yesterday mornig my day started with the a breakfast at the new established & sons studio in north london. we just had some little problems to find the studio because it’s in an area which seems to be not discovered. anyways the studio is great, we got a tea and some fruit sticks and the important part, a warm welcome from minnie from established & sons. I’ve alreday seen the new collection of established & sons, design and manufacturing company, in milan at the design week earlier this year but I will show you my favourites and an some impressions of the showroom.

torch light by sylvain willenz

minnia from established & sons

the new studio + raw edges by shay alkalay + industrial facility by sam hecht

future system by amanda levete

the new studio + exhibited collection

konvex mirror by sebastian wrong

surface table by terence woodgate and john barnard + frame chair by wouter scheublin

the surface table is available in the sizez: 4 x 1.3m rectangular and 2 x 1.1m elliptical – the best table ever which has a thickness of just 2mm at the edge (five times thinner than its nearest equivalent)

tonight was the official opening of the london design festival at the southbank centre. a lot of veuve clicquot, a lot of people, 3 speeches and a bag. but why are there no goodie bags? promotional items from designers would be great.

jude kelly, artistic director, southbank centre

john sorrell, chairman of the london design festival

dezeen is everywhere

‘all things design’ – bag

among all the upcoming design events (london design festival is coming soon) I decided to pop into the carpenters workshop gallery for some unique pieces. It was a private viewing of the work of ingrid donat (mother of one of the gallery owners) and vincent dubourg, 2 french artist who are sometimes even mentioned as designers. but how far can you go by describing furniture as design? I would describe both works as one of a kind furniture sculptures made of bronze – a delight to look at and free to use. these limited pieces upvalued the gallery but were unfortunatly often hidden from the strolling guests. vincent dubourg’s pieces are dynamic, a bit fragile while ingrid donat’s creations are massive. if I hadn’t already known it, I would have had the impression that donat’s furniture is made by a man and dubourg’s by a woman. that’s just my impression. so, merci beaucoup, c’était un plaisir.

carpenters workshop gallery

ingrid donat
table basse anneaux

vincent dubourg
boite noire, 2008

the capital acquirer

vincent dubourg
napoléan à trotinette, 2007

I haven’t been to the thames river since I was 13 years old – it just never occured to me that I needed to go there when I was in london. but tonight I was invited at the design museum, which is on the south bank of the thames, for the opening of the designers in residence show. it’s an annual exhibition that forms part of the london design festival. talented new product and furniture designers who graduated within the last five years are invited to transform an area of the museum. so I found myself in the entrance hall of the museum where a lot fancy, designish lookalikes were hanging around and were enjoying the free drinks. I had some nice moments and these are some I am gonna share with you.. and I really liked to see the thames at night. again.

design museum

london bridge

the designer attitude

freddie yauner, designer and rose ethrington, dezeen editor

freddie yauner – continuous bench which flows in and around the design museum tank, the white bench is made of paper

matthew falla + lea jagendorf – interactive wall, which combines access to information about key pieces from the museum’s pernament collection

cicada brooch, 2006

sleeping soundly in the jaws of a wolf, 2006

the first time I saw the work of kelly mccallum a couple of weeks ago, just by browsing through the internet. currently she is exhibiting at the selfridges wonderwall and when I got there on sunday it was the first time that i was glad to be in the department store. kelly creates sculptures and jewellery and is interested in the stories of how things age, how they decay or are preserved, are forgotten, covered in shrouds of grime, only to be found again and given new meanings by our own sentimentality. in simple words: she is adding value to minor things.

Curating and producing international shows is designersblock‘s specialty. their current project are the selfridges window displays in london. 7 artists and designers were invited to create 7 unique window designs. I show you 5 of the 7.

postlerferguson

kithkin

[we]make

matthew plummer fernandez

toby summerskill
jim rokos

sorry for mirroring. lalala

on monday I started my internship at dezeen, online design and architecture magazine. marcus fairs, former editor of icon magazine, runs the buisness with his wife rupinder boghal and his right-hand woman rose etherington. the office is homely and inviting and this is the place where I spend my weekdays. It’s my desk.

the eames plastic armchair looks after my jacket

an unpacked front table

twenty-first century design,
a book by marcus fairs – an encyclopaedia of design