Katie Treggiden – DesignApplause

About Katie Treggiden

katie treggiden is a uk-based design journalist and author of makers of east london. she is the founding editor of fiera, the independent magazine discovering new talent at the world's design fairs, and the award-winning blog confessions of a design geek. alongside her own publications, she also writes for newspapers, magazines and websites such as the guardian weekend magazine, elle decoration, stylist magazine, the spaces, dezeen and design milk – and of course for designapplause. you can follow her on twitter @katietreggiden and on instagram @katietreggiden.1 and find out more about her work at katie treggiden.

spazio rossana orlandi. milan design week 2016.

Apr 29, 2016

the doyenne of design gathers talent new and established in her eponymous spazio rossana orlandi.

spazio rossana orlandi, a former tie factory on via matteo bandello in the magenta neighborhood of milan, is part design-shop, part gallery, part sun-dappled courtyard café, curated by the eponymous doyenne of design. orlandi is known, not only for her trademark specs (pictured above and now available to buy in the shop), but for her ability to spot the stars of the future at the very beginning of their careers. every year for milan design week, the space is filled with a combination of new talent and the big names she’s supported from day one, making it a must-see destination.

below> this sculptural piece showing the transition from tree to wooden designed object is by desiree mejer, part of design collective von pelt. the collective celebrates its members’ varied talents and provenance, saying, “most are self taught or come from a different discipline and location, such as graphic design and poetry from london and spain, artist sculptors from berlin, and italian textile researchers and craftsmen.” mejer was born in spain, now lives in london and is a fashion designer by trade, having launched fake london in 1997.

below> dutch designer floris wubben has been turning ceramic techniques on their heads since his extrusion machine made ceramic vases by forcing clay through templates like play-doh. his latest collection involves removing layers of glaze with a blowtorch between firings.

some of his experimental extruded pots have now made it into production and are available for sale in the rossana orlandi shop.

below> light in time was a stunning installation by moritz waldemeyer for sports watchmaker panera. “the creation of the artist comes to life through an interplay of light and material,” said a statement from the brand, and the sun-lit location proved them right. the iridescent petrol-lie color turned out to be one of the key color trends in milan.

umzikim and kyuhyung cho designed the robbot shelf in response to their concerns about the future – limited natural resources and the impact of artificial intelligence. “however, no matter what comes our way, we’ll never give up on creating breathtaking moments, because our aesthetic capabilities and imaginations are what make us human,” they say. the robbot shelf enables users to create their own combination of modular components to make something that meets their needs and reflects their personalities.

below> the handmade atacama vase by josefina munoz and peter fink was part of an exhibition entitled i dream of luxury curated by nov gallery after an open call to emerging swiss designers to interpret the concept of luxury for the future. munoz and fink encapsulated their collection in the phrase: “i dream of perfect flaws.”

another piece in the same exhibition was volutes, a fragrance dispenser made of ratten, brass and glass by anouk eva-meyer. “i dream of scent as a memory” was the phrase given by the designer to explain her work. ratten and brass were also two key materials seen right across milan design week this year.

below> jacks-up by sungjun kim is a stool made entirely of turned poplar wood legs, inspired by the collective effort it took to raise the briggs hotel in downtown chicago in 1866. that year was the starting point for all the pieces in an exhibition by the school of the art institute of chicago (saic)’s whatnot studio, to celebrate the school’s 150th anniversary.

below> other pieces in the exhibition included the oil lamp with light diffuser by ali keshmiri – an oil lamp designed to focus attention on the flame; and allele by shau heng li – a stapled plywood table (staples and plywood were both commercialized in 1866), inspired by mendel’s law in which functional elements mutate into decorative abnormalities.

finally, we spotted lee broom’s salone del automobile parked up outside – a stroke of genius by the british designer, the van moved from location to location throughout milan design week bringing design to the people.

norway in milan. milan design week 2016.

Apr 20, 2016

structure, the second exhibition of contemporary norwegian craft and design at milan design week, put the scandinavian country on the map.

showcasing the work of 26 designers or design studios from norway, structure was a collaboration between four norwegian organizations: design collective klubben, contemporary craft resource norwegian crafts, the norwegian centre for design and architecture, and norwegian paint company jotun, who provided a colorful backdrop from which the work could shine. the show, in milan’s ventura lambrate, was curated by renowned interior stylists jannicke kråkvik and alessandro d’orazio and editor in chief of swedish design magazine resident, hanna nova beatrice. “structure aims to bring together the best of contemporary norwegian creativity,” says a statement from the team, “…and foster ground-breaking collaborations and manufacturing partnerships, in a single state-of-the-nation exhibition that exists at the intersection of design, craft and art.”

above> twice ‘norwegian designer of the year,’ and one of norway’s most experienced designers, andreas engesvik, created vigeland for the exhibition as a personal response to oslo’s sculpture garden by the same name. the vase is made from patinated bronze using a method called ‘lost wax casting’ in which the piece is first made from wax, a mould is formed around it, and then the wax is melted away and replaced by molten metal that forms the final piece.

tumble by new designer falke svatun is a spherical stoneware vessel with a cut-out section in the base which allows it to sit over the edge of a shelf or cabinet, challenging perceptions of the solid form.

also challenging perceptions were noidoi, a design team established in oslo in 2013 by kathrine lønstad and cosmin cioroiu, who created meld. the pendant light is made from cast stoneware, and designed to present a familiar material in an unexpected context. the lights can be hung alone or in pairs or groups and cast a focused beam of light, making them ideal for hanging above dining tables or work surfaces.

