The Victoria & Albert Museum holds an amazing collection of works from across all fields within Design and the Visual Arts; and for the London Design Festival it is showing 12 installations across the site. I had a preview of the pieces yesterday and its certainly a “must visit” on the design trail. If you’re not able to get into London for the Festival here’s a look at some of the pieces on show.

The Cromwell Road entrance has undergone a dramatic transformation with the installation of a 12m diameter timber wave cascading down the steps.  Architects AL_A (winner of the V&A’s recent international competition to design a new courtyard and exhibition galleries) collaborated with structural engineers Arup in the creation of Timber Frame, a striking three-dimensional spiral made from oil-treated American Red Oak. This material is usually used in the construction of furniture and its the first time it has been used structurally and on such a large scale.  Ultra thin laminates have been glued together and bent to create the tightly curved shapes.

The second dramatic piece is by design duo Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec collaborating with Kvadrat(if you click the link they have a lovely stop animation preview). Textile Field takes over the entire gallery that holds the Raphael Cartoons and gives the visitor an entirely new  angle to view Raphael’s work.  The gentle undulations of the fabric pieces allow you to lay back and look up at the huge canvases. Its a wonderfully playful piece, the springy foam lets you bounce along as you decide which art work to lie infront of. I’d just love to know how they chose the colour pallette I’d like to think they pulledcolours from the Raphael’s.

Beyond the Valley also created an interactive piece, inviting visitors to try out digital design. The iPad ‘Granimator’ gives you an assortment of patterns and wallpaper designs that you can remix in your own interpretation. You design can then be uploaded on to a website for all to view. Surrounding you in the room are digitally remixed pieces by Beyond the Valley.

The other installations are dotted across the gallery for you to seek out. And I personally like the way they encourage you to  hunt down pieces sited next to works in the collection that you may not have noticed before. Its a vast collection and you can be tempted to only go for things you already like; its refreshing to be sent into rooms you might walk past.

New York design gallerist and curatorMurray Moss’s collaboration with Belgium-based  Materialise takes you on such a journey. Industrial Revolution 2.0: How the Material World Will Newly Materialise used cutting edge laser and digital technologies to build 3D objects.  Angel is a wearable piece that has been placed in a spot that has been unoccupied for years. It references the classical statues that line the stairwell where the empty plinth in sited.

The dress, again wearable, pulls you to a phenomenal rococo fireplace that despite numerous visits I’ve never seen before!

I was lucky enough to chat to Murray after the tour and I’m gutted that I didn’t record everything he said. What I will take with me is the idea that museums can be seen as radical spaces; they contain the cutting edge work of their time. Its a great mind shift, you can all to often look at a museum or gallery as a place for old things but if you shift your thoughts and look at objects as radical and new it gives you a greater insight.

Do have a look at the V&A programe of events they have some great talks and activities going on across the Festival.

DickVan Hoff has emphasised the use of joints in his The Beams series comprising a chair (pictured here) and sideboard. I have to profess a particular love for this incredibly comfortable chair having sat in it rather a lot during the London Design Festival. I was a little wary at first;  its quite a sturdy statement. Having sat on it, walked around it, prodded and stroked it, I love it.   Its rather ironic that having enjoyed the chair I should read this statement on his work.  “Vanhoffontwerpen keenly focus on how a product works, the intuitive movements of the user and the enjoyment of use. Functionality, quality and the relationship between the product and the user are of paramount importance. A chair will always sit well when it is Vanhoffontwerpen. Functionality is more important than aesthetics, but that does not mean form follows function. The designs are icons that capture your heart, often robust in shape, yet reflecting subtle detailing. . .”

Keel Furniture by Oscar Narud has broken with conventional furniture typologies. Using detachable legs inspired by the drop down keels used for small sailing boats.The piece continues a series of furniture Narud has developed recently, inspired by the simple construction of traditional Norwegian furniture. The addition of the keel motif, taken from boat building, refreshes the tradition. Again like Van Hoff’s work these are sturdy pieces, the application of the joinery emphasis this.  Despite their sturdy features they are relatively easy to disassemble, to move or (should you ever need to)repair.

