TASSELS ON THE TUBE AT THE LONDON DESIGN FESTIVAL 2014

Choosing to show passementerie in Old Street Station was a bit of a gamble. Why on earth would you put a bespoke extremely niche top end product in  the last place on earth you'd expect to find it? Well the answer is in the question and did it pay off? It was certainly the most extraordinary experience exhibiting in such a public domain.

Tube stations are tidal. They ebb and flow. Twice a day the tunnels flood with human tsunamis. All life's jetsam and flotsam drifted past my window, from the well heeled to the down trodden. Then there were the nutters. Gawd bless London's loonies- that deep-rooted English eccentricity that from time to time still prevails.

The Angel of the Northern Line who looked out from our window.

Below, a detail showing some of our new collection using Straw, banana fibre and silk.

Bob's guardian angel. Which Bob? See the dedication below.

So how was passementerie received by the public at large? Well generally with intense bemusement. But bemusement is good. It arouses curiosity, questions and at times amazement. So apart from the purposeful visitors we had so many people coming in who just wanting to know what it was all about? The responses ranged from 'Why?','What?','How?', to 'I've never seen anything like this before' and my favourite 'What's going on here then? You a fortune teller?'. 

Funny thing is I do have a certain gift for the other-worldly and am quite partial to a bit of hocus-pocus. All my major decisions are made with the help of a bit of card reading. Maybe that's the next show- Tassels and Tarot- although having now shown in a tube station I'm thinking of what the next design destination could be. Gatwick Airport? Passementerie On A Plane?

When large swathes of the design community want to bathe in familiarity and repetition and the word 'version' seems to be an acceptable replacement for the word 'copy', it's well to remember that old adage that familiarity breeds contempt. Whatever people think about what I do and it is a bit like Marmite- you either love it or just don't get it- at least I'm trying to push some boundaries within my field, and I'd rather have bemusement than patronising dismissal. Not everything has to be 'got', have a reason or even liked. Life would be a very boring place if everything was explained, comfortable and quiet. I'd like to see a bit more belligerent bemusement brought back into design.

Above and below,
Our new Temple Gardens collection featuring elastic, brass and mono-filament.

It was the last day that Old Street's malingerers really surpassed themselves. One passed, stopped, poked his head through the door then trotted unsteadily to the tunnel entrance to where one of his compatriots was slumped asking passers by for spare change.

Do you know what's in that f*****g shop? Tassels!

Tassels?

Tassels.  

Tassels?

F*****g Tassels!

There then ensued a loud shouty unsober chorus of 'Tassels, tassels, tassels' from both men. I looked at the red London Design Festival sign outside my unit and felt it rather redundant with this heralding of such magnitude.
Then the first man staggered back and came in.
'I just wanted to tell you that that' pointing to The Angel Of The Northern Line 'is f*****g beautiful. It's given me a few moments of joy and I don't get much joy in my life due to this affliction' waving his can of Special Brew in my face.
Then he noticed the box of London Design Festival guides.
'Those free? Can I have one?'
'Of course you can'
There was a poignancy to this exchange. I started thinking about all the pompous hot air that exudes from the endless talks, lectures and debates about how design is there to enrich our lives, because, let's face it, 3D printing isn't going to make one iota of difference to this man's life.
When I was breaking down the show I popped out to buy some water and I saw the man again at the top of the underpass trying to sell dodgy travel cards. Hanging out of his pocket was the rolled up Festival guide. Perhaps he managed to sell it to some un-suspecting tourist for a tenner so maybe for a brief moment design would enrich his life.

The Tassily chair waiting to depart

Showing this year meant I didn't get to see much of the rest of the London Design Festival. Luckily A Place Called Home in Trafalgar Square was still on and what a treat it was, especially the house by Raw Edges, a solution to small space living that had panache, wit and an refreshing irreverence. The simple concept was moving walls within one space to continually create different dimensions.
Dividing space is nothing new. The Japanese have been doing it for centuries with Shoji screens made of paper stretched over wooden frames, but sliding walls that change the size of the space you're occupying is a way of moving this idea on. If the the house had floated it would be the perfect architectural solution to future living issues.