above> sara wright polmar’s between is neither a sofa nor an armchair, but something in between. “between facilitates different ways to sit alone or in the company of others,” she says. this piece is a prototype and in manufacture users will be able to choose fabric combinations to create different looks.

above> having launched an innovative range of textiles at the london design festival in september, the multi-talented design duo günzler.polmar (sara polmar and victoria günzler) has now turned to ceramics. pour is inspired by ancient and archetypal water pitchers and basins. the cast porcelain pitcher, glazed on the inside only, creates a contrast with the rough stoneware basin.

yet more beautiful ceramics, this time from ann kristin einarsen: stilleben is a collection of ceramic bowls and pots, again glazed only on the inside, which has been designed to be as simple as possible. the minimalist forms and understated colour palette enable them to stand alone or be used in combination with each other.

kristine bjaadal’s sfera is a spherical container made from larvikite or ‘blue pearl granite,’ a material only found in norway and canada, and turned ash. “i find the human inclination to collect memories and keepsakes fascinating, and throughout the last few years i have often returned to work with different kinds of containers,” says kristine. “a container keeps something. it could be something as trivial as beans, coins or cotton pads – a purely practical function; or maybe the container is used to keep objects you love, and in this way keeping your memories.”

above> oslo-based interdisciplinary artist and designer anette korgstad created her steinlav collection to resemble the lichen common to rocks and trees in the norwegian countryside. the hand-thrown stoneware platters are glazed three times to create the desired effect.

above> product and furniture designer sverre uhnger conceived trace, a collection of wooden trays and platters, in order to imbue digitally manufactured objects with a ‘trace’ of their making process. whereas hand-made objects often carry the marks of their maker, the grooves left by cnc (computer numerically controlled) machinery are usually removed.

and finally, christina peel’s untitled project: christina meticulously folds wet porcelain squares, like origami paper, and then tessellates them together to create art pieces that play with idea of repetition, shadows and fragility.

games open doors at dubai design week.

Nov 25, 2015

abwab (arabic for ‘doors’) comprised six country pavilions each created in response to the theme ‘games: the element of play in culture’ to celebrate dubai’s inaugural design week. six countries in the middle east north africa and south asia (menasa) region – jordan, kuwait, pakistan, saudi arabia, tunisia and the uae – curated six 50 square-metre pavilions at the newly built d3 (dubai design district) to showcase the work of home-grown designers, design studios and curators.

d3 | dubai design district | courtesy of dubai design district

“abwab represents a direct portal to the region’s local design talent, which can benefit from a such international and culturally lively display as the dubai design week,” said a statement from the show’s organizers.

the pavilions themselves were designed by loci architecture + design studio under the creative direction of rawan kashkoush and comprised structures made from polycarbonate panels filled with sand, creating different patterns for each country.

the kuwaiti pavilion, curated by architect waleed shaalan, was entitled tagga in tagga (move by move) and centred on a series of pictograms designed by graphic designer osama hadeed designed to simply communicate traditional kuwaiti games to younger generations so they would not be lost.

the tunisian pavilion curated by chacha atallah, founder of architectural firm, fleury atalah, comprised 999, a game by haythem zakaria and karim ben amor. a single wooden module, repeated 999 times, could be endlessly combined to create different three-dimensional structures.

under the curatorial eye of arini creative platforms, jordanian designers dina haddadin, omar al-zo’bi, rand el haj hassan and rula yaghmour drew inspiration from the kite-flying, mountain hiking and the swings or ‘murjeiha’ of their childhood to create the untitled swing project, a collection of swings separated by white cotton curtains whose movement triggered an audio soundscape.

the saudi arabian pavilion took traditional local game um tse as its inspiration and included ‘male’ and ‘female’ saddle-inspired floor seats designed by ayah al bitar as game pieces inspired by differing gender roles in the country – the ‘male’ pieces were free to move, whereas the ‘female’ pieces were attached to the ceiling as swings, thus restricting their movement.

the phrase ‘all work and no play makes jack a dull boy,’ provided the inspiration for the mobius design studio curated uae pavilion. different experiences housed in the space invited participation and sensory stimulation in different ways.

and finally, the pakistan pavilion, entitled ‘daalaan’ was curated by salman jawed and featured works by a multidisciplinary team of eight designers and included hanging fabric panels silk-screened with natural dyes to evoke the busy courtyards of pakistani homes and traditional games rendered in high-quality natural materials such as wood and bronze.

[ dubai design week ] @dubaidesignweek

faye toogood invites visitors to explore the v&a wearing a custodian’s coat. LDF15.

Sep 19, 2015

photo > french and tye

10 custodian-style coats by London-based designer with Kvadrat Faye Toogood invite visitors to delve deeper into the permanent collection of the city’s iconic Victoria and Albert museum.

A visit to a museum usually starts with checking your coat into a cloakroom. At the V&A throughout the London Design Festival, visitors were instead invited to exchange their coat for one of 150 custodian-style compressed-foam Kvadrat coats, designed by Toogood. “Each coat has been hand-painted emphasising the seam, the pattern and the pattern cutting,” said Toogood who launched her first fashion collection with pattern-cutter sister Erica two years ago. “But we’re not asking everyone to look the exactly same, because on the backs of the coats are faces, so you can pick your little face.”