1-2-3 Sit by Thinkk Studio is a flat pack, easy as to assemble stool – as easy as 123 hence the name!  The steel seat has a dovetail joint that neatly slides into the Oak legs. The use of the different materials is high lighted by contrast in colour, the light Oak and the sheen of the black powder coated steel.

Chunky Joinery by Mathias Hahn (like OscarNarud another member of Okay Studio) and shown at their London Design Festival Presentation. Each designer produced a piece exploring the concept of the ‘Visitor’ . Mathias a set of occasional furniture that can be used in different situations. His sturdy piece can be used as a stool, side table, foot rest, I guess you could use it as a step it looks sturdy enough to take a fair bit of weight! 

I guess to me Design Democracy means the way in which we can all participate in the process of design – and it’s something the internet has empowered us to do. We vote for design via companies like Threadless or through Behance .We read and comment direct to designers via online magazines like Dezeen (and you can bet that even the hard shell that encases the ego of many an architect/designer has been a little dented by some of the caustic comments on there – but hey that’s Democracy). We go direct to designers and vote with our cash via ecommerce - it’s so easy to set up shop and get noticed whether through a portal such as Mydeco or for the home based makers on Etsy. And such is our interest in design; the design shows now welcome the non trade visitors with open arms- after all they are customers too.

And finally as individuals we participate in design through writing our own thoughts and ideas through our blogs.  If anything the Mydeco competition has put a little spark in the small but growing UK Design blog community and shown the breadth of thought and ideas on the subject. If you could vote for my blog that would be lovely but feel free to vote for one or two of the others as well – the great thing about this Democracy is you get more than one vote!

Enjoy the blogs and Vote!  – It’s not like you have to physically drag yourself out to a polling booth or anything.

Normal service will resume soon-ish

 Industry Series by Studio Job.  Using a mix of contemporary and traditional  iconography they draw on the same themes and images used for the Gospel According to Saint Job displayed in Milan last year. Tanks, grenades ,helicopters, insects and butterflies, chimneys billowing smoke, skeletons all feature in this homage to the marquetry methods of André- Charles Boulle.  Dispensing with bright colours used in the Bavarian series the inlays look like fossils of an industrial age. Laser cut pieces of white birds eye maple have been set in Indian Rosewood in a symmetrical layout. We expect symmetry in marquetry but the effect here is like the inkblot patterns of Rorschach. Its no coincidence that these pieces are a commentary on the collective psyche and our concerns with the mass destruction associated with industrialism.

The work can be seen at the Carpenters Workshop Gallery and are sold as limited edition pieces starting at over $30,000.   

Curiously it is a fashion designer rather than a furniture designer who has probably done more to promote the craft. Stella McCartney has repeatedly used marquetry and commissioned UK companies to produce work in different forms for her new stores. For her London store Aryma were commissioned to produce a contemporary angel that glides across the wall. The use of colour and complexity of the piece is an eye opener to the versatility of marquetry. 

In her Milan store, the ground floor is covered in oak parquet arranged in a multicolored pattern created by the Israeli designer Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay for Established & Sons. The store opened in February 2010 and had the official launch during Salone del Mobile last week.

Toby Winteringham’s work made with Patternity is another example of colourful geometry. Pictured above is his Shift coffee table made of sycamore with coloured veneer. Its an exciting and bold use of marquetry and a wonderful example of how a traditional craft can be spliced with contemporary graphics. Shift was launched along with the Patternity Bureau (pictured below) at Salone Satellite this month.

 Since writing this I’ve found a rather wonderful blog on marquetry http://www.miartstudioblog.com/ Do please click through and amire the work.

Here are some beautiful products that give the illusion of floating. Perhaps the weight of the worlds problems feel a little too much, we’d like to float off or at least rise above them.

