interview :: the father of british furniture design

I was recently very privileged to meet, and spend almost an hour talking to, ‘the father of British furniture design,’ John Makepeace, ahead of his first solo exhibition, which opens at Somerset House on 16th March 2010. I am pleased to report that he was both fascinating and lovely.

Invitation to John Makepeace: Enriching the language of furniture

Here’s what we talked about…

I believe you first saw furniture being made when you were just eleven. How did this come about? Do you remember what you felt at that time?

thinking about :: every chair I sat in today

A very long time ago, I read somewhere* that the average person sits in seven different chairs every day, and had an idea; to photograph every chair I sat in for a day. Here’s how I got on:

Eero Saarinen Tulip Chair

I spent most of the day sitting in this chair working at my dining table (you guessed it, an Eero Saarinen Tulip Table!). I needed the cushion to get myself high enough up to work comfortably on the laptop – they were obviously designed for…

thinking about :: design democracy

As part of the MyDeco Design Democracy Blog Awards process, I have been asked to write a blog post about what design democracy means to me.

dsadsa

I started by thinking about what the words ‘design’ and ‘democracy’ mean separately.

Design democracy definitions

From those definitions, I got to a definition of ‘design democracy’ that is about creating things around the needs of any user, regardless of who they are; which made me think of the Modernist movement…

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 :: campana brothers

The Design Museum are running a series of talks at the moment – I went along to this one given by Fernando and Humberto Campana with a Brazilian friend I met on the CSM Furniture Design course. She had intrigued me by describing their work as “representing everything that it means to be Brazilian.”

campana brothers book signing

The talk was a fascinating insight into Brazilian culture and the Campana brothers’ design process.

out and about :: furniture design course, day 2

Homework for last night was to find a piece of furniture we liked and decide:

– why we liked it

– who it was for

– what it would be used for

– how it would be used

– how it was made

This is mine: CSM furniture design course flow chair board

Afternoon of lectures which I’ll share if I can get hold of them