LONDON DESIGN FESTIVAL
This influential design expo was held at various locations across the UK capital, celebrating cutting-edge technologies and new products from leaders in the field.
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Collector’s dream Quite a few companies have been dipping into the archives to reinvent wallcoverings and fabrics. A great example is Blackpop’s Collector’s Collection, produced in collaboration with Sir John Soane’s museum. Works from the 18th-century architect’s collection have been digitally deconstructed and punked up to create vibrant wallpapers and lush upholstery velvets (blackpop.co.uk).
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New tech tales Technological advances have allowed design to push the boundaries, beautifully demonstrated in the carbon-fibre lighting by Sebastiaan Vandeputte for Artelier C. The ready-made range includes wall lights, standing lamps and table lamps (artelierc.com; beyondbespoke. agency). 3
Old is new again The traditional craft of bentwood is enjoying a revival.
This ancient process of shaping wood by wetting or steaming it, popularised by Thonet in the 19th century, has been having a moment in rattan furniture.
One of the coolest examples at Design Junction was the ‘Chips’ chair by Czech designer Lucie Koldová for TON (ton.eu; jamesrichardsonfurniture.com.au).
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Clever walls New off the block at the fair were two wallcoverings: the first was Italian firm Glamora’s Glamfusion range of prefinished waterproof wallpaper ( 4A), which can even be used for shower walls (glamora.it); the other was an OLED-embedded wallpaper called ‘Ribbon Prism’ ( 4B) from Meystyle (meystyle.com), which echoes the current trend for geometrics. 5
Log on The ongoing yen for wood finishes and timber products has engaged with the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi to produce homewares that celebrate th the unique grains of different woods. Tamasine Osher’s ‘Spider’ tables and h hand-turned ‘Cupola’ pendants ( 5A; tamasineosher.com); and Sebastian Cox’s woven-timber ‘Bayleaf’ settle and ‘Crown’ candelabra ( 5B), crafted from coppiced o hazel (sebastiancox.co.uk), were among the vast range of pieces. 6
Good to be green Rich peacock-green shone in all its decadent beauty in some of the wallpaper collections. Our picks: ‘Thea’ in Palm Green from the
Casbah Collection by Surfacephilia (surfacephilia.co.uk); ‘Gramercy’ in Emerald by Mind The Gap (mindtheg.com); and ‘Garden of Serica’ in Malachite (pictured above a right) from The Silk Route collection by Anna Glover (annaglover.co.uk). >