Blog archive September 2025
<< July 2025 / October 2025 >>
26.09.25 / 01 / london design festival 2025
Notes from London Design Festival, culled from my Flickr feed:
Otl Aicher
There was a small exhibition of Otl Aicher's work. These posters show the development of the graphic system for the 1972 Munich Olympics - the first poster is from 1969, the second poster from 1971 shows the addition of yellow and purple as secondary colours to enable a wider range of effects.
Vitra
Latest Eames colours and materials at Vitra. Beige is big. More sustainable timbers (European sourced except Palisander, oiled and water-based lacquers) and leathers (vegetable tanned). Bouclé fabric option on the lounge chair. Russett velvet is certainly novel. Ray Eames would not have approved, she tried to ban all variations other than black leather from showrooms!
Making Sense
Making Sense at twentytwentyone, curated by Mentsen:
Michael Marriott's Glasgow shelving - Meccano-style uprights, and I guess you can supply your own planks. The Fusilli folding book stand on the table is also by Marriott. It resembles something I might have made as a child in my father's shed out of spare wire, and much of Marriott's stuff seems to look back to 1950s DIY, things made in the shed out of scraps of material to fix a domestic need.
The Brown Betty teapots are an English classic from the 18th century. The shape never alters - it's what a teapot is - but ceramicist Ian McIntyre has reintroduced a non-drip spout which was invented c.1800 but omitted from modern versions.
Elliott Denny makes extruded ceramics, pasta style. These door handles feel nice.
The Genie lounge chairs by VG&P are comfortable. I had a long rest in one at Clerkenwell Design Week.
Was good to chat to Mentsen and hear about their process.
Ecolattice
Ecolattice is a thermoplastic material that can be 3D printed as a cushion to replace PU upholstery foam. The lattice can be varied to give different softnesses, even within the same piece. It can be printed in the final required shape, without waste offcuts (if there were any they could be recycled into the printer). In the search to replace PU upholstery foam this seems highly promising.
These are two pieces of different squashiness. It's an attractive looking material.
Material Matters
And so to Material Matters at the wonderful Space House, newly refurbished by Squire & Partners.
No. 1 Common is a timber grade with irregularities, knots, splits etc and so often discarded. Daniel Schofield has refined the forms of butterfly ties and knot plugs to become a feature that encourages use of this low-grade timber.
Using branches in their natural state, with the bark left on for effect, and the wood cut into shape roughly like a pencil. 'Chairs that care' is a project of charity Making It Out and the University of Brighton, teaching ex-prisoners furniture making skills.
Part of 'Material Matters' in the rotunda of Space House. The storey height is only 3m (as was standard in the 1960s) which is challenging for modern services. There is currently no raised access floor. The ceiling services zone is very shallow. Heating and cooling is by chilled beams. I'm not sure how the ventilation works. Lovely space but it's hard to see how one could divide it with partitions. Ideally one wouldn't, and use pods.
Modus PLC chair showing the foam-free upholstery - coir, latex, wool instead.