Hand-illustrated maps sewn into the pocket of each coat led visitors to 10 different “coats” – specially commissioned sculptures that responded to specific items or spaces within the museum. “One of the main ambitions of the project was to get people to go to parts of the museum they might not normally go to – not just to put a piece within a space, but to really engage with the exhibitions,” said Toogood.

photo > french and tye

All created by British fabricators, artisans and manufacturers, and named after the trade they reflect, the coats are made from unexpected materials from studded industrial rubber to intricately carved wood.

The Wood Carver (above) was hand-formed from European Oak by Stuart Interiors in response to the strapwork ornamentation of the 16th-century Old Palace in Wax Gallery 58, where this sculpture could be found. Scaled-up markings of the original clay maquette can be seen in the finished form, leaving a legacy of the design and making process.

Overlooking the veined marble “Staircase A,” outside the Arebascato Marble Gallery 58, The Stone Mason (above) made by Lapicida features flowing fabric forms dictated by the digital scanning process on the front and precise machine-cut incisions on the back.

The Welder (above), formed by Newcastle-based Novocastrian, comprises a blue aluminum rod outline of coat encased in a blackened mild-steel mesh box, complementing the 1990s steelwork of the Wendy Ramshaw screen displayed nearby. Pivoting discs of mirrored glass at its collar and cuffs encourage a moment of literal and metaphorical reflection.

Inspired by the Victorian casts of Salisbury Cathedral’s medieval stonework displayed in nearby Gallery 64b, and created by fiberglass First, The Sculptor (above) comprises ten layers of flat coat-shaped fiberglass in varying tones, bound together with galvanized steel bolts standing in for the coat’s buttons.

The Astronomer (above) resembles a flattened and creased leather coat, but on closer inspection it is in fact cast from patinated bronze, the reverse side revealing its supporting structure and cerulean blue hue inspired by the trompe-l’oeil mastery of Alessandro Pampurino’s Renaissance ceiling grisaille in Gallery 64a.

In Gallery 62, The Blacksmith (above) is a heavy-duty industrial rubber coat pierced with hundreds of steal studs and mirrored screw-enclosures to create the aesthetic of an armored hide harking back to the specialized apparel of 16th-century tournaments and battlegrounds.

The Tiler (above) in Gallery 143 is made from loosely piled terracotta pottery shards arranged to approximate the form of a coat, with viscous drips of tinted resin oozing down its sides. Its jagged outline references both the heritage of the ceramics industry and pixelated images of the digital era. This sculpture was made by Natural Stone Projects.

Resembling a coat covered in white post-it notes, The Potter (above) was made by 1882 Ltd from fragments of glazed stoneware and earthenware, which have been annotated with words and phrases from the Toogood manifesto, which includes calls to arms like “We hereby reject and reprehend the cruel diktats of the discredited fashionista treadmill,” “We shall… clear the way for a new aesthetic rooted in individuality and honesty,” and “We celebrate the craft and the toil of the workers.”

The Plasterer (above) is more the absence of a coat than a coat. A block of plaster lies on the floor of Gallery 54, with a counter-relief of a coat carved out of its middle. The piece, made by London Mould Makers, was inspired by the 18th-century fashion for intricate plasterwork mouldings – as mastered by the architect James Gibbs – and seen on the ceiling this room, making the coat a reflection of what’s above.

Finally, a bedroom-hanging from Stoke Edith House in Gallery 54 provided inspiration for The Embroiderer (above). Woven from steel wool mesh, the coat merges the results of fine needlework with the tools used in its creation – thousands of stainless steel pins have been stitched into its fabric.

above> faye toogood in her london studio / photo mark c o’flaherty

above / below >the cloakroom concept sketches

The Cloakroom by Faye Toogood at the V&A museum 19 – 27 September 2015 to coincide with the London Design Festival.

barber and osgerby design tableware collection that’s not a collection.

Aug 7, 2015

British designers Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby have designed Olio, a disparate tableware collection for Royal Doulton designed to be mixed and matched with existing homeware. We caught up with them in their London studio during <a href="http://www.clerkenwelldesignweek.com/" target="_blank"Clerkenwell Design Week to find out more.

[DesignApplause] What was the collection inspired by?
[ Edward Barber] We wanted to design a complete range that didn’t look like a complete range. There’s a definite diversity to it. The idea is that you could buy the whole thing but it wouldn’t look like you’d gone out and bought a range – you’d kind of had a bit more of an eclectic feel, or each piece stands alone, so you just buy the wooden platter or the teapot and it would fit with what you already owned. People we know don’t go out and buy a full 12-piece dinner set anymore – you tend to think, ‘That’s a really beautiful bowl’ or ‘That’s a great serving plate’ and you tend to buy cutlery from one place, maybe a teapot from another and a jug from here, so we thought if that’s the way people are, let’s try and design a range in that way.

courtesy barber & osgerby / ©amber rowlands

[DA] What informed some of the shapes?
[EB] It is all about the tactility. These are all objects that you either hold in your hand or you eat your food from, so they’re things that are being touched on a daily basis. That’s why you’ve got that really nice edge on the wooden pieces, and a slightly more coarse finish with the glaze. It’s quite nice that you’ve got these slightly ambiguous objects, for example the wooden serving platter is great with a roast chicken on, but it can also be used as chopping board.
[Jay Osgerby] In terms of the forms, there wasn’t an outstanding influence to any one piece I don’t think – just a life-long collection of visual references from using and living with objects.
[EB] People have to engage with an object – that’s the most important thing for us when we design something. Of all the things that we’ve done, this is one thing where people feel very drawn to it and like to pick it up and play with it and feel it.

