Category Archives: showtime…

Weekend DESIGN inspiration – University of Sussex Product Design Degree show – Design 2013

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This week we are not talking about colour inspiration, but Weekend Design Inspiration, courtesy of the great Product Designers at the University of Sussex who are currently exhibiting their final year show – design 2013.

Ok. This is a little biased as I am privileged enough to both guest lecture and guest critique on the Product Design degree course, but the exhibition of the final projects produced by the dedicated students is well worth a visit if you are in or around Brighton this week.

A variety of projects are on show, from a conceptual product which edges into fashion and deals with personal privacy to a modern heirloom for a child which encourages imaginative play and memory attachment.

Interactive products have also been created, including a social interaction toy and a game to help combat childhood obesity, and products with great social value such as a sleeping bag / jacket product for rough sleepers.

It is free to attend and well worth the trip to the University of Sussex today or tomorrow  Check out the full design 2013 website here…

SPOTTED – beautiful functional ceramics of Holly Bell

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We are very firm believers that you should have a good selection of tableware - everyday pieces, special pieces and a selection of one-off pieces. Yet another spot from the Artists Open Houses in Brighton this year, we saw these pieces of functional ceramics from local artist Holly Bell and instantly fell in love with their simple shapes and soft colourings.

Perfect to compliment a range of tableware as beautiful one off pieces, made with care. 

bowlsround dimlpe jugs

 

 

 

 

 

 

Holly states that the colours of the South Downs provide inspiration for the pieces she produces, and as locals, we can definitely see the influences of chalk paths, hedges and the sea. The muted colours also fade across the pieces giving them a beautiful washed appearance.

Our particular favourites were the small jugs which have a beautifully sculpted spout and central dimple on the body for holding with ease. They are balanced, delicate yet robust – real winners.

See Holly Bell at 64 Sandgate Road as part of the Artists Open Houses, or at her website – www.hollybell.co.uk

(inages via Holly Bell)

Monday musings – how we can all make the most of The Chelsea Flower Show

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This morning on Monday musings we are revisiting a post we published last year about the RHS Chelsea Flower Show as we feel it is even more relevant. This years Chelsea spectacle began yesterday, but with escalating budgets and intricate designs, how can the average visitor or viewer find anything to ‘take home’…?

(originally published 24th May 2012)

Over the past three days we have looked (very briefly) at some of the highlights for the three shows which come to fruition this week. Each of the three are exceedingly different, so, what is the relevance of these events to the regular visitor, with modest living spaces and usually even more modest outdoor spaces – all funded with terribly restricted pursestrings.

It is easy to steal ideas and inspiration from the Chelsea Fringe and Clerkenwell – they are immediately ‘accessible’ to all of us. Firstly, there are small or no charges for any of the events. The events are very varied, just like us. There is a huge sense of community.  It is very cliche to say that there is ‘something for everyone’ but I truly believe the statement. But RHS Chelsea? With a large entrance fee and restricted tickets, massive sponsorship deals and massive budgets can the general public really be inspired?

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is a formidable beast with a royal heritage – in short, a Chelsea Gold has become the pinnacle of many a designers and growers medal shelf. The years of training and hard toil are rewarded in a similar way to an Olympic event – it has to be right on the day, or sorry, close but no cigar.

But often when visiting these events, the public view is extremely different to that of the RHS judges – and this is exactly what we can all benefit from. It does not particularly matter to us what the medal or award is – the gardens and nursery stands are there to INSPIRE US as visitors, not critical judges and if you look in the right way, anyone can see something to suit their own spaces and budgets.

So, take your camera and notebook and grab the images which appeal. Forget the scale of the gardens and how much they cost – this has absolutely no relevance to many of us at all – look closely at the details and the ingredients which make them up and steal them for your own. Plant combinations, structure of trees, reclaimed materials, hard landscaping, how water can be used, colour use etc…

By all means take an overall picture of the garden but then get into the detail – catalogue all that you like so you can happily steal it all when you get back home. Nicking the small details is how the RHS Chelsea Flower Show becomes accessible to everyone. If we just concentrate on the overall image, we forget about the small elements, which in reality are the things that we can use.

I know from my own collections of images and sketchbooks from previous Chelsea Flower Shows that I have very few images of the whole garden, or plant stand. There are moss covered rocks. The juxtaposition between structure and foliage. The interplay between formal landscaping and sweeping planting. Great textures. Lots of small, close images.

This type of inspiration gathering does not only (and should not only) have to apply to gardeners – anyone with a creative mind can find inspiration in anything. To quote Sir Paul Smith – ‘you can find inspiration in everything (and if you can’t, look again).

