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Now in its fourth year, Clerkenwell Design Week is bigger and better than ever and is stamping itself into the annual calendar as a major international festival of design. Clerkenwell is purported to have Europe’s highest concentration of architectural practices in one square mile and, as such, is the epicentre of London’s furniture showrooms and workshops. CDW was conceived as an opportunity for these designers to connect, learn and rethink.
Over three days, showrooms throw their doors open and host talks and demonstrations, while an exhibition of more than 250 designers takes place housed in venues across the area. The exhibition in the Farmiloe Building focuses on major brand furniture, while the House of Detention – a former underground jail – is given over to new designers. In the Order of St John, luxury interior design is on show; while a pavilion in Charterhouse Square has been transformed into Covered, an exhibition of surface design.
The streets of Clerkenwell are also brought to life with a series of commissioned installations including four pavilions by Architecture for Humanity with designs reflecting the charity’s ethos. Starchitect Zaha Hadid has also used this year’s exhibition as an opportunity to launch a new gallery showcasing her practice’s work.
Ever on the look-out for the next design trend, Glass took a whistle-stop tour of the show prior to its opening on Tuesday and discovered a few gems for you to check out:
Freya Sewell’s HUSH can be found in the House of Detention. Created using industrial felt, HUSH is a pod intended to allow people to withdraw from the busy, hyper-social and distracting world of the 21st century city. Filled with comfy cushions and closable from the inside, the design conjures images of childhood dens.
If the words “textured wallpaper” makes you think of 1970’s woodchip, think again. Humorous, extravagant and completely unusual, Tracy Kendall’s designs include wallpapers with pockets in and papers festooned with sequins or jigsaw puzzle pieces. She has decked her stand in the Order of St John with two wallpapers – one, Black Swan, is coated in large black feathers; while the other, Drape, is covered in a very 1920’s flapper-dress-esque fringing.
Giles Millar Studio with Tecan
One of the temporary outdoor installations is a sculpture by Giles Millar Studio and can be found at St John’s Gate. Millar’s team has created a giant sculptural ’target’, marking Clerkenwell on the map as ’the creative core of the British Architectural and Interior design world’. Designed in collaboration with Tecan, a precision metal manufacturer based in Dorset, hand laid metal ’pixels’ capture light and shadow, changing throughout the day and reflecting the sculpture’s surroundings.
Sharon Marston’s bespoke sculptural light installations are straight out of a fairy story. A very glamorous fairy story. Delicate and organic in form, the pieces have an ephemeral quality. For CDW she has created an installation in the gateway entrance to the Order of St John. Expanding on her latest light, Willow, it is formed of brass mesh and fibre optic filaments.
Kristjana S Williams grew up in Iceland where the stark landscape inspired a “craving for colour”. Her designs are intricate and, indeed, a veritable rainbow, marking a trend in print design which incorporates busier patterns which take their inspiration from nature. Williams’ designs are created by collaging materials collected from Victorian engravings, photographs, found objects, leaves and twigs. Glass loves her Cut Out Globe.
Today is the last day of Clerkenwell Design Week. If you happen to be in London today, you can register for free. As part of this registration, visitors can receive discounts at participating local restaurants on production of their printed pass, including The Modern Pantry on St John’s Square and Malmaison on Charterhouse Square.
by Emilie Lemons
Clerkenwell Design Week is on from 21-23 May, 2013 in venues across Clerkenwell – nearest tube is Farringdon.
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