All images above,

Raw Edges changeable house.

One final thought on this years Festival. As we showed on the underground it seemed only fitting that All Change be dedicated to the man below.

BIG Thank you to

House and Garden, Crafts Council, Design Week, Sally Davis, and Tricia Guild for their support.

Neil from Artvans for amazing service 

Meriel from Precious McBane for coffee and other breaks.

and to everyone who visited All Change

ALL CHANGE- LONDON DESIGN FESTIVAL 2014.

..and I'm down at the tube station at #LDF14 as Jessica Light presents ‘All Change- Tassels On The Tube’, a showcase of passementerie in the unusual venue of a unit in Old Street Station. This instillation will launch two new directional collections, Temple Gardens and Southside, which feature materials like elastic, monofilament, brass, straw, horsehair and banana fibre, as well as displaying our latest diffusion range and introducing a new colourway and tassels to our Potsdam collection.

We will also be featuring some of our collaborations with other designers such as The Tassilly Chair with Sophia Wimmpenny from Precious McBane and The Tassel Pendant from Curiousa and Curiousa.

New trims from the Temple Gardens collection

The new Garrow tieback.

The above tieback is named after historic barrister William Garrow, who coined the phase 'Innocent until proven guilty' and is a response to the government's plans to change the legal aid system so people without means may not be able to get proper legal representation and therefore a fair trial [political passementerie? Now there's a first]

A bespoke white version of the Tassily chair, our collaboration with Precious McBane. We will be showing the original version.

The Tassel Light

A tube station may seem the last place the place you'd expect to see passementerie, but there is method in the madness. The London Underground, since it's inception, has been a bastion of brilliant design from the magnificent moquette seating textiles to the iconic graphics of the tube map, so to stage a design show in one of it's tunnels isn't so off the random Richter scale.

I grew up on the Northern Line [or Misery Line as it was known in days of yore due to it's lack of movement in any direction], which Old Street is on. I was born off it, lived off it, went to school [or often didn't] off it. In fact from the ages of 0-25 it was my main stamping ground so it makes perfect sense to show on it.

Map of my Northern Line life.

So charge you're Oyster cards and head down to Station Decoration.

All Change-Tassels On The Tube,

Unit 2A

Tunnel One,

Old Street Station.

16-21 Sept 2014

THE SPRING CLEAN

CardenCunietti are one of our most respected interior design teams known for their elegant and beautiful spaces, but, at the end of May, Audrey Carden and Eleanora Cunietti, along with other industry luminaries such as Nina Campbell and Martin Brudnizi, are putting their talents to another purpose- The Spring Clean. The premise of this idea is a call out to the design industry to clear out their cupboards and donate top end products to be sold at a pop-up event for the charity, Kids Company. We all have press samples, old stock, one-offs lurking in store rooms[we here at the Urban Croft dream of having a store room], cupboards,or boxes so why not put this surplus to good use.

And what a response they've had with donations from Lee Broom, photographer Chris Craymer, a Vivienne Westwood design from the Rug Company, furniture from Knoll, Christophe Delcourt,  Minotti, Mirelle, glassware from Harliquin and Guinevere Antiques, and textiles and surface patern from Lelievre, Watts of Westminster,The Darkroom, Paperboy, Lilli Popp and Domus Tiles. The list is endless and grows daily.

Below, a little taster of whats on offer

A lively cushion from the Darkroom

Christophe Delcourt's classy IXO side table.

One of Lee Broom's fabulous Crystal Bulbs

A classic Knoll Chair

Bespoke hand-spun chunky cord tiebacks from yours truly

Kids Company,founded by Camila Batmanghelidjh in 1996, is a charity that provides support, whether it be emotional, educational or practical, to children and young adults. It operatates out of centres in London and Bristol as well as working in schools to help the most vulnerable in our society. It's Poverty Busting campaign is particularly aimed at addressing the issues that poverty brings such as malnutrition, housing and basic material needs.

