One of the most exciting design weeks hits London this time of year, Clerkenwell Design Week. You may remember my post last year CDW 14′ sharing the inspirational elements I spotted at the design festival mixed with some amazing parties.
This year however I managed to only skim the surface of the festival as there is honestly so many brands hosting events, talks and all sorts it’s impossible to experience it all.
I headed to Clerkenwell on the opening day starting at the Design Factory, in the Farmiloe Building. Renault was a sponsor for the festival and their concept cars were located under the dramatic main atrium causing a pretty impressive entrance. I wouldn’t mind whizzing around in those wheels.
The main elements that caught my eyes this year were lighting.
Some of these new pieces were outstanding; I particularly loved Orsjo’s Hobo lights as they looked like floating hot air balloons illuminating the space. The name Hobo refers to an old handicraft in Sweden, before you judge the name! The lamp is made of opaque blown glass wrapped with a basket brass detail.
Positive vibes in the form of colour and quotes created a dramatic impact, the installation hung against a mirrored backdrop creating cool reflections and depth.
And Then Design Flora lights were eye-catching with their flower template cut from aluminium sheets and bent by hand, the edges being formed with a rivet detail.
British brand Mark presented their chairs in bright pops of colour.
I headed back through to the main atrium to admire the entrance installation one last time and dashed onwards.
I passed the awesome installation called Verve designed by Johnson Tiles.
A combination of gloss and satin tiles lined the walls with row upon row of blades shooting up from the wall. The colours and light created an exceptional contrast against the industrial Farmiloe building.
We hurried off to check out other areas of the design festival trying to avoid the thunder, lighting, and hail – despite arriving in beautiful sunshine.
As we walked towards St Johns Square we spotted the installation I mentioned in my previous post Lusting Lights. The installation Glaze was designed by Cousins and Cousins and sponsored by Atrium.
The inspiration behind this piece was murano glass sweets made in Venice. The glass pavilion was incredible with its burst of multicoloured opaque and transparent glass.
I particularly fell in love with the geometric sections.
Before the next downpour of rain arrived we scooted to Moroso one of the biggest parties of the festival. We arrived at the showroom that was bursting at the seams with designers packing out every inch of the space.
It was so busy we could barely see any furniture, so enjoyed glasses of bubbly for the meantime.
An interesting seating display provided a cool backdrop combining Ross Lovegrove’s new chair, the Double Zero by David Adjaye and Martino Gamper’s St Mark chair. The mixture of the three contrasting designs presented Moroso’s variety of striking pieces.
David Adjaye’s Double Zero seats have to be one of my favourite pieces in the entire showroom.
We tested the Diatom chair spotted behind us.
Plus couldn’t resist checking out the hanging balls.
Showroom loving kicked off.
Furniture + bubbles seem to have a crazy impact on designers.
The party was booming with tunes from DJ AJ Kwane aka Peter Adjaye, it felt like we were in a bustling club rather than a showroom. Everyone let their hair down and embraced the festival feeling.
Needless to say it was one hell of a way to start the design festival.
