London Design Festival: The Wrap-Up

With so much to see and do, London Design Week delivers an overwhelming amount of inspiration. In case you missed our 10 Best Bets for London, here are a handful of products and installations that deserve post-festival attention.

1. Branding design firm Vonsung created Glasshouse, an eerie installation at the Tramshed‘s pop-up cafe. Inside the polycarbonate walls of this pint-sized greenhouse, visitors found white ceramic rabbits displayed on clinical-looking shelves.

Autoban’s Daisy coffee table and Pill Lamp, at the Tramshed

2. Turkish furniture designers Autoban gave solid wood a liquid appearance with the Daisy side table and the capsular Pill Lamp, both on view at the Tramshed.

Leif.designpark’s Lin Pod Bench, at the Tramshed

3. Wood legs support Leif.designpark‘s Lin Pod Bench, its seat and back are upholstered in a single piece of seamless fabric. At one end, an embedded flowerpot means you’ll never sit alone.

Kenneth Grange’s Hero light for Angelpoise, at 100% Design: Director’s Cut

4. At 100% Design, a special curated section called Director’s Cut housed Kenneth Grange‘s elegant new Hero light, the latest product of his longstanding collaboration with Anglepoise.

Michael Young’s 100 Chair for Trussardi, at 100% Design: Director’s Cut

5. From Trussardi, Michael Young‘s 100 Collection celebrated the company’s centennial at Director’s Cut with chairs, benches, and ottomans in wood or acrylic with pleated leather, an homage to Trussardi’s award-winning cabin seating for Alitalia in 1983.

Charlie Crowther-Smith and Christian Taylor’s Two Halves cabinet, at 100% Futures

6. On display at 100% Futures was Charlie Crowther-Smith‘s Two Halves cabinet, a form that features a rhomboid opening and profile and is enhanced with graphics by Christian Taylor.

Ariane Prin’s From Here to Here pencils, at The Dock by Tom Dixon

7. Tom Dixon was back at Portobello Dock, playing host to 25 exhibitors including Ariane Prin. Her From Here For Here pencils are made from sawdust collected from Dixon’s workshop.

Noma Bar’s Cut It Out exhibit at Outline Editions

8. At Outline Editions, visitors were given the chance to make their own Noma Bar cut out using a custom press in the form of a giant bulldog. The Cut It Out exhibit displayed the range of Bar’s trademark silhouettes.

Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec’s Textile Field at the Victoria & Albert Museum

9. An entire gallery of the Victoria & Albert Museum was carpeted in Kvadrat’s goods for Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec‘s Textile Field installation.

Detail of Cambridge University’s Biophotovoltaic Table, Design in Science, at Designersblock

10. Pushing the boundaries of green design, Cambridge University exhibited Design in Science at Designersblock. A highlight was the prototypical Biophotovoltaic Table, which captures the mild electrical currents generated by living tissue – in this case tiny pots of moss – to power an LED lamp.

See the full report on the London Design Festival in our January/February 2012 issue.