1- For your: house, home, apartment, flat, bungalow or chateau
2- Home Interior Trends curated by Claire Phillips-Stanford
3- Recognising talented folk & featuring exceptional goods
4- This blog is dedicated to design devotees everywhere
5- The shop: www.springsummerautumnwinter.co.uk
TREND: Room Set
Trendtional trend:
The lived in style is a feasible look most design fans could easily achieve. What makes this trend covetable is the mix of surfaces combined together. Current blond furniture blends comfortably against the dark aged wood. Accessories look fresh randomly attached as opposed to the trend for measured and strategically placed objects currently so prevalent in the styling world. It is a relaxed sought after lifestyle that many folk aspire to. Logs, fires, enamelware are pivotal in the creation of the mood to blend and soften the appearance of hard surfaces such as concrete and marble. Add shots of bright to highlight the palette.
For further reading on this trend see: S/S/A/W Collections
TAGS: Heilam Choy , Miss Design
S/S/A/W: Mix / N / Match
The Grapefruit, Arnold Goron
Hello all, I am back from my much needed blog holiday and to ease myself gently into the transition from S/S to A/W I am starting with a bright colour palette to liven up a clinical white room. The Grape Fruit light Designed by Arnold Goron is perfect for this update with the 13 different colour pendant lamps, each hand-thrown instead of cast. The lamps also each have different forms and sizes and are available upon request from www.arnoldgoron.com
Cluster trend:
Fresh: coloured bulbs.
Idea: group table lamps together for a variation on the theme.
Store of the week: Howkapow
Top: Songbirds Mobile by Berit Lüdecke & Kerstin Reilemann, £38.50
Middle: Fixie Bike Brooch by Daniel Derby, £25
Bottom: Cake Stand by Anouk Jansen, £35
Howkapow is fresh, fun and filled store with must have home and giftware from new and independent designers. Husband and wife team Rog and Cat How trawl the design world filling their shop with memorable goods, so if are struggling to find a gift for a friend or loved one look no further, you will not fail to impress with any of these pieces. S/S/A/W favourite: the Songbird Mobile.
BEST: Enamelware
Enamelware: not just for camping
There is no sign of unstoppable invasion of traditional homewares on the market ending as this sentimental trend is set to continue way into unforeseeable future. Iconic enamelware leads the movement having gained cult status and symbolising the heritage trend. The vintage designs and material hold enormous relevance in the current social climate where the desire for longevity and classic design prevails. The only link some products have with the modern world would be the varied colour palette you now have to choose from to the prints applied, as seen at Blodwen where of historical Welsh folk patterns added to the fine wares and printed measurements feature at Objects of Use. Stores such as Labour and Wait are defined by these traditional values and have highlighted the necessity to stop and evaluate the function of even the simplest of household objects.
Coming soon: Blauwe Beker
Kaars, candle by Blauwe Beker, £10
S/S/A/W RECOMMENDS: Blauwe Beker
Blauwe Beker launched in May with a small capsule collection designed by RCA Sculpture graduate Alexandra Strachan. The sneak peek is enough to convince me that there are more great products on the horizon, now I am well and truly hooked. Take a moment to evaluate not only the new products but consider the impressive styling and the colour palette which appears across the board. The initial range is only available to be ordered via email at present with the online shop coming soon.
Pulse, London 2012: Finale
S/S/A/W LOVES: Compat Notebook & Keyboard Memo Pad, Katy & June
FINALE:
Pulse featured 500 exhibitors in five sections, Home, Gift, Fashion Accessories, Wellbeing and Launchpad. It is a must see show for retailers to discover brand new collections and innovative products. The highlight of the show was the excellent Launchpad section, it is an integral part of the success of Pulse showcasing 120 emerging and enthusiastic designers, who were delighted to be presenting their work to the 7000 serious buyers from independents, multiples, e-tailers and department stores for the first time. Without further ado here are the final highlights of the show plus another one of my trend boards.
BEST OF THE REST:
Laboratory card, Dicky Bird / Laboratory Silk Scarf, Red Brick North
Both Dicky Bird and Red Brick North have emulated the theme in their own signature style to print for different products, Dicky Bird created cards and RedBrick chose to translate images onto scarves. A special mention goes out to the designer Karen Mabon of Red Brick North not only for the scarves but also for her innovative packaging which I tweeted about live from the show @SSAWhometrends.
TREND: the Laboratory trend appeared at the shows in January 2012 and now moves into the card and textiles market.
DETAIL: graphic prints and muted brights
CONTEMPLATE: Linear graphic prints with bright accents.