[DA] You were talking about people slotting pieces in with their existing collection, and it has got a homely sense of warmth about it…
[JO] Some designers would shoot you for saying that but I actually like that. Generosity is important and it’s not used very much in design. This needed to feel like a collection of miscellaneous objects, which cohere, but don’t really reference one another particularly with the exception of the finish.

[DA] You were talking about the kind of things that you pick up from markets and vintage sales, what catches your eye and why?
[EB] Mostly just interesting objects. I’m always buying wooden things. I’ve bought tons of wooden bowls over the years, some of them Scandinavian, some of them from Africa, I’ve got a couple from Samoa and New Zealand and I use those on a daily basis. But I also like the weird objects that you find in flea markets, sometimes you don’t even know what something is, it’s probably just a part of something else, but it looks great.
[JO] I think you can tell a lot about society from what you find in a flea market – different cultures have interpreted the same problems and found different solutions.

[DA] What’s the most important thing to know about you?
[EB] I think the most surprising fact is that we’ve been working together for 23 years…
[JO] … and we’re not a couple!

[DA] What’s the secret of your success as a duo?
[JO] Lack of options, like any marriage! No, I’m just kidding. We just get on really well – we’re friends. We both grow up with brothers, which teaches you to get along with people I think.

[DA] Talk me through your design process – how do you work together?
[JO] When Royal Doulton came to see us, there was not really much of a brief – it was more of a requirement for a range, they wanted an expansive range with lots of pieces in it and they more or less left it at that.

[DA] When a client leaves something that open, is that exciting or slightly terrifying?
[EB] I think if a furniture company had been as open with a brief for a chair, it would have been impossible, because we’ve designed a lot of chairs and we already know what we’re not going to do. But because we had never done tableware before, you always have faster, clearer ideas. We tend to think about what would we actually use at home, that’s always our starting point.
[JO] We weren’t interested in making a seamless collection. Eating is no longer a formal activity, it’s a social thing and that means there’s an informality about everything else that comes with it, the room you eat in, the way you cook and socialize at the same time, it’s all changed.

courtesy barber & osgerby / ©amber rowlands

[EB] And as kids, we both had a lot of studio ceramics around our houses – our cereal bowls were hand thrown, so there was a feeling when we started out, to try to create that earthy textural quality. We soon realized that that was really impossible when you’re doing true mass production, which this is. It had to be dishwasher safe and pass all kinds of strength tests. But it certainly has that visual feel with the glaze on the inside and not the outside for example – it’s a very traditional thing, old English Toby jugs quite often had an exposed exterior body and a glaze on the inside.
[JO] The idea of leaving the body like that and not glazing it came from seeing the Jasperware at Wedgewood they’d make for 250 years, so when we visited the factory they were there making those sort of bright blue Jasperware things with a full pigmented body where they dye the stoneware that color and then leave it raw and we just thought it was really beautiful so this is more or less the same as Jasperware, the black Jasperware.

[DA] How does your design process work, how do you capture all of this, do you sketch or do you talk?
[JO] We do all of those things, but in fact in this project we used rapid prototyping a lot…
[EB] …for most projects it is just sketching and physical models. But for this project, we did tons and tons and tons and tons of prototypes until we get the detail right. To make a teapot out of foam just doesn’t work. It’s weird because it’s about the most crafty looking project we’ve ever done, yet it was mostly done on the computer which is not a usual thing for us. We could just send objects off to print and get back 3D printed prototypes really quickly. We also went up to Stoke-on-Trent and worked with a potter in his shed and he actually made jugs, like the teapot and the jug for us before they committed to making moulds.

[DA] What was the biggest challenge of the whole process?
[EB] We’ve actually designed the range to be much bigger than this, so I think one of the challenges for us was working with Royal Doulton to establish what we should launch first. It was really hard to edit the collection down.
[JO] Also because they’re being made in different places, getting the samples back was a very complex process – we never seem to have all the samples together in one place, so we didn’t really get to see everything together until quite late in the day. It was a challenge, but in the end it worked.

[DA] What was the most fun bit?
[EB] It was all pretty enjoyable, Royal Doulton are a really nice bunch to work with – really enthusiastic. Working in something for the first time is always great – we’ve never done a project in ceramics and we’ve never done cutlery before so there was a lot of firsts and a big learning curve. And we’re already prototyping the next wave to be released.

[DA] What are you most proud of?
[JO] Tricky, each project’s so different. Generally it’s the thing that you’ve just done or that you’re currently working on. The Tip Ton chair is probably one of the things we’re most proud of. This seems crazy, but we’ve really honestly actually had letters from all over the world, from the mums and dads of kids with back problems.
[EB] We had one recently: a little girl who was born with a spinal deformation and had to have special chair that kept her away from the table at dinner time. The Tip Ton chair performs the same function for her, so the whole family bought them so that she didn’t feel like the odd one out.

[DA] What advice would you give to a young designer starting out in their career?
[EB] Be original as much as possible.

[DA] What’s your favorite color?
[EB] I like colors where you don’t really know whether it’s one color or another so some people would see it as grey and other people would see it as brown.
[JO] For me it would have to be some ranges of blues that go between beautiful blue sky on a beautiful day or the se. It’s definitely in the blue spectrum, which is vast. One of the projects we did fairly recently was for the tile company Mutina and one of the ranges is called ink and it’s made up of some eight different tones of blue which are all really quite different but when you put them together they sort of work, they have this sort of strange undulating feeling as none of them are the same, they’re all subtly different so, blues.

welcome home. milan design week 2015.

