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London Design Festival 2013: British designer Sebastian Wrong has collaborated with Danish design brand Hay to create a furniture collection, presented at a Georgian townhouse in London this week.

Sebastian Wrong worked with Hay to compile a collection of 34 new products, ranging from lighting to ceramics, textiles, glassware and furniture.

“The concept was born out of developing a new lighting collection for Hay because they don’t have any lighting,” Wrong told Dezeen. “That concept grew larger and larger into actually doing a comprehensive collection, which is what we’re representing.”

Pieces include a ceramics range by Ian McIntyre and an interlocking wooden shelving sysytem by Lucien Gumy. Patterned textile designs are by Memphis group founding member Nathalie Du Pasquier and fashion designer Bernhard Willhelm.

“It’s a mix and match aesthetic from working with a number of international designers on individual products, as well as designing a lot within our in-house team,” said Wrong. “It’s quite an eclectic range but there’s a character that runs through the whole body of work, which pulls it together.”

Wrong also told us that one of their main aims was to keep the designs affordable.

“[The collection is] extremely well priced as well, which has been a big motivation,” he said. “A huge part of the brief was to hit a certain price point, which is very important for us, and I think we’ve succeeded in doing that.”

The Wrong for Hay collection is currently on display inside a Georgian townhouse near St. James’s Park, in London’s west end, for the London Design Festival.

Last year Sebastian Wrong resigned as design director of Established & Sons, the design company he co-founded in 2005.

Hay also produces a range of glassware by Scholten & Baijings, which have been used in a dining room installation at the V&A Museum for the design festival.

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Wrong for Hay

A new design venture debuts at the 2013 London Design Festival in a Georgian townhouse in St. James’s Park.

Wrong for Hay is a new design venture. A collaboration between Danish design brand Hay and London-based designer Sebastian Wrong, Wrong for Hay makes its debut at the 2013 London Design Festival with a collection of items, ranging from lighting to ceramics, textiles, glassware and furniture.

Since its first collection debuted in Cologne in 2003, Hay has built up a global manufacturing and distribution network, including dedicated Hay stores in Denmark, Norway and Germany. A strong relationship between designer, manufacturer, distributor and consumer allows for flexibility and innovation at affordable prices.

Wrong for Hay builds upon these foundations. Both satellite collection and standalone venture, Wrong for Hay is based in London under the creative direction of Sebastian Wrong, Wrong for Hay draws upon the city’s creative energy, eclecticism and talent to explore new working relationships, new products and new markets.

Hay’s principle of good design at accessible prices will be central to Wrong for Hay, while the strength of the supply chain and established manufacturing partnerships will allow for innovation, offering an opportunity for young design talent. The debut collection exemplifies London’s global sphere of influence, offering an eclectic selection of new products from both established and emerging designers.

“Wrong for Hay is an opportunity to push the boundaries in terms of curation,” says Sebastian Wrong, “We can be experimental and sophisticated but also pragmatic. It’s a platform for new work that celebrates London’s design culture.”

The products include a ceramics range by Ian McIntyre, textile designs by Natalie Du Pasquier (founding member of the Memphis group) and fashion designer Bernhard Wilhelm, as well as the production debut of the award- winning The Wooden Shelf interlocking shelving by Lucien Gumy. Other designers include Stefan Diez, Anderssen & Voll, Line Depping, Jakob Jørgensen, Silo Studio, Simon Donald, SNÆFRÍÐ & HILDIGUNNUR, Shane Schneck, Leon Ransmeier, AKKA Studio, Bertjan Pot, Daniel and Emma, Faudet and Harrison, Thomas Jenkins and SmithMatthias. The collection extends to lighting, glassware, and furniture and includes new pieces produced by the in-house Wrong for Hay design team.

The Wrong for Hay collection will be debuted at the 2013 London Design Festival in two venues in St. James’s Park. The first, a restored Georgian townhouse, will act as a showcase for the entire collection. The initial Wrong for Hay pieces will also furnish a pop-up restaurant, catered by the Peckham Refreshment Rooms, and located in the former St. Stephen’s Club overlooking St. James’s Park.

The Wrong for Hay collection will be available through existing and new retail partnerships as well as the Hay stores.

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collection appeared first on Dezeen.

In an industry that has been known to label its constituents with simply one ability or another, the enigmatically artistic Kate Moross is genuinely defining a term that is so often gratuitously applied: Creative. The shift toward owning a diverse skill set is…

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News: British graphic designer Peter Saville has tonight been named winner of this year’s London Design Medal, and has declared: “Manchester is now the capital of the UK”.

Saville, best known for his record covers for bands including Joy Division and New Order, will receive the medal at a ceremony on Wednesday at Lancaster House in the West End during the London Design Festival.

Born in Manchester in 1955, Saville studied graphic design at Manchester Polytechnic and made his name designing artwork for Factory Records in the same city. He moved to London in 1979, where his design consultancy clients included department store Selfridges, record label EMI and fashion houses such as Jil Sander, John Galliano, Christian Dior and Stella McCartney. He has been creative director of the City of Manchester since 2004.

London Design Festival chairman John Sorrell announced the award at the V&A museum tonight, when he introduced a conversation between Saville and journalist Paul Morley at the first session of the Global Design Forum.

In the conversation with Morley, Saville described his career as a 20-year meandering journey. “I’ve spent 20 years looking for a job,” he said.

