London Design Fair: my picks
Well after a long week, the London Design Festival is almost over and today we are featuring the London Design Fair which is on until tomorrow at the Old Truman Brewery in London East End. The show includes Tent London and Super Brands London and probably has the most to see! It’s enormous.
Our chosen exhibitors today all manufacture furniture. First up is Totem Road, a sustainable furniture company hailing from Australia and now available in the UK. Their furniture features mid century style with added elements, I really like the marble table range Kara. These tables are topped with Carrara marble on a solid oak base. The full collection also includes beds and bedroom furniture and can be seen online.
Design Junction: my picks
Last night Design Junction was my London Design Festival destination of choice – along with half of the design world I think! Personally I am very happy that the show has moved to Kings Cross, just a short hop from my home. The transformation of Kings Cross has been amazing over the last few years and with so many design businesses locally it is a great place to hold a design show.
First on my list of picks from the exhibitors is Korridor showcased on the Moxon stand and available through their website. Shelving might seem like an easy thing to buy but often it isn’t quite right – or just plain ugly. The Anywhere Shelving system has a number of modules that can be combined to fit your space and create the perfect storage solution. Designed by Danish duo Oooja it is available in black or white steel poles with either lovely oak veneer or white laminate shelves.
Decorex 2016: my picks
Decorex is considered by many to feature the pick of the interior design suppliers. Based in Syon Park for the last few years it has become a destination day out event for me, a great place to source new products and also catch up with industry friends. 5 years ago I was actually the official Decorex blogger – my post from Day 1 of Decorex 2011 – so it has a special place in my heart. My top picks today include wall coverings from Daniel Heath, fabric and wall panels from Margo Shelby and soft furnishing from Stitch by Stitch – all first time exhibitors at Decorex.
Daniel Heath is a wallpaper, textile and surface designer located in Walthamstow in the East End of London, and all his products are made on site in his studio. After training at the Royal College of Arts in screen printing he set up his own studio creating unique surface treatments. I really love Amazing Jumbo, available in seven standard colours but also with bespoke options. Also the new Onyx Skyline paper is an absolute winner if you are an Art Deco fan.
Focus 2016: my picks
With six trade shows to attend over the next week I broke my golden rule of not working on Sunday and I headed down to the Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour for the start of Focus 2016. As usual ‘the Harbour’ looks beautiful, trade shows here are always a special event. Sadly I had no time to eat in the Salt Yard at Tatler restaurant, but if the food is anything like the decor it would be a special experience.
Enough about the interior decor of the show, I want to focus on three suppliers I’ve selected from the 120 showrooms participating in Focus this year. With so many gorgeous products the selection wasn’t easy and they are all high-end suppliers – but then this show is about luxury.
Top Drawer: my picks
September show time is now firmly upon us and the London Design Festival kicks off on the 17th of September. As an gentle introduction to the show season I started yesterday by attending Top Drawer over in Olympia. Thankfully this show is a few days before the main rush of shows when design folk often don’t have time to draw breath. I actually haven’t attended the show for a few years but it seemed to be promising a good offering in the Home section this year.
I’m featuring three of my favourite suppliers here, all new to me and offering perfect products for modern interiors. As I attend the other shows throughout LDF this month I’ll be featuring products from each show.
First off, as I’m naturally drawn to anything from Scandinavia, and even more so if it’s glassware I literally ran towards the Lyngby Porcelain stand. The exquisite colours of the glass and the simple design pulled me in. The Lyngby vase was originally introduced in 1936 in porcelain and is influenced by the Bauhaus movement. Since 2011 it has been available in coloured glass. I’m a huge fan of the blue and green version of the vases, and also the new dusky pink one. Little Green have just launched a new Pink collection of paint colours and a Lyngby vase in soft pink would be a perfect accent accessory. Head over to their website to see more, their products have gone straight on my wish list and are now available in the UK for the first time.