Jun 5, 2015

In one of the more successful brand interventions at a Milan Design Week that was criticized for being too commercial, airbnb partnered with Fabrica to create Housewarming. 19 international designers were invited to interpret the theme of “welcome” and the results were displayed in Palazzo Crespi, a private home never before opened to the public, that was originally built to celebrate the coronation of Napoleon Bonaparte, along with the other buildings on Corso Venezia.

Nikita Bhate’s Samai took inspiration from the Indian ritual of lighting candles. It is a mark of honor to ask a guest in your home to light a candle, and Nikita asked all those visiting Housewarming to light one. “This is my own interpretation of the piece,” said the designer. “I wanted this object to grow with time, so as you see now as the guests come it will keep on getting better.”

The lights were made from ghee and handmade cotton wicks. “Every morning the ladies of the house prepare all of this because we do this ritual every single day,” Nikita said. “This ritual is about the victory of light over darkness – it symoblizes the victory of knowledge over ignorance, and reminds us to be more humble and be detached from material world.”

Digital designer Alex Rothera went completely analogue and transported his childhood game of ‘stickball,’ played with the handle of a broom and half a tennis ball, from the streets of Philadelphia to the Palazzo Crespi courtyard.

Australian designer Aaron Gillet was creating plant cutting in tiny cork-capped test tubes. “When you go to someone’s house or garden in Australia, and maybe in Britain too, you might take a plant cutting,” he said. “So that’s what I’m doing today. Australia is such a young country – younger than this house, so I wanted to talk about the environment that people are in, and avoid some of the stereotypes.”

He made a clipping from a native Australian monster for each visitor who could take it home and watch it grow. Mine is on my desk as I type.

Angelo Semeraro’s From Outside to Inside was a motion-sensitive set of wooden hands that welcomed visitors from the outside courtyard into the main house. “The idea is to interpret the non-verbal languages and body language and how passive it is and how you can say something without saying a word,” said the designer. “You get straight to the point and invite people to come from the outside of the house to the inside of the house.”

The Welcome Carpet, made from real rose petals by Chandni Kabra was inspired by another Indian ritual. “When we know guests are arriving we make a fresh flower carpet just outside our house door,” explained the designer. “The reason is that when someone comes from outside, their mind is occupied with a lot of thoughts. As soon as they look at something really striking and beautiful, they stop thinking for that moment, and that makes them fall into the present moment, so before they enter the house they’re a bit more grounded.” Being an interaction designer, Chandni added a moving element to the pattern to absorb visitors further.

Fabrica’s current design resident Pascal Hien created Foldhanger, coat hangers made from a single sheet of folded plywood, which can also be used as coat hooks when upside down. “I’m from Germany and what we do in Germany when you enter the house as a gesture of welcome is we say, ‘Hey, take off your jacket, put down your bags,” and we hang their coat on a coat hanger, and then the guest feels welcome.”

Another Australian, Thomas Fethers, had created typographic advice and then broken them down into jigsaws. “I’m completing the puzzles with the guests throughout the four day period to make them feel welcome. My personal favorite is ‘Get drunk on boxed wine’,” he said.

Following the idiom that the best way to see a city is to get lost in it, Coralie Gourguechon was making bespoke maps to help visitors do just that. “This is a map, but it’s not a map to find your way – it’s a map to lose your way,” she said. “I fill it with different information created at random for every guest.” By rolling dice, asking guests to name something that might interest them, and assigning letters, she creates directions that can be followed in any city.

Lisbon-based designer Mariana Fernandes collected postcards from all over Milan and screen-printed graphics that connected Milan to her home city over the top. “The graphics talk about simple facts, simple stories,” she said. “For example I’m printing the rosemary because we use a lot rosemary in cooking in Portugal and the same is true in Italy so these kind of simple facts, when overlapped, create a story.”

Marlene Wolfmair’s Jausensackerl is based on a typical picnic handkerchief and the tradition in her native Austria for a late afternoon picnic or Jause. “I was inspired by the north of Austria where I’m from,” she said. “We enjoy food together with family and friends at tea time and we eat a lot of heavy food, drink beer and sausages, so there’s also this image of the hiking person with the stick with carrying food – it’s very typical.”

British designer Daniel Rous played with the traditional tea-drinking ritual, creating an intricate hand-blown glass tea station to provide people with refreshment on their visit to Palazzo Crespi.

In Japan it’s customary for guests to bring a gift for the host, but also for the host to give the guest something in return. Japanese designer Tonomi Maezawa
made rubber stamps symbolizing a deconstructed Japanese alphabet, and taught visitors how to print her name and their own onto a cloth bag as a gift for them to take away.

“I start with these paper trays that are like welcoming symbol in Italy – we use them offer pastries,” said Giorgia Zanellato. “I personalise them from papers from Venice, the city where I am from and two mirrors to create a new object and so it becomes a welcome mirror.”

With a spot right outside the (very beautiful) toilets, Marcello Venturini was making scented soaps to signify the special soap that is reserved for guests in many homes. “I like it when people leave one soap for the guest because it’s not just to give something a present to the guest, but it’s also a nice way to say something to the guest: ‘Take your time, refresh yourself, stay a little bit in this intimate space as the bathroom is, we wait for you, no problem’,” explained the designer. “It is also an homage to the city of Milan because I choose three ingredients for the soaps that are connected with three recipes that came from Milanese traditional cuisine, rice for the risotto, yeast for the pannetone and wheat germ for the michetta – a traditional and iconic kind of bread that belongs to the Milanese tradition.”