Saville also spoke about his work as creative director for Manchester, helping his home city forge a new post-industrial identity and coming up with the slogan “Original modern” to give a timeless spin on its history as the world’s first industrial city.

“Manchester is the capital of the UK,” he said, talking up the city’s prospects. “London is no longer the capital of the UK. London has floated off to be a world city.”

Talking about his early work for Factory Records in the early 1980s, he said: “It was nothing to do with the record and nothing to do with the title. It was just a feeling of the now. It was entirely about lifestyle, it was about making you feel better.”

“In a limited, amateurish way, I was suggesting how I thought things could be,” he said of his iconic record cover designs. “Not how record covers could be, but how the ephemera of everyday life could be. It might just as easily have been a bus ticket or a cinema ticket or a cigarette packet.”

He added: “The culture of design we could perceive as young people in the 1970s or even in the early 1980s was very different from the way it is now. [Graphic art] was still a virtuous task, it was still a battle to raise standards. It was a challenge throughout the rest of the 1980s. The last recession was the watershed. The current culture is clued-in as to the power of applied imagery. Twenty-five years ago people talked about the logo-type, nowadays they talk about branding.”

Explaining why he has never worked for mainstream brands, he said: “With communication design being a service, there haven’t been many things I’ve wanted to serve. I wouldn’t want to work with British Airways. I wouldn’t actually want to make British Airways look better, because it’s not genuine.”

“Record covers are weird,” he continued. “You can do great work for a mediocre record and no one talks about it. You can do mediocre work for a great record and everyone calls it iconic. The iconic label that much of my work has is because the records were fundamental to many people’s lives.”

“The worst time for me was the 1990s, because I was the last big thing, or one of the last big things. I defined the 1980s. It was a nightmare, I felt obsolete, I was very passé.”

His reputation was later rehabilitated when a new generation of London design firms including Tomato and Fuel hailed him as a key inspiration. “My work was many people’s – many designers and creative people’s – first introduction to new ideas.”

Today, Saville accepts he has himself become a brand. “There’s so little meaning in the production of products today that people invite me to do what I want,” he said of recent collaborations. “They invite me to be facetious about the medium itself,” he said, recalling how he recently emblazoned the slogan “meaningless excitement” on a range of clothing for Yohji Yamamoto.

Now in its seventh year, the London Design Medal is awarded annually by a panel of judges to an individual for their contribution to design and London.

Previous winners include Marc Newson, Paul Smith, Zaha Hadid, Thomas Heatherwick and Ron Arad. Last year the accolade went to design duo El Ultimo Grito.

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by Elyssa Goodman After working in advertising for over a decade, Britain-based designer Andy Poplar was burned out—he decided to quit his job and be a stay-at-home dad. Then one day, two years ago, he decided to teach himself how to etch glass,…

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London Design Festival 2013: London designer Benjamin Hubert claims to have created the world’s lightest timber table and is showing it off at the Aram Gallery in London this week (+ movie).

Benjamin Hubert worked with Canadian manufacturer Corelam to develop the table, which is 2.5 metres long, one metre wide and weighs just nine kilograms.

The structure was made by corrugating three layers of 0.8 millimetre-thick birch aircraft plywood. The edge of the table is just 3.5 millimetres thick.

The corrugated wooden structure is covered with a plain sheet to give a flat top, while the A-frame legs are made from a sandwich of two corrugated layers.

“Made using 70-80 percent less material than a standard timber table, Ripple can be assembled and manoeuvred by a single person,” Hubert said.

Ripple will be launched at the Aram Store in London’s Covent Garden as part of a solo exhibition of Hubert’s work taking place during the London Design Festival.

Benjamin Hubert has also designed a chair made from lightweight woven mesh and aluminium that weighs just three kilograms, another chair with a seat and back formed from a single curled sheet of plywood, and a series of tables made from expanded steel mesh – see more products by Benjamin Hubert.

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Here’s a project description from the designer:

Ripple: Benjamin Hubert Research

Benjamin Hubert has designed the world’s lightest timber table as part of an internal studio research project into lightweight constructions. The table, titled Ripple, is 2.5 metres long, 1 metre wide, and weighs just 9 kilograms. Made using 70-80% less material than a standard timber table, Ripple can be assembled and manoeuvred by a single person.

The table’s impressive strength to weight ratio is enabled by an innovative production process of corrugating plywood for furniture through pressure lamination, which was developed by Benjamin Hubert with Canadian manufacturer Corelam.

Ripple is made entirely from 3 ply 0.8mm birch aircraft plywood, a timber sourced only in Canada, where the table is manufactured. The material is the same as that used in construction of the Hughes H-4 Hercules – popularly known as the “Spruce Goose” – the world’s largest all timber airplane. The strength of the material in combination with the unique lamination process means the edge of Ripple measures just 3.5mm.

Ripple is minimal in its design language, employing a simple knockdown construction. The top surface is corrugated plywood overlaid by a flat sheet, and the A-frame legs are a sandwich construction of two corrugated plywood layers.

Ripple will be launched at Aram Store during London Design Festival in September as part of Benjamin Hubert’s inaugural UK solo exhibition, Antecedents. It will be available to buy from September on commission through Benjamin Hubert.

Material: Canadian Spruce 0.8mm aircraft plywood
Dimensions: L2.5mxW1mxH0.74m

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Benjamin Hubert appeared first on Dezeen.