Paul Smith at the Design Museum

Yesterday I went to the Paul Smith exhibition at the Design Museum. It was a bit surreal, as when I turned into the room that represents his office, there he was and he said hello! His assistant and press officer were there too, and they said they found it all a bit strange as the layout was exactly like their real place of work.
It's an interesting exhibition with lots to look at and you get a real feel for him and his business. The best part of the exhibition for me, is a film that captures the day of his Menswear S/S 2014 fashion show in Paris.
In the film he is talking about his brand and the fact that it is all about colour. He says "there is COLOUR and there is colour", and it's as much about a light navy and a dark navy, as lots of colour; that has real resonance for me.

The exhibition runs until 9th March 2014.  

London Design Week

 Things I loved at last week's design shows.......

Louise Wilkinson's exquisitely naive fine bone china at Tent

these wonderfully considered utility products from Turner and Harper at Design Junction

and the beautiful upholstery fabrics from Eleanor Pritchard, also at Design Junction

Brighton Festival

All this week I've been watching as Brighton's Clocktower gets shrouded in mens shirts. To begin with I wasn't convinced! However as it neared completion, I started to see the graduation of colours from dark to light, with some sections depicting seascapes.

Then I poped into Fabrica to see The Blue Route, and saw this incredible instalation, now I understand what's going on. Kaarina Kaikkonen, the artist, has been commissioned as part of Brighton Festival 2013 to create these artworks. The installations are assembled from second-hand shirts, donated by Brighton & Hove residents, which will in turn be donated to Oxfam when the exhibition finishes.

  Kaarina uses simple everyday objects to create large scale installations that articulate the architectural or open spaces in which her work is sited - 'A shirt is the closest to the heart, so that is why I use shirts. The person is there'. Well I think this is magical!

Modern Mosaics

The other week I visited the Surface Design Show in London, and several companies were showing mosaic style tiles in neutral shades. Here are my favourites - above is Estrela Nero and Cubo Nero from Vicalvi. And below is Frame by Refin

To me they are reminiscent of Victorian tiles, refined for modern tastes. I like this re-introduction of patterning for floors especially after years of plain surfaces.

This is the Frame flooring in a retail environment but I think it would look equally fabulous in an open plan living area.

Light Show at The Hayward

I visited the Light Show at the Hayward Gallery yesterday. It's not the sort of show that I would have put at the top of my to do list, although I had seen the good reviews. But a friend of mine suggested it, so off we went. There are too many installations that I could rave about, so I'm just going to concentrate on Carlos Cruz Diez's Chromasaturation. 

Here's an explanation -“The Chromosaturation is an artificial environment composed of three color chambers, one red, one green and one blue that immerse the visitor in a completely monochrome situation. This experience creates disturbances in the retina, accustomed to receive wide range of colors simultaneously. The Chromosaturation can act as a trigger, activating in the viewer the notion of color as a material or physical situation, going into space without the aid of any form or even without any support, regardless of cultural beliefs”

It's almost impossible to describe the effect the coloured light has on your visual perception, as you move from one chamber to the next. It so disturbs the retina that at one stage we thought we were devoid of colour, visible in sepia or almost black and white. Quite extraordinary, disturbing and breath-taking all at once. Brilliant!

London Design Shows

The recent London design shows were the best I've seen in a long time - here are some of my favourite finds.

 Julie Kouamo's hauntingly romantic wallpaper - Exotic Vine from her new Bangou Collection at 100% Design.

Bethan Gray's elegant and beautifully crafted 'Brogue' leather -topped, solid wood tables at Design Junction.

Flaster  concrete tiles at SuperBrands, I adore how traditional tile designs have been reinterpreted in a truly modern way. I had seen these tiles previously in Liberty's - gorgeous.

And finally, this completely brilliant concrete design from The Sculpture House at Design Junction

  formed of cut concrete paving blocks, the reassembled textured pieces resemble a stunning luxury carpet.

Exquisite Exhibitions

I've visited two exquisite fashion exhibition's recently, the Christian Louboutin retrospective at  the Design Museum and the Hermes Leather Forever exhibition at The Royal Academy's 6 Burlington Gardens.

In both exhibitions the curation is as exciting as the exhibits; at the  Christian Louboutin, curated by Donna Loveday, the special effects included projected images and films as well as fairground carousels.

But the hologram of Dita Von Teese was completely mesmerising.