Farrow & Ball wallpaper
September is always an exciting month if you design and specify interiors. We have a wave of trade shows about to start and lots of brand new fixtures, fittings and finishes are arriving at our design studio daily. Wallpapers from Farrow & Ball are one of the first products to land on my desk this month and rather super they are too. Farrow & Ball was founded in the 1940s and this year is celebrating its 70th year, the new collection features three wallpapers all inspired by this decade.
Arcade features a soft scallop design and has been inspired by the art decor movement. Shown below in a strong green colourway the wallpapers are block printed using real paints to produce a wallpaper with depth and definition. Metallics remain a big trend at the moment and this design includes lovely metallic accents – perfect if you want to introduce some brass back into your interior.
If your wallpaper style is more subtle Arcade is also available in several muted colourways. This one gets shade of grey and would serve as a good neutral base to add your own individual touches. It also works well with strong colours and is shown here with Farrow & Ball Studio Green.
Featuring a rural scene of ploughed fields, picket fences and farmyard animals Gable reminds you of simpler times. There are layers of detail in this wallpaper that only become apparent on closer inspection, I love the playful dog teasing the tethered horse. As with the other papers this one is available in seven colourways.
Given my love of geometric design I was immediately drawn to the final new wallpaper, Enigma. This paper is named after the encoding machine deciphered by the amazing British mathematician Alan Turing during World War II. Featuring interlocking rectangles it does remind me of the Enigma machine – and if you haven’t visited Bletchley Park to see a replica it is well worth a trip. It is shown here in one of the more subtle colourways.
Personally though I prefer Engima in one of the bolder colourways – definitely my favourite of all the new design and colourways . Blues have returned to favour and this year feature as the Dulux Colour of the Year – more on this later in the week. In addition to this colourway there is another one featuring strong blue and those golden metallic elements I mentioned above – I can’t wait to specify that one for a project.
Over the last few years wallpaper has had a big revival and can be used in a variety of ways. Some people say the feature wall is dead, personally I disagree – and anyway, rules are made to be broken! If you want a feature wall go for it, and often a feature wall allows you to use a luxury finish in your room that wouldn’t be affordable if you were going to do the whole room. Alternatively by papering the whole room you often add a warmth that a paint finish doesn’t provide – I love to specify fully wallpapered hallways, they are so welcoming when you come home.
However you decide to decorate you will find all the details of the new wallpapers over on the Farrow & Ball website.
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Plumen 003
LED bulbs eh? We all know they make sense on many counts but so often in the past as a light source they’ve been disappointing. Lighting is such an important element of interior design that the most beautifully designed room will be ruined by the wrong lighting. Thankfully Plumen have been leading the way in LED lighting and have just launched the Plumen 003 – so now try to tell me you don’t like LED lighting?
Plumen believes that this is the most beautiful light bulb ever created – and I think they might be right. The light bulb consists of two different elements to create a unique and very warming light source. A downward spotlight creates a task light source, casting a pool of light for reading, working or eating. This is then complemented by a soft golden ambient lighting from the multi faceted gold element. The dual elements of the bulb would make it ideal as a feature installation over your dining table – you can still see what you are eating while you and your guests look amazing.
The central gold element was designed by a jeweller. The engineering team at Plumen have developed a principle to cast the light exactly where needed, so the LED light is warmed by this gold element to create a soft glow. At the same time the structure has been designed to draw away the heat from the LED – so it not only looks beautiful but equally important it is efficient.
Plumen recognises that many people still don’t like LED lighting. Nicolas Roope, the Co-founder and Creative Director of Plumen says “To persuade all those who still haven’t moved to low energy lighting, we knew we needed something really special to tempt them in. Something beautiful, beguiling, compelling. We needed some seductive sustainability. So for the past five years we’ve been designing and developing the Plumen 003. Here it is.” Five years well spent I’d say, and I can’t wait to see the bulb when it is available from next month.
With a bulb lifespan of 10,000 hours it is definitely worth making an investment in the new Plumen 003. Head over to their website now to place your order, and be among the first to enhance your home with this amazing light bulb.
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