Housewarming was one of the highlights of Milan Design Week and on a rainy, cold morning, I felt very welcome indeed.

2015 clerkenwell design week round-up.

Jun 5, 2015

Clerkenwell Design Week is one of my favorite festivals. It’s small enough to get around in a day (although increasingly, I’m there for all three!), the sun (almost!) always shines, and it has a real ‘festival’ vibe with showroom parties spilling out onto the streets, interesting installations, and of course, ice-cream!

My favorite installations this year: Glaze by Cousins & Cousins in collaboration with Gx Glass – an interactive space made of candy-colored glass panels;

…the Invisible Store of Happiness by Sebastian Cox and Laura Ellen Bacon in collaboration with the American Hardwood Export Council;

…the Johnson tiles transformation of the entrance to the Farmiloe Building created by Verve – an installation of colored and mirrored tiles, arranged so that you saw all the colors of the rainbow looking one way, and your own reflection looking the other;

…and Agora on the Green – a collaboration between Scandinavian Business Seating, Article 25 and Russ & Henshaw, which invited passers by to take a seat, add to its design, and even raising money for the Nepal Earthquake Appeal.

The main hub of the festival is the Design factory at the Farmiloe Building, and this is where the more established brands can be found. Anglepoise launched three new editions of the Original 1227 desk lamp by London-based surface pattern designers Eley Kishimoto.

I loved &Then Design’s limited edition Flora in copper – designed in collaboration with Scarlett San Martin.

Sean Dare of Dare Studio was launching this fabulous pink sofa – I love the gold legs: a grown-up take on a feminine 1970s-inspired corner sofa.

Husband and wife team Baines & Fricker were showing their SB01 and BF02 collections. The latter is their colorful take on a pew – although I think it might raise a few eyebrows in church!

I loved this tailoring detail on Cornish furniture manufacturer Mark’s Fold Sofa.

Next I moved on to Platform, Clerkenwell Design Week’s space for up-and-coming designers – in the spooky subterranean setting of a Victorian former prison. I loved this little orange-legged stool by Amy Whitworth.

The Naive chair by etc.etc. has been stripped down to the bare minimum, with none of the fun removed – each piece comes in a range of bright colors that can be mixed and matched. This all-yellow version is perfect for me.

There is a real trend about at the moment for embracing the imperfections of natural materials, such as ‘waney edges,’ – the wobbly outside section of wood that goes right up to the bark, which is normally trimmed off to create consistent straight planks. What I love about Richard Hardy‘s collection is the way it combines this sustainable approach with a sense of fun.

Ambrose Vevers’ furniture is all hand-made in the South-West of England – he even fells the trees himself.

Additions is the space for small home accessories at the Crypt on the Green, the brick-walled crypt underneath Clerkenwell’s St James’ Church. I spotted Gemma Kay Waggett‘s quilted textiles almost as soon as I walked into Additions and was immediately drawn by their complex patterns and understated palettes.

I am a big fan of Billy Lloyd‘s ceramics. This collection of mugs was being shown as part of a curation by Charlotte Abrahams called This Is Craft.

This is the debut collection from N and N Wares and I’m already a huge fan. This one stopped me in my tracks – just beautiful.

I love Matt Pugh’s little wooden birds, so was interested to see more of his work. These candlestick holders come in a set of five and I think they work just as well without a candle – as abstract forms adding a pop of color to your interior scheme.

Alicja Patanowska hand-throws ceramic forms to turn discarded glassware (which she collects on the streets of London in the early hours of the morning!) into functional plant-pots, in which you can see both roots and stem.

And last but not least, Homeware and paper goods brand Hjem (Home in Danish), is based in the French Alps and run by Emma Richmond – it launched in October 2014 and this was Emma’s debut show, so it was really exciting to see her work. I’m looking forward to seeing more from her at the London Design Festival in September.

the department store. milan design week 2015.

May 27, 2015

Lee Broom took over a row of shops on Via Alfredo Cappellini and created a faux department store to launch his largest collection to date in what OnOffice Magazine is calling, “Milan’s biggest head turner.”

“I typically work on over 50 products at any given time. I started to see that a lot of pieces were all coming together into something that could become a collection and I didn’t want to wait, so I decided to release everything at the same time,” said Broom.

The result is a collection of over 20 new products spanning lighting, furniture and glassware, showcased in a row of six shops that the British designer converted into a pastiche of a department store, complete with dismembered mannequin arms, theatrical reveals and Vivienne-Westwood-clad shop assistants.

“The other reason for launching such a large collection is that I have been inspired by lots of different things over the past 18 months, so I wanted to show as much of that as I could,” said Broom. “I’ve been very much influenced by a simplicity of shape, working in different materials and taking very simple shapes or classic things that you’ve seen before and just giving them a twist.”

“For instance the Crescent Light is a classic globe light from the Art Deco period that I’ve sliced in half on an angle to reveal this brass surface inside,” he said.

The lights were shown in “Ladies Accessories” – one of 12 departments across two floors in the imitation Department Store. Other departments the designer created included the Gents Fitting Room, the Book Store and the Haberdashery.