Pigeometry Spliced Necklace, Lovely Pigeon / Swimming Pool Necklace, Red Brick North
Amongst the quirky retro inspired papergoods at Lovely Pigeon I discovered Kirsty’s brand new contemporary collection of geometric jewellery. In contrast Red Brick North offered a graphic feminine approach in enamel, both highlight the considered selection process by the shows curators i.e. high quality design led goods.
Captain Hook Lamp, Dan is your soulmate
S/S/A/W loves the Captain Hook Lamp and also the product name. This very versatile lamp designed by Brooklyn designer Dan McMahon has an extra long coloured lead and is aesthetically appealing when unravelled or wrapped around the handle. Take a look at his website to discover how he approaches other products.
Cluster, Jill Shaddock
The ceramic work at Pulse was particularly strong and here is another example of the craft at its finest. I like the composition of the clusters, the number detail and the mix/match colour palette. A winning combination and also Jill ticks all the boxes for the Cluster trend with this combination.
Wood print, Mr Wingate
Refreshing to see a print not so figurative, here Sam Wingate plays around with trompe l’oeil effects.
Archeology/10′ plate/Bone China, collaboration between Marc Schulhess and StudioLAV
Studio Lav successfully experimented with print and scale, zooming in and out with the geometric linear prints on bone china.
Archipelago, My friend Yarn
Eva and Lisa Holst, mother an daughter team fuse graphics and textiles disciplines making cushions that evoke Swedish nature and jumpers from the 1970′s. Look out for the prints that will follow shortly.
NY Bike Lovers, Emma Cowlam
Finally: The last tip would be to check out the embroidered / printed illustrations by Emma Cowlam. As you can see she can draw, but she can sew also. Head to the site to see the selection of images available, I particularly like the fantastic bride and groom.
That all design folks!
Pulse, London: Series 4
BRAND STAND: HAM
Jo Ham a farmer’s daughter launched an unexpected range of designs that capture comic moments in the life of a pig, horse and rabbit. Their playful lifestyles are translated into prints and applied to a growing collection of products. If you like clean, minimal and eccentric designs you will not be disappointed.
STANDOUT STYLING: WRAP
The unmistakable magazine from Wrap that explores the best in contemporary design and Illustration has been well documented. It is stocked at fine establishments in the UK such as Tate Modern, the Design Museum, Magma and Foyles and many other countries. At Pulse Wrap stood out not only for the magazine but the super styling. S/S/A/W loves the new look geometric parquet flooring linked and painted with colours from their current magazine. An excellent idea for flooring courtesy of Wrap.
Pulse, London: Series 3
BEST IN SHOW / CARDS CONTINUED:
One of the finest selection of cards at Pulse came from Dear Prudence designed by Laura Ruth Vickers. The narrative collection sensitively depicts nature at its quirkiest and its best, also hinting at Laura’s formal training as a textile designer. Whilst exploring the versatility of Textiles she printed greetings cards, set up a stall in Brick Lane and sold out the first day. Following her success Laura immediately started publishing her own greeting range and is busy developing the range to include further products, lookout for her new notebooks coming shortly.
1- Harley Boden
2- Mengsel
3- Timbergram
TREND: SEAFARING
The most prominent trend at the show was seafaring and it was interpreted across the board in most product categories. Harley Boden introduced the Buoy cup and saucer in ceramics that played around marine imagery and Buddug created hand rendered plates with placements of ships. The theme reached textiles with Mengsel featuring graphic seascapes whilst Timbergram showed fish on their wooden postcard range.
PATTERN: Linear / Graphic
CONTEMPLATE: Vintage tattoos.
Pulse, London: Series 2
Fika Tea Set, Ralli.
Brother Louis Ralli & sister Sophie Ralli graduated from Central Saint Martins and were exhibiting at Pulse on the college stand. They combined their talents, one specialises in Product and the other in Ceramic Design to produce outstanding, simple designs with efficient use of space and all manufactured in the UK.
S/S/A/W loves: the original, clean & graphic style at Purpose and Worth and the naive illustrations from Louise Naunton Morgan. Both were exhibiting on St. Martin’s stand alongside Ralli (above). Small group of designers on the stand but the work shone. More in the next series.
Dotty Drips is a fresh reinterpretation of Reiko Kaneko‘s popular Drip Tease collection. She has filled the signature stains and marks with a bright allover pattern whilst maintaining her simplistic style. The dishwasher proof bone china series consists of jugs-£12.00, egg cups-£10.00 and mini cups-£9.00. All available in Turquoise, Lime and Raspberry and launching next month.
