out and about :: coffee and design in London

Even the most hardened of London explorers sometimes need to refuel. And the design geeks among us would always prefer to do so in a cafe or bar with some serious design credentials. Luckily, a few real gems have popped up lately. Here are my three favourites; first the V&A Reading Rooms on Exhibition Road in Kensington.

V&A Reading Rooms

A bookshop with a bar; why has no-one thought of that before?

out and about :: london’s libraries (part 2)

Now, where were we? That’s right, just outside Holborn Central Library.

Festival-style canopy outside Holborn library

In my last out and about post, we got half way through the 20^th Century Society’s tour of London’s libraries; “Lend us your books, a day ‘in Libris’” and now for the rest…

out and about :: london’s libraries

Having recently joined the 20th Century Society, the boy and I joined them for “Lend us your books, a day ‘in Libris;'” a day exploring the development of the public library from the turn of the 20th century right through to the 21st; focusing on architecture, planning and design.

Peckham library

We started the day, bright and early, at Kensington Central Library.

out and about :: barbican

The boy and I recently spent an enlightening Sunday afternoon exploring the Barbican on one of their official architecture tours led by the very knowledgable Richard Burton.

Once voted Britain’s ugliest building, this 35 acre, Grade 2 listed estate has been the subject of much controversy and misunderstanding.

The Barbican

The word ‘barbican’ means

about and about :: wim crouwel in conversation

On March 31st I went to see Rick Poynor in conversation with Wim Crouwel and his son Mels Crouwel at the Design Museum. It was first in a series to mark the retrospective of the iconic graphic designer and typographer; Wim Crouwel, a Graphic Odyssey.

Wim Crouwel (photograph by Luke Hayes)

Afterwards, I plucked up the courage to speak to the man himself to ask for a short interview – and he said yes! But more of that later; first the talk…

out and about :: pick me up

Somerset House is the place to be at the moment, with Joy of Living, John Makepeace and Pick Me Up all happening at the same time. On Friday evening, I went down to have a look at Pick Me Up.

Pick Me Up at Somerset House

I had great fun following the shapes to find the exhibition (having come in through the Strand entrance, not the one pictured above in case you’re confused!)…

out and about :: isotype

I recently found myself in the deliciously geeky world of Room 17a at the V&A; home to an exhibition about ISOTYPE (International System of TYpographic Picture Education) – a system for organising and displaying information and statistics using pictures.

Symbols of Pictorial Statistics

out and about :: john pawson plain space

John Pawson Plain Space at the Design Museum opens with; “…I think a plain space near the eye gives it a kind of liberty it loves; and then the picture, whether you choose the grand or beautiful, should be held up at its proper distance. Variety is the principle ingredient in beauty; and simplicity is essential to grandeur.” William Shenstone, 1714 – 1763.

Site specific 1:1 installation, John Pawson for the Design Museum

I prefer Pawson’s far simpler explanation; “I’m from Yorkshire – plain speaking, plain space.” 

out and about: the temporium

On Thursday evening, I went along to London’s latest pop-up design shop; The Temporium, a collaboration between Dezeen, Deborah Spencer and Alice Breed. It featured some of my favourite designers, so I was very excited – and I wasn’t disappointed.

The Temporium

The first things I spotted were…

out and about :: superdesign

Hidden in the basement of Victoria House on Bloomsbury Square for four days last week was SuperDesign 2010.

Studio Olgoj Chorchoj from Vessel Gallery (Photography: Will Wilkinson)

The basement location, the stage lights, and the fact a fellow design geek and I had sneaked out during our lunch hour; all added to the sense of anticipation

out and about :: wandworth artists’ open house

Today was an unexpected delight in many ways. Firstly, the sun shone as if it was summer, which was wonderful after the last fortnight of gloom.

Wandsworth Artists' Open House

Secondly, we spent the day exploring the Putney Artists’ Trail as part of the second weekend of Wandsworth Artists’ Open House, which was a series of multifarious delights unfolding one after another. First stop was The Cottage on Cambalt Road

out and about :: rca @ ldf

The Design Products Collection is one of four London Design Festival exhibitions presented by the RCA and the launch of new products designed and made by alumni and staff from their Design Products course.

Greetje van Helmond's sugar jewellery

This bling-tastic ring is in fact made from sugar,

out and about :: trend spotting at 100% design

A very large and well-scribbled upon blackboard at 100% Design posed the question; “what is the future of design?”

What is the future of design? (Photography: Philip Vile)

So with that question in mind, at my last big LDF event for this year, I thought I’d try my hand at a little bit of trend spotting…

out and about :: pennies from heaven

Not willing to concede the end of London Design Festival quite yet; I swung by Paul Cocksedge’s Drop installation on the terrace of the Royal Festival Hall tonight.