At the Hermes exhibition the effects included red sand, leather strap curtains and beautiful exhibition cabinets.Curation - Alexandra Plat, Scenography

The two exhibitions brilliantly draw the visitor into the world of these luxury brands and their breathtaking accessories - taking you on a journey into their world. 

With both brands the colour red is indelible; for Louboutin it is the signature lipstick red soles to all his shoes, and with Hermes its the intense orange red for its packaging and branding. These powerful reds both elude to luxury, but to me Louboutin's red is about sexual danger and the Hermes red is about the richness of heritage.  

Clerkenwell Design Week

Here are some of my highlights from Clerkenwell Design Week

 I love these mirrors from Haidee Drew they would look great in a dressing room or hall.

And I found these Chool seats ingenious - when you sit on the seat, the body of the chair slowly drops down and the back moves up. A neat cube shape when not in use, but really comfortable to sit in - great for a reception area.

Finally how marvelous to see the BarberOsgerby Olympic Torch prototype and developments at Vitra - Stunning!

Snowdon Blue

In last week's Observer Eva Wiseman interviewed Lord Snowdon about his trick of getting his photographic subjects to wear a blue shirt if a session wasn't going to plan. Snowdon says "The blue shirt is anonymous and yet a kind of uniform. It's a simple backdrop that leaves us to focus on the sitter's face without distraction".
Sixty of Snowdon's portraits have now been presented in a book, published by the Swedish fashion company Acne Studios, called Snowdon Blue. To coincide with the book and the exhibition of the portraits in the Acne Studio's store in Dover Street, London, the clothing company have designed a limited edition of blue shirts.
The portrait of David Bowie is extraordinary, but I think portraits of him always are, I find his eyes disturbing and compelling at the same time.

By coincidence I picked up the COS Spring & Summer magazine yesterday, inside is a series of portraits by Anuschka Blommers & Niels Schumm of students from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, all wearing blue COS garments. Studying these portraits made me realise how right Snowdon's observation was, the cool calmness of the blue allows the person to come to the fore. In both sets of photographs, the sitters are white, it would be interesting to see if a blue shirt has the same effect with Asian and black skin.   

Clerkenwell Design Week

It was Clerkenwell Design Week this week and what really interested me is how designer/makers are relooking at tradition, taking the best of it and producing something knew and thought provoking in reponse.

The House Of Hackney have 'reworked traditional homewares for a new generation'; their Dalston Rose range of soft furnishings, wallpaper and home accessories have mixed ombre effects with an antique rose print to recreate a contempory antidote to the years of minimalism we've seen in home interiors. Just devine!

Brighton based Sean Dare of Dare Studio has designed this trully modern winged chair, Sean's clean lines have updated this furnishing classic into a wonderfully contemporary piece. The return of the winged chair seems just right now; the acoustic qualities gained through the design are brilliantly for blocking out mobile phones and other annoying modern day noises. 

Capturing Colour Exhibition

 

I visited a fascinating exhibition yesterday - Capturing Colour at the Brighton Museum and Art Gallery. The exhibition explores the development of colour in film, from magic lanterns, early colour photography, through to Kinemacolor, Kodachrome and Technicolor. What's amazing is how much has developed in the last 100 years - right up to digital cameras and photographs and videos on mobile phones. It's great to see a younger David Dimbleby, then Controller of BBC2, introducing the first colour TV programmes.

 

Good Taste, Bad Taste?

I came across the work of Jon Male  when I visited Tent last week. My perceptions of good and bad taste were immediately challenged. Jon has recrafted carpet designs that I remember from my childhood, and considered ugly, into something I might desire. When I talked to Jon at the show, he said he had always questioned the use of animal skins as rugs - so he's juxtaposed the two and created something I find a bit disturbing - and I like that.

He's also taken those inlayed pictures you find at bootfairs and charity shops and created beautifully crafted furniture.

So good taste - bad taste ....... I don't know any more..... but these are beautifully crafted pieces and I think they're great.

Tradition updated

I visited 100% Design this week and what really caught my attention was how some companies are working with traditional design techniques to create beautiful modern products for today.

Products from Melin tregwynt

Melin Tregwynt  is a family owned company based in Wales; they have taken the traditional Welsh weaving techniques and updated them with a modern mix of colour and pattern.

Modern mix in tradional techniques

Koji Katsuragi is a furniture maker working from his workshop in Kyushu, Japan, his designs are based on traditional English Windsor chair styles....

The chairs he designs and sells are a modern take on a classic - simple and tasteful.