Three Layer Cake

100% Design - London

The London Design Festival takes place every year from 15 – 30 September.  100% Design is the design trade fair held in the middle of these two weeks, this year from 21-24 September.  The London Design Festival programme does a comprehensive job of presenting not just products ranging from students’ work to established designers’ work, but also offers the opportunity to attend seminars and talks on design related topics like turning ideas into products, copyright/patent protection, and well, just about every angle you can think of in design (graphic, fashion, textile, furniture, etc).  To see it all is impossible, but to see it well you need to spend at least five full days.


How to compare 100% Design and Maison-Objet?  Many of the products exhibited in the major venues in London did not reflect the trend paths from Maison & Objet (Elizabeth Leriche’s Wild Experience, Nelly Rodi’s Mirage, and French Ethnic trends).  Of course there were a few exceptions, and we should expect the paths shall meet further down the road...  Floral and flying motifs were ever present.  For color, green in many shades appeared alongside purples and oranges.  The recurring objects of interiors this season appear to remain the same:  ceramics and pendant lighting.  Expect designers who don’t regularly venture into these areas to produce some attractive designs for lighting or tabletop. 
 

All forms of ceramics and pendant lighting were recurrent throughout the many exhibits around town (100% East, open space 06, Ceramics in the City, Des+gn mais, 100% Norway, and many others).  There was an emphasis on ceramics and the introduction of unique patterns and images (graphic designs) and finishes (relief) on ceramics primarily for tableware— Decoration ranged from images to perforation, stenciling, painting, and 'carving', all demonstrating the versatility of this medium and the creativity of the designers.  Porcelain has become the new canvas for artistic expression, often in ironic ways.  Motifs:  City scenes, monuments, gold leaf, floral prints, words.  Afternoon tea, anyone?  (Andrew Tanner , Emiko Oki , YoYo ceramics , CJ ONeill , Sarah Grove, People will Always Need Plates ) 

Andrew Tanner's Flock Bowl uses a flock wallpaper motif for relief.

Emiko Oki, a new Japanese designer who presented pieces of her collection at 100% East, has designed individually beautiful pieces that make a winning statement when put together.  Trophy dish set.

Hidden Art members YoYo Ceramics have a playful take on ceramics.  Egg Box "Is That Plastic?" Line.  (Left).  CJ O'Neill's "Feeding Desire" range, exhibited at Design UK Liberty (Right)

Designers also used porcelain for hanging lamps.  (Diffuse, Scabetti , Original BTC , Kathleen Hills )

Original BTC pendant lamps in porcelain.  Tea Range (cut and pot) also available in desk lamps.  (left)

Scabetti's Cibola Pendant Lamp (Right)

There was also an emphasis on airborne elements both in structure (pendant lamps) and in motifs (dragonflies, birds).  Strikingly, there was a marked presence of  round hanging lamps.  Reminiscent of drops of water, the ‘round’ form in lighting elements is high on the list primarily for glass and ceramic pendant lighting (Scabetti, Refer + Staer, Bocci , Sheldon Cooney) but also in other materials (Tom Dixon ).  Use of fiber optics in pendant lamps was also notable.

Danish team Refer + Staer's "Ice Blue" (left).

14 Series Pendant lamps by Bocci of Canada (right)

Sheldon Cooney's Bulldog pendant lamp (left).  Tom Dixon's Copper Shade (right and intro).

Neither Tom Dixon nor the city of London could allow you a visit during London Design Festival without seeing a Tom Dixon design.  While he has cornered the market on his polystyrene Trafalgar Square Chair (Damn it!  I missed the Great Chair Grab!!!!!) his Link Easy has many friends to keep it company.  In furniture, this seasons’ protagonist for indoors and outdoors is coated welded steel.    (Soop Design , Colin O’Dowd , Matthew Swarbrick, Norway Says , and of course, Tom Dixon).

Soop Design Prototype, exhibited at 100% Design and Design UK (Liberty), left.  Colin O'Dowd's lounger, right. 

Matthew Swarbrick's Slouch, New Designer's selected artist from its July Show (left).  Norway Says presented its  Spline chair, originally a cafe chair designed for the  National Museum of Art in Norway.  (Presented at 100% Norway). 

And of course, the Link Easy chair by Tom Dixon (left). 

Bringing nature indoors is not limited to graphically designed reproductions. The use of natural foliage to decorate walls and underscore the environmental friendliness of products was seen in Paris (Maison & Objet-- Nature Deco of Austria's stand pictured Right) and London (100% Norway).    If you need grass wallpaper or moss from the Norwegian forests (the smell of the forest is included), Zehetbauer or Norske Moseprodukter can help.  If you prefer flowers to moss and grass, The Black Tulip can use flowers to upholster your favorite chair (below).  (Please note:  these are not for long term applications!)

 
However, the real star of 100% Design weekend was this little pug who was left to wait during the Portobello Road market in Notting Hill while her owner worked a stand.