So if you want to support a fantastic cause by either donating or bagging yourself a design bargain make sure you don't miss The Spring Clean. There'll be the best design talent on show as well as food, drink and general jollity.

Above, Audrey Carden,Camila Batmanghelidjh and Eleanora Cunietti

The Spring Clean,

30 May-1 June,

28 Redchurch Street,

London E2 7DP

Fri-Sat 10.30-6.30,

Sun 12-4pm

SENSING SPACES

Architects, generally speaking, are a right pain in the proverbial. Let one into your home and they won't leave without telling you to build up, down, sideways, or knock though. I should know because not only do I have friends of this profession persuasion but I also grew up with one and were surrounded by them. From an early age I knew my perpendiculars from my gothic revivals having been dragged around every building of note.

So why would I want to visit an exhibition devoted to Architecture? Well despite, or maybe because of, all of the above I love structure, and the qualities of space, light and pattern that structure creates. 'Sensing Spaces-Architecture Re-imagined' at the Royal Academy explores all those aspects by commissioning a range of global practitioners, such as Kere Architecture and Kengol Kuma and Associates, to create site specific instillations adhering to the brief of inhabiting space in a way that transcends the visitors traditional notions of what Architecture constitutes. This exhibition is interactive and sensory, inviting the viewer to experience the exhibits not only through sight but touch, smell, and actual participation in a growing construction- to become part of, and form shape within, spaces that have already shaped the space within the actual galleries.
At the end is a wonderful film where all the exhibitors talk about their approach and considerations to the process of designing buildings. A common consensus was that it could have been made into a series of six films about each architect as it was so engaging and interesting.

Above and below
Pezo von Ellrichshausen's raw wooden platform on four columns housing spiral staircases.

Below, a normally ignored gilded angel near the roof of the gallery is given a chance to shine through a viewing opening in this pine castle.

A re-enforced concrete arch by Eduardo Souto de Moura that mirrors the original gallery wooden door frame.

Above and below,

Diebedo Francis Kere's continually evolving plastic straw tunnel.

The Human Loom led by Eleanor Pritchard, weaving plastic straws.

Kengo Kuma's delicate calming sent-infused wave entwined bamboo growing from embedded floor tea lights.

 

Another concrete arch by Souta de Moura. This time mirroring an original marble arch

Li Xiaodong's maze with walls of rough thick twigs and surreal moon floor

Above and below,
Shafts of misty light add atmosphere to inky sepia space by Grafton Architects.

The result is a highly stimulating creative journey through light, shade, void and form which also challenges one to reflect on the wider issues of architecture that we should all be concerned about- what we build, where we build and how we build. 
Shelter is one of our most basic requirements and as the London* population rises and property prices force most of us out of the city leaving wealthy enclaves, and divisions between rich and poor grow even wider, how do we accommodate all. We all moan when another homogenous building is erected but one has to remember  architects working in the public sector can only be as creative as his/her client and budget will allow, but not forget that cautionary tale from the 50's-70's where the town planners and architects, left to their own devices, dictated a post war vision of Utopia which turned into a living hell. We also have a government whose agenda seems to be more about privilege rather than provision so maybe it's time we take a more active role in how we house. We now have to consider issues of sustainability, affordability and with an ever increasing population how we use space. The creativity on show at the Royal Academy can give us all hope that architecture can be inclusive and engaging for us commoners.
On a very personal note this exhibition also reminds one of the pure joy of making. As a child I constantly made and constructed- toys, clothes etc. I built a whole village in my bedroom for my collection of felt mice. Shoe and chocolate boxes became houses, flats,schools. I was Toytown planner extraordinare. Incidentally, by way of tangent, it was a matriarchal society led by Granny Mouse by virtue of the fact she the biggest mouse and had little wire glasses, although she was aided by her purple frock coated son, Pierre, so named after Pierre from War and Peace [I wasn't a particularly precocious child in that I was reading Tolstoy at the age of seven. There was, at this time, a BBC dramatisation of War and Peace staring Anthony Hopkins].
Sensing Spaces is on until 6 April and I would highly recommend it. 

*As a Londoner I can only really comment on what's happening in my own city.