And do not worry if you are not visiting the show – watch on iPlayer and snap shots of details from the coverage or look at the beautiful photos which have been uploaded to the RHS Chelsea website. There are long, overall shots, but a lot of them look at the tiny details…

Plus, the gods are in the detail, so open your eyes wide, focus them close and record it all.

(image via RHS)

2012 Recap – the London 2012 Paralympics closing ceremony goes Steampunk

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How could we do a recap of 2012 without revisiting this post about the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympics this summer? We were blown away by the theatre and creativity displayed in the ceremony. Truly awe inspiring. 

10 September 2012

A few weeks ago, we were feeling a bit blue after the finish of the wonderful London 2012 Olympic games. Today, we have that same feeling all over again as the truly magnificent Paralympics came to a close yesterday evening in a show of fireworks, Coldplay and strange vehicles.

It has to be said that all opening and closing ceremonies are huge spectacles meant to celebrate the host country as well as the event – which can sometimes lead to slightly odd or even stereotypical representations, but we were both surprised and delighted by the closing ceremony of the Paralympics. We enjoyed it more than the closing ceremony of the Olympics. And why? Because it was all about eclecticism, recycling, imagination and creativity. And it was a little bit steampunk.

The VT before the start of the ceremony featured a range of strange creature vehicles – steel, cogs and flames – heading for the stadium. It was a combination of Mad Max and Scrapheap challenge. On entering the stadium the vehicles, which represented seasons and the spirit paraded around, surrounded by characters with flaming poles. It looked magnificent.

The ‘Festival of the Flame’ used fire throughout the event – both in the dancing, on the vehicles and also to mark the grass itself. Characters entered the stadium and using flame throwers began to scorch the grass in the darkness. When the lights came back on in the stadium, a range of patterns were marked into the floor which became placings for the vehicles.

And really, as great as Coldplay was, we were just delighted by the vehicles, which, according to the Guardian had been designed and constructed in the UK by the team behind the 80′s Mutoid Waste Company completely from a collection of bits and pieces found in scrapyards across the land. The large fish vehicle was clad with painted hubcaps rescued from waste facilities and the car which brought Prince Edward and International Paralympic Committee President Sir Phillip Craven was part 1930′s car and an ex military armoured vehicle from Afghanistan. 

As viewers, we were delighted that the imagination and creativity of Great Britain were on show with the closing ceremony as Director Kim Gavin created a fantastic mix of upcycled and repurposed structures. Plus, as C4 commentator and past Paralympian Jeff Adams observed, many paralympians could relate to this customising theme as they often personally adjusted their own equipment to make it fit and perform better.

But, the last word has to go to Lord Coe, who summed up the entire Games and British design and creativity perfectly.

“Finally, there are some famous words you can find stamped on the bottom of a product. Words, that when you read them, you know mean high quality, mean skill, mean creativity. We have stamped those words on the Olympic and Paralympic Games of London 2012. London 2012. Made in Britain.”

(images via London 2012)

review: ‘Here’ – the one day design symposium from ‘It’s Nice That’

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We love attending design conferences, meetings, exhibitions, shows and events. We love to see what other people are doing, trends that crop up through all design disciplines and generally, talk to other designers. It is inspiring.

So we were very excited about attending the ‘Here’ event from ‘It’s Nice That’ which was billed as a ‘one day design symposium’, held at the Royal Geographical Society in London.  The line up was impressive and varied – with representatives from graphics, film, photography, fashion and jelly.

After registration we were presented with our goodie bags – a nice collection of an ‘It’s Nice That’ mag, bottle of water and some Pantone stuff, including a lovely colour mug – all held in a custom printed calico bag.

The location was beautiful – a combination of the old Royal Geographical Society building- think white walls, wood panelling, high ceilings and display cases and new, slick glass elements. We wandered around each of the interconnected rooms, grabbed a drink and looked at the many additional activities available for the day.

There was Ping Pong (with the table sporting a lovely purple colour, the same as my mug), short films, portrait illustration, magazine sales and the wonderful Photobot.

 

Fashioned from the old style photo booths, the Photobot provides a unique photographic experience. You sit in the booth and have a conversation with the in house robot, who then provides prompt words for your photos. This was tremendous fun, and the photos which popped out were fantastic. Our happy, angry, sad and surprised made us laugh.

 

 

The lecture hall was beautiful – a lovely mix again of old and new, with surprisingly comfortable seats and we settled in for the talks, of which they were many.

Looking at the schedule, we were pleased to see that the majority of the day had been crammed with talks rather than the ‘walking around’ breaks which sometimes take over in whole day events.

The talks were fantastic. Each one enthused us in different ways – the frankness, humour and work philosophy of Eike Konig, the personal and touching stories behind the photos of Giles Duley, the films of Carol Morley which gave people a voice, the illustration of Quentin Jones which had developed into her own language, the absurdness and enthusiasm of Bompas and Parr and the beautiful experimentation of body architect Lucy McRae. These, plus the other talks were truly fantastic.

