are already going towards that direction, and if we continue completely towards the direction and arrive at the goal we will be able to enjoy a much more lively life. We will get back to a more primitive instinct that will give us the possibility to be more natural in our everyday life. Like animals to a certain point, having the possibility to completely enjoy the surroundings and that is the kind of architecture that I think we should all aim for.
Marcus Fairs: And when you say “we”, do you mean “we” as an architectural office, or “we” as a society?
Toyo Ito: Of course I mean my personal office but not only just that. I would like to think I am extending the meaning of what I just said to all people who are currently making architecture.
Milan 2014: Space Caviar’s algorithmic publishing project will be travelling to Venice for the architecture biennale, with the final issues from Milan design week now available to download – including contributions from Formafantasma and Martino Gamper (+ slideshow + download).
Joseph Grima‘s design research collaborative Space Caviar created a new realtime publishing algorithm, called Fear of Missing Out (FOMO), which combines text produced using voice recognition technology with text and images posted on social platforms like Instagram and Twitter.
The FOMObile in transport mode
The software debuted in Milan last week with a series of talks called On the Fly providing the core content for the resulting publications, which were printed instantly from a travelling publishing unit known as the FOMObile and based on an Open Structures modular system designed by Thomas Lommee.
The FOMO production line
Participants in the talks, which took place in Nike‘s Aero-static dome at Palazzo Clerici, included Martino Gamper, Clemens Weisshaar, Atelier Bow Wow, Bart Hess and Formafantasma. Members of the public from all over the world were also invited to take part by using the #OnTheFlyMilan hashtag on social media networks.
Some of the printed FOMO publications in Milan
“The idea behind FOMO is to explore the potential of event metadata as source material for a performative publishing process, but the print component is important – the whole thing made a lot more sense when we bound it all together into a single volume at the end on the FOMO sewing machine,” said Grima.
The FOMO publications were saddle stitched using sewing machines
The FOMObile will be in residence in Venice in early September and may also make an appearance during the opening weekend in early June.
Issues of FOMO were handed at Palazzo Clerici
“From a Dadaist perspective I think the Milan experiment went very well – almost everything about it was unexpected, such as how moments of intensity and moments of inactivity are revealed in the blanks and overlaps,” said Grima.
The FOMObile printer
“What we’d like to do next is explore the other end of the spectrum, perhaps creating something that is indistinguishable from a conventional publication, for example working with the social media and physical interactions between people on a weekday in one of the piazzas of Genoa,” he said.
FOMO publications were bound with a sewing machine
The project was inspired by a comment from futurist and writer Bruce Sterling, who said that “events were the new magazines”. Sterling was among the visitors to the project during Milan design week.
Once bound, the publications were distributed for free
Dezeen promotion: new products by Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby and a pavilion by Studio Weave will feature at this year’s Clerkenwell Design Week in London from 20 to 22 May.
This image: Tunisia Made lighting and vessels by Hend Krichen. Main image: Smith installation by Studio Weave
Highlights of the fifth annual Clerkenwell Design are set to include installations around the central London district and product launches from prominent designers and brands.
London-based Studio Weave has designed a pavilion for St John’s Square that references Clerkenwell’s craft heritage and will host a series of workshops during the event.
Mews tiles by Mutina, Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby for Domus
Design duo Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby will showcase a new range of tiles for Domus created with Italian ceramics company Mutina.
A new line of pendant lights by Arik Levy is to be presented by Barcelona lighting manufacturer Vibia.
Skyline lamps by Örsjö
More lighting on show will include British studio Deadgood‘s metal laser-cut Marionette lamps and new a range of lights from UK brand Another Country by New York designers Workstead.
Register free online to attend Clerkenwell Design Week 2014, taking place from 20 to 22 May.
Read on for more information from the organisers:
Trend Spotting at Clerkenwell Design Week – 20-22 May 2014
At the forefront of design and innovation, Clerkenwell Design Week (20-22 May 2014) – now in its fifth year – once again plays host to a curated showcase of some of the best creative ideas from both design and architecture. The key shows, Design Factory, Platform, Detail and Additions, will present a comprehensive collection of the latest designs by leading brands from the UK and around the world. These four shows, coupled with a range of specially commissioned projects – as part of CDW Presents, firmly place Clerkenwell Design Week as a leading festival for innovations and design trends.