Glass on Brass is a development of Broom’s 2014 On The Rock collection – brass replaces the previous marble, resulting in classic crystal glassware forms delicately balanced on solid spun polished brass bases.

The collection was shown in the “Wine Shop” in front of 38 glass bottles, each of which was individually painted in Broom’s signature grey and shipped over to Milan along with all the other props in the store. “This show is the most theatrical yet,” said Broom. “It’s got a cinematic feel to it, it looks very fake, almost like a film set, which is really nice. Everything is grey, absolutely everything, except for the products, so they really stand out.”

The Hanging Hoop Chair is formed of two circular brass-plated hoops suspended from the ceiling. The two hoops join at the bottom and the inner hoop contains the seat and backrest, upholstered in red or grey Kvadrat wool.

The Hanging Hoop Chair, together with the Hoop Dining Chairs, a similar concept with the inner hoop sitting on a four-footed brass-plated base, were displayed within the “Shoe Department” alongside grey high heels all perched on cylindrical grey plinths.

As ever with Mr Broom, there is a hint of the illicit and the Ring Light mimics a contemporary piercing as much as any lighting form. The light comprises a polished brass sphere impaled on a dimmable ring-shaped fluorescent tube.

The Crystal Tube is another development of a previous collection. Tube was a hollow cylinder of Carrara marble with LED bulbs inside creating the illusion of a glowing tube of solid marble. For Crystal Tube, the marble is replaced with cut crystal creating a tension between traditional and contemporary lighting archetypes.

The Crystal Bulb was showcased in the Department Store’s Perfumery, alongside the Tumbler Lights and 16 grey-painted perfume bottles and 14 bespoke Lee Broom perfume boxes.

Finally, Broom’s ‘back catalogue’ of existing products such as the Decanterlight, Carousel and One Light Only were displayed in the “Stockroom”.

“I had had the idea of the department store theme in the back of my head for a few years. As soon as I saw this space, I knew it would be the perfect way to display the collection,” said Broom, speaking before the show. “Having had this vision in my head for so long, the most important thing is that it’s as I imagined. The second most important thing is that people really enjoy and understand the experience. It’s not just about furniture and lighting – it’s a show. I hope people get that and that they enjoy it. Milan is very stressful and I’m hoping that the show will kind of be a breath of fresh air.” Now that the show is over, Broom can breathe a sigh of relief – it’s safe to say that it was nothing if not that.

norway in ventura lambrate. milan design week 2015.

Apr 28, 2015

above> styles by kråkvik & d’orazio / photo by siren lauvdal

‘Norwegian Presence in Milan’ was one of the highlights of Ventura Lambrate this year – and not only because it was good place to shelter from the unexpected rain! A collaboration between Klubben (The Norwegian Designers’ Union), Norwegian Crafts and Norwegian Icons, the exhibition showed the best of Norwegian craft and design in a suitably Scandi space color-coded with paint from Jotun, a company established in Sandefjord, Norway in 1926.

above> Dual by Oslo National Academy of the Arts graduate Runa Klock caught my eye because of its bold color and slender lines. The stool features a footrest at different heights on either side so both tall and short people will feel comfortable sitting on it. The optional cushion is upholstered in Kvadrat’s new two-colored wool textile Rime.

above> Bjørn van den Berg’s angular Platter Tray Series is reminiscent of folded paper. It was in fact inspired by overlapping plates at a dinner party served on a tiny table. Bjørn felt this “landscape of trays” in the center of the table created intimacy and a nice atmosphere, so he wanted to replicate it in this collection. The trays’ differing heights ensure they overlap one another comfortably.

above> Bergan-based design studio Morten & Jonas presented Treet, a small lounge table with a playful tabletop comprising three solid oak trays in different colors and proportions, supported by a coated metal frame.

above> Textile and ceramics designer Margit Seland’s Tuthanka collection combines white and colored porcelain – sanded on the outside and glazed inside – with a yellow spool from a hardware stool as a lid. Margrit studied textile and ceramics in Norway and the Netherlands and is now based in Amsterdam.

above> Kristine Five Melvær’s Mikkel blankets are currently prototypes made by Norwegian manufacturer Røros Tweed. They combine Kristine’s industrial design training with her graphic design background, and inspirations from the Bauhaus movement with the Norwegian wool tradition. The blankets come in four colorways and seemed particularly appealing as the temperature in Milan started to drop!

above> Lolly, by Oslo-based design duo Gridy, is a solid oak stackable stool with legs inspired by wooden popsicle sticks. Its flat seat means it doubles up as a side table. Girdy aims for “simple and honest products that are user-friendly and have a Nordic feel,” and judging by this product, they’re doing pretty well.

above> Bottoms Up by Ingrid Aspen is a playful and colorful collection of multifunctional drinking glasses inspired by the Italian lifestyle, but executed with typical Scandinavian simplicity. By eliminating the stem of a traditional wine glass, Ingrid has been able to incorporate another ‘upside down’ glass for a nightcap after the wine is finished.

above> Kristine Bjaadal’s Hegne is a hand-turned wooden vessel with a ceramic lid. Kirstine wants her to work to make people notice the hidden beauty in the everyday – to turn daily routines into rituals to appreciate. Hegne can be used to contain something functional, a personal memento or be purely decorative. “A container can be empty, but still contain the idea of keeping something, preserving something, taking care of something,” she says.

above> I loved Flip it! by Furniture, product and spacial designer Marte Frøystad – a little cluster of mix and match circular, semi-circular and semi-oval tables on slender metal legs with reversible tabletops – each side is covered with a different colored linoleum. “The classic round table is cut, separated and stretched in varying levels – creating a set of sharp tables in various heights, serving different needs, paired or intersected,” said the designer.

above> The trend for warm metallic finishes was still very much in evidence at this year’s fair, and Siv Lier’s Spring – a wooden and brass tray for storing keys, coin and mail in the hallway, or pens, paper and desktop accessories in the office, was the perfect example. “The wood gives a down-to-earth feeling, and is spiced up with fresh colors,” said Siv. “The brass makes a shiny contrast, adding a bit of glamour into your life.”