The last speaking spot went to Sir Paul Smith, who we adore. His eclectic character, work ethic and humour are right up our street (along with his ‘classic with a twist’ style) and his talk did not disappoint. He was full of energy – skipping around the stage, waving his socks around and speaking with his whole body. He recounted where he had begun, his style and why he thinks like he does. He emphasised that what you love should be balanced by what you do. If you need to separate ‘work’ from ‘personal design work’ then do so. You will be better at both in the end.

A full packed day from 9 till 5, but an event which left us feeling invigorated and proud to be  part of the wide design community. Our brains and sketchbooks were full of scribbles of how we can develop our own works, both personal work and work for clients. All in all, a wonderful day.

(images by claire potter)

100% Design 2012 – the common thread we spotted…

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When you attend any design show you often see common threads which weave their way through different studio’s designs. Sometimes it is colour, sometimes shape. Sometimes it is the general feeling of a design collection, which is testament to the fact that we share influences with each other even though the way we progress this influence is different.

We were in London last Friday for the very wonderful one day design symposium ‘Here’ by I’t Nice that (full review coming later this week) and we whizzed over to see 100% Design in the late afternoon.

On arrival, it was nice to see that the show itself appeared more ‘designed’ that other years. The front lobby had a great lit sculpture hanging from the ceiling – a collection of shards which was echoed by a fantastic lit tunnel of lights beyond, leading you into the show.

These lights pulsed and moved as you walked through the space, creating a lovely changing atmosphere on the journey inwards.

Wandering around the show, the same lines, criss crossing around the space appeared again and again.

Firstly, the lecture space at the rear of the show was a wonderful cage of transparent fishing wire framework – delicate yet beautifully solid in the space.

Practically next door was a darkened cube which held a black Mercedes. Surrounding the car? Yep, you’ve guessed it – a crossing framework of lit lines – this time in neon green, which we loved, even though it was quite hard to navigate through the narrow walkways without feeling like we’d had a few. We hadn’t, but the crossed line cage was beautiful.

Three examples of ‘linear cages’ down, we thought this common thread had run its course, but as we were about to leave, another space presented itself. This time in timber with a very regular frame, the cafe area was a nicely defined structure with lightness.

So we wonder – were all of these spaces created together, or did the common thread of defining spaces at 100% Design just pop up? Who knows. But it is interesting to see how trends can appear across the board at even one event.

(images by claire potter)

the little yellow book – the ICON Design trail 2012

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Every month we look forward to our design magazines thumping onto the mat of the studio, and the September issues are always pretty bumper editions – what with the London Design Festival beginning on 14th September. Today, we got our copy of the very useful and lovely little yellow book – the ICON Design Trail 2012.

This little guide is really the go-to for us as a first step to seeing what is on at the London Design Festival and is helpfully sectioned into areas to literally trail around.

Exhibitions, talks and events are all listed, along with some very nice little photos to whet your design appetite. You can find specific places in the index, there are top tips and even an underground map at the very back.

Plus, it is just about A6 size, so can fit nicely into a large pocket, or for us, our satchels with ease. We bind ours to our sketchbooks so we do not lose it, but this year we need not worry as there is even an app which gives you full digital access to the guide to see what is going on in any area (download it here), so for those of you who either do not subscribe to ICON, or cannot find any of the 100,000 or so copies which are floating about have no excuses.

For anyone interested in design, in whatever capacity, it really is worth finding a copy of the ICON Design trail book, or downloading the app so you can make the most of the many wonderful (and often free) events which are happening in London over the next couple of weeks.

The Paralympics closing ceremony goes steampunk

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A few weeks ago, we were feeling a bit blue after the finish of the wonderful London 2012 Olympic games. Today, we have that same feeling all over again as the truly magnificent Paralympics came to a close yesterday evening in a show of fireworks, Coldplay and strange vehicles.

It has to be said that all opening and closing ceremonies are huge spectacles meant to celebrate the host country as well as the event – which can sometimes lead to slightly odd or even stereotypical representations, but we were both surprised and delighted by the closing ceremony of the Paralympics. We enjoyed it more than the closing ceremony of the Olympics. And why? Because it was all about eclecticism, recycling, imagination and creativity. And it was a little bit steampunk.

The VT before the start of the ceremony featured a range of strange creature vehicles – steel, cogs and flames – heading for the stadium. It was a combination of Mad Max and Scrapheap challenge. On entering the stadium the vehicles, which represented seasons and the spirit paraded around, surrounded by characters with flaming poles. It looked magnificent.