Blown by Nendo

Looking like bubbles about to lift off into the air, these lanterns were inspired by the traditional Japanese chochin lanterns. Created for Tokyo Fibre 09 Senseware the material they used is ‘Smash’ a long-fiber non woven polyester.  The properties of Smash allowed Nendo to shape it like blown glass into a seamless lantern. This technique allowed them to use the imperfections and mutations of glassblowing to create a product that is far from the standardized forms created by mass production. The translucent quality of the fibre add to the feeling that these lanterns may gently float off at any moment. But they won’t. The base is weighted and contains an insulated chamber to prevent the fibre loosing its shape from the heat of the lamp.

http://www.nendo.jp/en/

The Ghost of a Chair by Valentina GonzalezWohlers

Valentina describes her chair as “An apparition from death revealed to the living as a nebulous image – no chair, only its memory, its disembodied spirit captured and frozen in time.”  Inspired by Starck’s Louis XV Ghost chair mixed with the old custom of draping furniture in a white sheet when it is not in use, Valentina has created a floating apparition of a chair.

www.valentinagw.com 

Floating Garden by Benjamin Graindorge & Duende Studio  

An ingenious idea that saves you a couple of jobs in one go. It’s a recycling system based on hydroponics and though the piece looks highly decorative its designed to help out with the mundane tasks of water changes and watering your plants.   The aquarium water is filtered through a natural process of sand and plants it mimics in miniature the symbiotic relationship that exists in nature.

Ovangkol by Reiko Kaneko

Made from Ovangkol a tropical African hardwood the weighty tabletop appears to be floating in the air. Reiko has cast crystal clear resin onto the table legs to create the illusion. I would love to see further developments on this idea.  

http://www.reikokaneko.co.uk/table.php

Illustration on paper products and t-shirts we’re used to, doodling on pieces in your home  is something we expect from a naughty toddler, but despite this association a number of women artists and designers have created a series of products and interiors that are beautiful and inspirational.

Danish designer Louise Campbell had the challenge to create a temporary meeting room for G1 Strand and came up with this rather witty response. The room is within a listed 1750’s building so Louise has created a series of Blah posters that line the walls but can be removed. The tables, chairs,  light fittings and decorations have also had the blah treatment.  Keeping it simple in black and white the room has a serenity that the introduction of colour just wouldn’t achieve – and in a meeting room with the potential for many a verbal battle it has a calming effect.  ”It is the sports arena of verbal power struggles, where words are hurled back and forth across the table and bounce off the walls as everyone strives to take the upper hand – or upper word so to speak”  

Blah Blah Blah by Louise Campbell  http://www.louisecampbell.com/  

 Artist Anna James reworked antique furniture using images of graffiti taken from an archway in Verona. The graffiti is little messages of love left by those visiting the supposed house of Juliet  of Romeo and Juliet fame. Anna has taken digital images that  have been transposed onto a variety of prepared period pieces. Each piece captures a moment in time – the wall constantly changes with new declarations added daily.

www.loveannajames.com

Artist Charlotte Mann originally worked in fashion design, styling and illustration before switching to over to focus on her artwork. From working on a hand draw back drop for fashion designer Peter Jensen shes has taken commissions for both private as well as commercial clients. Using marker pens she draws onto the prepared wall  incorporating objects the client has chosen to create a personal and unique work.

www.charlottemann.co.uk

 Esther Coombs works with vintage ceramics that shes found in flea markets, charity shops and carboot fairs. Working with the aesthetics of the piece she hand draws images of the urban environment creating unique works from what are essentially unloved mass produced pots of yesteryear. She reinvents and gives new life to items that are other peoples cast off. I love the juxtapositions between the dainty flowers and the and the tower blocks. I guess the irony is that many of the ceramics would have come from homes such as these, and there is the romance of the work, its rather fun to imagine their previous homes. For more examples  http://www.esthercoombs.com/