Scandinavian design might be having its moment in the sun, but the Norwegians have sometimes struggled to find their own identity – this show certainly put them on the map, and in the most happening quarter of Milan, the design capital of the world.

liminal – the space between the known and the unknown. milan design week 15.

Apr 25, 2015

Liminal was a real highlight of Zona Tortona, and in fact of the whole festival. Part of government-backed initiative Irish Design 2015, it was a showcase of design from the Gaelic nation. Well curated, thoughtfully designed, and full of beautiful objects, it did Ireland proud.

“Liminal spaces lie between the known and the unknown – transitional spaces of heightened intensity that we experience when we cross the threshold of what is known,” said co-curator Alex Milton. “They are doorways, gateways and pathways between ideas, feelings or disciplines. Taking the theme of ‘the Liminal’, this exhibition explores the craft of collaboration and presents the exploratory journeys undertaken by designers.”

above> Andrew Ludick studied illustration at the Columbus College of Art and Design, Ohio before moving to Ireland in 2003. I have long been a fan of his organic forms decorated with optimistic patterns and colors.

above> In the spirit of transition, it was great to see his designs turned into rugs by Ceadogán Rugs. To mimic the handmade forms of his ceramics, the rugs are not perfectly round or perfectly square. “The intricate nuances of the small-scale ceramic pieces change dramatically when blown up to the rug size,” said a statement from Ceadogán Rugs. “Each subtle, fine distinction of the original designs evolves to take on a boldness, confidence and delicate playfulness in the larger scale of the rugs.”

above> Another fascinating collaboration was between Mourne Textiles and NNotion Design. In 1951, the Mourne Milano rug, designed by Mourne Textiles founder Gerd Hay-Edie, was exhibited at the Triennale di Milano, as part of a room display with furniture by Robin Day, where it won the silver medal. Fast forward 64 years and Mario Hay-Edie handed the last of his Grandmother’s original yellow yarn to Notion Design Studio who designed the Frame chair and side table collection to complement the rug. The resulting set looked like it would be equally at home at the 1951 Triennale di Milano or the 2015 Salone – timeless design all round.

above> Claire Anne O’Brien’s furniture draws on Ireland’s material heritage and traditional techniques such as weaving, knotting and basketry. The Casta Yellow Chair, made of Swiss stone pine and pure knitted and stitched wool from the Shetland Islands, was commissioned by Happens Projects as a contemporary interpretation of the traditional Alpine chair.

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above> The idea for ibi by Cathal Loughnane and Peter Sheehan came about when Cathal noticed that his wife is immediately transported back to her childhood whenever she hears seagulls. Each cylinder contains a different audio file, which is played when you touch it. The materials of the cylinder – which include wood, steel, stone and fabric – have been selected to reflect the sounds inside.

above> Peter Sheehan and Cathal Loughnane also showed their first collaboration, the History Chair.

above> University of Ulster graduate Derek Wilson’s structured ceramic vessels come from a practice inspired by everything from mid-century British Constructivism to the history of the ceramic industry in Europe and Asia.

above> Design Partners and Seed Labs Inc. have been collaborating since 2013, and have just launched the prototype of Silvair Control, a small handheld device the size of a large pebble that uses Bluetooth to control household appliance such as lighting.

above> Dublin-based industrial design studio Designgoat collaborated with Garrett Pitcher, creative director at Indigo & Cloth, a menswear boutique and branding studio also based in Dublin, on the development of a steel frame and leather chair and magazine rack. Inspired by the current trend for all things Scandinavian, the starting point for the design was the question: “If the Vikings had never left, what would Dublin as a city be today?” The result is a collection that combines Irish manufacturing and materials with Scandinavian clean lines and simple forms. “The chair and magazine rack are designed to be beautiful when they are not being used and invisible when they are,” said the designers.

above> Snug is trained cabinet-maker Conor Kelly and passionate designer Nell Roddy and together they make furniture from a small workshop in Snugboro, Co. Wicklow. The Snug bench, chair and table are made from moulded ash or birch plywood veneer. “Our aim is always to achieve a balance between simplicity, function and beauty,” said the designers.

above> And finally, The Cabinet of Modern Irish Life, curated by Studio AAD, provided an opportunity to show a wider breadth of Irish design than could fit into the exhibition. “The Cabinet of Modern Irish Life is like a window on Ireland – I wanted to bring breadth to how people understand Irish design,” said Scott Burnett of Studio AAD. “I’m thinking of it as a glimpse of modern Ireland through the lens of design. I imagined it like a kitchen dresser, the eclectic backdrop to family life; and that let me bring in quite disparate things that nevertheless have a relationship through how we use them, and how they give us a sense of who we are.” photos courtesy of liminal

The exhibition started in Milan during the city’s annual design week, and will be coming to NYCxDesign 08 – 19 May 2015, before moving on to Dublin and Eindhoven.

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