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
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.
Gold, Silver, Bronze: Bulbs
The medalists
1st: GREAT BRITAIN- Lee Broom- Crystal Bulb, £109
2nd: JAPAN- Ryosuke Fukusada, Wooden Light Bulb
3rd: SWEDEN- Eric Therner, Diamond Light, Rockett St. George, £35
Since the demise of the classic incandescent bulb designers reacted and are busy redesigning the previously ignored object. S/S/A/W have selected the bulbs that have suprised and lead the way.
In first place Lee Broom has individually hand blown each nostalgic lead Crystal Bulb and cut the glass with a classic crystal pattern. Second, Ryosuke Fukusada created the prototype of The Wooden Bulb using a traditional technique known as Rokuro which covers the surface with a thin layer of wood fine enough to allow the light shine through and third place goes to Eric Therner who describes his Diamond Light design as a ‘sculpture, with a function’. All winners and future classics.
Now it is possible to match your bulb to the style of your room, whether you choose one of the above or the cult filament bulbs it will be an object that you will consider alongside other decorative accessories from now on.
S/S/A/W Home News: Lighting
Modo Chandelier, Jason Miller at Roll & Hill
Instantly inject style into your room with the addition of a statement light from NY design company Roll & Hill. Luckily for us the collection is now available in the UK as they have signed up exclusively with SCP to sell their products here and the range will be launched during London Design Festival, 14-23rd September at SCP West. On display will be a range of noteworthy floor, table, wall and pendant lighting: Superordinate Antler and Modo both by Jason Miller, Bluff City by Jonah Takagi, Excel by Rich Brilliant Willing and Agnes by Lindsey Adams Adelman. (www.rollandhill.com) (www.scp.co.uk)
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 2012: Series 1
Concrete Wallpaper, by Piet Boon for NLXL.
Following on from the major success of Piet Hein Eek’s Scrapwood Wallpaper NLXL have collaborated with Piet Boon launching the Concrete Series this season. The great thing about this wallpaper aside from the subtle sophistication of the design is that if your walls are uneven they are masked instantly with the irregular pattern formation. Use on walls and ceilings for affordable, long lasting definitive style.
PULSE:
1- 600 exhibitors
2- Home & Gift
3- 160 young designers at Launchpad.
2- Location: Earls Court London
Showstopper: Memory of Falmouth by Takae Mituzani
S/S/A/W: loves this very simple salt and pepper shaker inspired by the Cornish coastline. This slots perfectly into the seafaring trend that was the most consistent themes of the show. (More on this in Series 2)
Childhood: S/S/A/W was on a mission to uncover some showstoppers and found these two beauties. The products play with the consistently popular retro theme for children’s rooms. LADP showed the Offside Coat Rack designed by Greenworks, inspired by the classic tabletop game and Lapin and Me displayed the vintage style hand painted lamps Baby Rabbit Night Lamps. Top of my list for junior home and gift.
‘WOW’ (without wires) speaker, Kakkoii
DETAIL: WOW is a crusader for a new world without wires, plugging or docking. Small in size and big on sound, the speaker wirelessly streams music from any Bluetooth-enabled device like your iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, iPad or laptop. It can be recharged over and over again so no need for batteries. It comes in 5 colours is rubber durable with a rubber housing. Having experienced the quality and unexpected volume this is one item I am adding to my wishlist, the white one.
Series 2 tomorrow.
Clerkenwell Design Week 2012: No. 4
C2 Fat: Life Space Journey at Matilda
Matilda is a new exhibitor at Clerkenwell Design Week who launched fresh products from two Melbourne design brands LifeSpaceJourney (above) and Jardan, the products are Australian and made in the UK.
TREND: CLUSTER / GROUPING
DETAIL: TRADITION / FILAMENT LIGHT BULBS
FINISH: BRASS
Pendant Series (mix) : Room 9
Room 9 is a newly established London studio who debuted their homemade collection of small domestic products for the home at Clerkenwell. They focus on producing quality products that are honestly made using local industry and manufacture.
TREND: CLUSTER / GROUPING
DETAIL: MOD HANDMADE / SHOT OF BRIGHT
FINISH: CERAMIC / GLAZED HIGHLIGHT
UP & COMING : Rachel Powell
A show-stopping lamp will put the finishing touches to any room and these vintage 60′s and 70′s ones definitely fit the bill. A lot of time and effort goes into the creation of Rachel Powell’s mid century inspired designs. The bases are sourced, re wired, and finished with a chocolate brown fabric cable. The customer selects an etched veneer shade from the series in Walnut or Cherry and once added they are looking at their very own unique piece with timeless style. Prices range from £130 – £220.
Following her success at New Designers in 2011 Rachel Powell will return to exhibit at the show launching her new homeware range in the ‘One Year On’ Part 2 section. Whilst focusing on the etched veneers she had become associated with she began to pine for print resulting in the new additions of hand printed wallpaper and tea towels to the collection. An exciting year lies ahead for Rachel as she embarks on the design circuit promoting her work; I wish her the best of luck, though I know she is not going to need it.
FUTURE DESIGN CLASSIC: the Etch Light Web Copper by Tom Dixon is a result of exploration into mathematics and geometry. Sixty irregular pentagons are constructed to form the sphere shape; S/S A/W loves the spectacular shadow effect created with the addition of an extra large LED bulb. Launching at Most Salone, Italy on the 17th – 22nd April, available to buy at www.tomdixon.net -£790.
Rowen & Wren are going from strength to strength with the new range of desirable products and the styling of the S/S items. Divided into three distinct collections the Refined Rural collection is perfect for those dreaming of the urban rustic life or others who have ecsaped to the country. Natural colours and textures are blended to create a refined contemporary style with handmade and industrial accents. Timeless Living offers classic furniture with fresh modern accessories alongside the Distant Home range which reflects the global influence where cultures meet and traditional textures are found.