Derome lights by Pinch
Texture
A mix of materials, natural surfaces and tactile fabrics emerges as a key trend at this year’s Clerkenwell Design Week. Celebrating its 40 years of textile innovation, leading fabric brand Camira will launch its new Silk fabric, a mix of three natural fibres including flax, wool and silk. Pinch Design’s new Derome light will have its UK launch at the festival, while Swedish brand Örsjö will launch Skyline by Folkform, a new lighting collection with a pixilated effect – inspired by the architecture in Stockholm.
Architectural
Clerkenwell is renowned for its high concentration of architects, and it is only natural that this influence is reflected at Clerkenwell Design Week with architectural themed designs. Chisel & Mouse will present their scaled-down models of architecture landmarks, introducing the new Frank Lloyd Wright collection at Additions. Newcomer to the festival, Discipline will launch the sculptural Last Side Table by Max Lamb at Design Factory.
In collaboration with designers Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby, Domus and Italian ceramic house, Mutina will showcase a new collection of tiles – entitled Mews – by the designers at the festival. The range is inspired by the landscape, history and personality of London. Meanwhile, Barcelona based lighting manufacturer Vibia will present Wireflow, a new line of pendant lights by Arik Levy that symbolises linear and three-dimensional geometries, on the top floor at Design Factory. For CDW Presents, architecture practice Studio Weave – led by Je Ahn – has created Smith, a pavilion that pays homage to Clerkenwell’s heritage of craft making. During the festival, a series of workshops will be held in this space on St John’s Square.
Cushions by Toghal
Pattern
Floral prints and colour-popping fabrics are a key trend at Clerkenwell Design Week. Newly launched African textile specialists Toghal will exhibit at the new show Additions. Their first collection takes inspiration from the Mbuti of the Congo forest and the Yoruba from Nigeria.
Pattern enthusiasts Lewis and Wood will showcase their new wallpaper and fabric collections at Detail, while Tori Murphy – known for her geometric designs – applies soft muted colours to her British made, woven textiles, resulting in a soft and luxurious look.
Craft
Another prominent trend this year is craft – products with emphasis on the maker and materials. Young designer Hend Krichen will bring her Tunisia Made collection, a series of vessels created using Tunisia’s artisanal skills and craftsmanship, to the festival.
At Platform, new design company Tamma Design – run by Estonia born Johanna Tammsalu – will showcase its porcelain Solid Spin lamps, while The Camberwell Collective, a group of third year students and recent graduates from the BA 3-D Design course at Camberwell College of Arts, will present a selection of their latest work.
Bent wall lamp by Workstead
Woodwork
A rustic revolution, there is a growing emphasis on natural materials in furniture design. German based Vitamin Design will bring its Stool Klotz to Clerkenwell Design Week, a solid design that embraces the natural knots and formations in the wood. Meanwhile Barnby and Day will showcase hand-made furniture from their country workshop near the picturesque Hay-on-Wye, including a new handmade range using American black walnut and oak.
As part of CDW Presents, design collective Okay Studio, supported by the American Hardwood Export Council, has produced an exhibition – entitled FIVE, to celebrate the festival’s fifth edition. Inspired by five American hardwood species – tulipwood, ash, hard maple, red oak and cherry, five design teams from Okay Studio are working independently to create an eclectic mix of designs that will be on show at the Scin Gallery during the festival.
Lighting
Lighting is always a standout feature for Clerkenwell Design Week, and this year is no different with a dedicated lighting floor at Design Factory. Leading lighting experts Holloways of Ludlow, Artemide, Anglepoise, Prandina, Catellani and Smith, Studio Italia Design and ModoLuce will showcase their lighting range in the area.
A festival regular Deadgood will present its Marionette light, made from laser cut, folded sheet metal, while British design brand Another Country will launch an exclusive new range of industrial lighting by New York design studio, Workstead.
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