Paul Cocksedge's Drop installation with RFH in background

The highly magnetic brass metre-high ‘coin’ supposedly “fell to Earth from a giant’s palm.”

out and about :: origin

I am very sad to have been greeted by these closed doors when I excitedly arrived at Origin, thinking I had a good couple of hours to check it out…

All I saw of origin

Happily, some of my fellow bloggers were luckier and so here are my best bits of their best bits…

out and about :: tent

I rushed back from the West Country on Saturday and headed straight over to the East side of town for this year’s TENT, and boy was I glad I did!

Tent London 2010

Hosted in the Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane; Tent London is one of London Design Festival‘s edgier events…

out and about :: moquette for london

Last night saw a wonderfully geeky series of talks at the London Transport Museum entitled “Moquette for London” as part of the London Design Festival.

Wallace Sewell moquette

If I’m really, really honest…

out and about :: london transport museum

I made (well, decorated!) some tumbler glasses! As part of “Moquette for London” at the London Transport Museum, I attended a workshop by The Make Lounge and designed my own glasses inspired by tube seat fabric patterns.

Glass tumbler

Start with one tumbler, cleaned with window cleaner…

out and about :: tom dixon in the dock

Tom Dixon has a shop; in London; selling “spectacular everyday things”… so naturally I went along to take a look…

Tom Dixon Shop

It’s set within “The Dock“; a design hub housing…

out and about :: 1:1 architects build small spaces

Friday night at the V&A was a like treasure hunt. They had asked 19 architects to submit plans for ‘small spaces’ that explore the idea of refuge and retreat – and seven were selected to make 1:1 scale models, which are now on display all over the museum. A map (and my terrible map reading skills) led us to the first installation; the delightfully wooden “woodshed” by Rural Studio (a programme of a school of architecture at Auburn University):

"Woodshed" by Rural Studio

Our explorations then took us on to my idea of heaven…

out and about :: whitstable

Spent the weekend at the Whitstable Oyster Festival; lots of inspirational sights and smells, colours, textures and shapes…

oyster shells

out and about :: ernesto neto: the edges of the world

Ernesto Neto: The Edges of the World is a thoroughly inspirational installation that creates a weird world within the Hayward Gallery and really challenges conventional thinking about interior design.

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves…

Ernesto Neto at the Hayward Gallery

out and about :: the new decor

Last weekend I went to the Hayward Gallery to see two exhibitions, The New Decor and Ernesto Neto, both of which promised to challenge the conventions of interior design. 

There were two pieces at The New Decor that really stood out as examples of how an artist’s mindset applied to design can create something truly magical.

The first piece that I liked was Spencer Finch’s Night Sky (Over the Painted Desert, Arizona, January 11, 2004)

Spencer Finch's Night Sky (Photo: The List)

Firstly, it was a beautiful light installation that would be equally at home in a public or commercial space, or even a large home.

out and about :: elephant parade

There is just one week left of elephant-spotting! Since May, over 250 brightly painted life-size elephants have appeared all over London, to raise awareness of the plight of the endangered Asian elephant, which has dwindled in numbers by 90% in the last hundred years, and could be extinct in the next 30. Here is my favourite…

Blue Patch by Sir Terrance Conran and Design Team

Yesterday I visited the Elephant Parade Gallery Shop, where you can paint your own elephant and buy anything from miniature elephants to posters showing every single one. I love, love, love the pink this chap has chosen to paint his elephant…

out and about :: clerkenwell design week

Heartbreakingly, as you can probably tell from this sad little unused wristband, work commitments kept me from Clerkenwell’s inaugural Design Week, so I’ve trawled the net for the best bits.

Clerkenwell Design Week wristband

Many thanks to the bloggers who did make it for sharing the following:

out and about :: andrew martin

What can I say?! I finally had the good fortune to spend some time wondering around Andrew Martin‘s London Showroom. Whilst the overall effect was a cacophony of craziness, there were some stunning individual pieces there, which I actually think is a great approach – it entertains and amuses you for long enough to spot something you like; cunning! Apart from the sound of falling water, which I can’t recreate here, these are the best bits:

OMG, like the best coffee table ever, dude!

 

out and about :: pick me up at somerset house

The boy and I went along to Pick Me Up at Somerset House yesterday afternoon; the first contemporary graphic art fair in the UK, and I have to say, it exceeded our expectations. It smelt of paper and ink and making things, which is always a good start(!) and there was some great young talent there, but most exciting of all was Rob Ryan‘s studio, which had decamped there in its entirety…

Paper cutting in Rob Ryan's studio

I had no idea his work on this scale was hand-cut; it was quite incredible to watch.