The ‘Festival of the Flame’ used fire throughout the event – both in the dancing, on the vehicles and also to mark the grass itself. Characters entered the stadium and using flame throwers began to scorch the grass in the darkness. When the lights came back on in the stadium, a range of patterns were marked into the floor which became placings for the vehicles.

And really, as great as Coldplay was, we were just delighted by the vehicles, which, according to the Guardian had been designed and constructed in the UK by the team behind the 80′s Mutoid Waste Company completely from a collection of bits and pieces found in scrapyards across the land. The large fish vehicle was clad with painted hubcaps rescued from waste facilities and the car which brought Prince Edward and International Paralympic Committee President Sir Phillip Craven was part 1930′s car and an ex military armoured vehicle from Afghanistan. 

As viewers, we were delighted that the imagination and creativity of Great Britain were on show with the closing ceremony as Director Kim Gavin created a fantastic mix of upcycled and repurposed structures. Plus, as C4 commentator and past Paralympian Jeff Adams observed, many paralympians could relate to this customising theme as they often personally adjusted their own equipment to make it fit and perform better.

But, the last word has to go to Lord Coe, who summed up the entire Games and British design and creativity perfectly.

“Finally, there are some famous words you can find stamped on the bottom of a product. Words, that when you read them, you know mean high quality, mean skill, mean creativity. We have stamped those words on the Olympic and Paralympic Games of London 2012. London 2012. Made in Britain.”

(images via London 2012)

New Designers 2012 – our interior design pick

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We absolutely love New Designers. It has a wonderful buzz of excitement that so many of the other design shows throughout the year fail to capture. 3,500 new graduates – itching to get into the world and showcase their passions and skills is truly a sight to behold.

Plus, this year we were delighted to assist the fabulous Product Designers from Sussex University with the design of their stand, which included custom tinted 100% recycled paint from the brilliant Newlife Paints, recycled rubber flooring and a lot of balls.

There were so many beautiful things at New Designers 2012 that we are very hard pushed to fit them all into one blog, so we will be spreading them over the next few days over a few themes.

Today, we are looking at a few pieces which are products for interiors:

This beautiful wardrobe was pretty girly, but we really loved the integration of display as well as storage as an concept for small bedrooms.

The glass shelves, mirrors and metallic elements allowed light to be moved around, and the bird covered internal surface provided a nice piece of textural interest.

Lovely piece from Nottingham Trent University.

 

 

These fantastic bobble hat lights by Elizabeth Morgan really stood out with their colour and character – we think they would make wonderful additions to commercial interiors, or for eclectic interiors.

 

 

This piece of furniture from Gieun Yoon was beautiful – very simple framework body with a functional shape with a large seating pad sized for two.

The soft green upholstery was also a great choice to offset the dark grey (which, seemed to be the colour of the show, as it was everywhere, including on our Sussex Uni stand)

 

 

These little tables by Chris Corkey reminded us of the traditional penguin donkey, but in a more modern, angular and pared down design.

We liked them a lot – especially as they were left in pale wood to allow the colours of the books sing out.

 

 

 

 

This lovely timber stool reminded us of a button, with the four legs showing through the seat section, but we liked the second circle below, which is a perfect perch for a few books or CDs.

A really lovely and simple design from Natalie Hough.

 

 

 

There were quite a few graduates experimenting with new materials created from waste materials – these lamps were created using artichoke fibre reinforced plastic, which created a speckled surface to diffuse the light.

An interesting concept, and we will be interested to see where designer Spyros Kizis takes it next.

 

 

Another designer experimenting with unusual or possible waste materials was Harris Chapman, who used construction grade materials to create a lovely shelving unit.

The OSB board, which is commonly used during building projects had been ‘blackened’ in areas to highlight the fibres, which made the piece actually very interesting. The rounded, refined corners also ensured the piece looked like furniture rather than a diy project.

We liked it a great deal.

 

Lastly, we have to mention the wonderful Family Tree table from Dean Newman at Sussex University, which challenges the idea of our current throw away culture with furniture and begins to re-imagine the heirloom and antique of the future.
Beautifully conceived and beautifully made. With a simple exterior appearance, the top slides open to reveal a series of timber blocks created from offcuts which can be removed and engraved with special dates or messages.The table then becomes the keeper of these messages for future generations to enjoy and add to as a true living family tree.

All in all – a great show. We’ll post a few more images over the next few days with our picks of the rest of the New Designers 2012 show.

(images by claire potter design)

Clerkenwell Design Week 2012 catchup

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Love design? Love being inspired by stuff? Love to happen across random things?

Well, you should have been at Clerkenwell Design Week 2012 this May, but do not despair – if you missed it, you can do a mega quick catchup with this great video (click the link):

Clerkenwell Design Week 2012

 

 

 

 

 

(image and video from OnOffice)