Having explored 100% Design, Decorex, Tent, Clerkenwell, West London, Shoreditch and every other corner of the London Design Festival we jumped on a bus to go and see some old friends at Chelsea Harbour Design Centre. While we were there we found ourselves marveling at the splendor, class and style on display at the Porta Romana showroom. Founded in 1988 by Andrew and Sarah Hills their collection of work, drawing on the finest skills of glassblowing, metalworking, sculpting and furniture making, is now also available in the USA.
We predict that the Decayed Gold Giraffe Lamp, shown above, will become a classic. Other examples of Porta Romana’s sylish collection follow.
Clerkenwell Based Ochre may have a showroom and a retail store in New York but we were delighted to see their elegant and glamorous designs at Decorex, part of London’s Design Festival. The images kindly supplied by Ochre are so much better than anything we were able to capture for ourselves so our gratitude to them. We have heard people talk about glamour and tradition as being almost synonymous. We believe Ochre demonstrate that glamour can be distinctly contemporary and pleasingly elegant.
The chandelier shown above is their Arctic Pear Chandelier - Double Wave available with a bronze or nickel frame with solid clear glass drops. Undeniably modern, undeniably glamorous.
ProjectUDesign, sponsored by BiOH – the makers of soybased polyols that replace a portion of petroleum chemicals in foam products in collaboration with Century Furniture, Ultrasuede and Savannah College of Art and Design, is engaging talented design students to create a wing chair that will become part of Century Furniture’s collection. As if the privilege of having the design be part of a collection with a renowned firm like Century with all due royalties to boot, the winner will also receive a $1,000 cash prize.
Moore Designs were exhibiting their distinctive garden furniture at Tent as part of the London Design Festival. Our images from the show didn’t do their highly original work justice so we have taken these from their website. The nest, reminiscent of Eero Aarnio’s bubble and globe chairs strikes us as the perfect place to curl up with a book and a glass while there is something very romantic about any seat designed to fit under a tree (see below).
We ran into Ayme Fitzgerald at 100% Design, part of the London Design Festival. Her digitally printed surface designs are bright, bold and distinctive. This is Floral Floral Blue (that’s not a typo!). Other designs follow. Continue Reading…
It is slightly unnerving to find oneself chatting to a very charming gentleman while he sits on a a toilet. Fortunately, however, this was the Catchpole and Rye stand at Decorex, an exhibition associated with London Design Festival. Catchpole and Rye restore and manufacture bath tubs, toilets, sinks and other bathroom associated paraphernalia. They do so with infectious enthusiasm and undeniable attention to detail that their products should be considered by anyone seeking something a little less ordinary. We will return with a full blog as soon as the dust settles on our adventures over the last couple of weeks but in the meantime enjoy the images we have collected for you. By the way, should you desire your own address, or message on a WC cistern like the example above then Catchpole and Rye are the people to talk to.
We did promise you an image of the new work shown by light sculptor Balint Bolygo at 100% Design, part of the London Design Festival. He kindly sent it us this morning and here it is. As you can see, it is a collection of wine glasses held in place by a series of clamps. Balint tells us that you can change the glasses at will with delightfully unpredictable consequences for what happens when the laser and the moving mirror start to do their work. And in case you were wondering what does happen, well here’s a video.
We love a good chair. Chairs are key elements in defining the style, mood and use of a space. And some chairs can do one better and because of their sculptural quality can become a focal point and a piece of art. The “Double Section” chair by Piegatto is clearly one of the more sculptural pieces out there. Continue Reading…
Marnie Moyle is slender, pretty and very energetic and in no way looks like the hunky, plaid wearing, tabbaco chewing woodworker we would have imagined to be the creator of such ruggedly handsome furniture pieces and accessories. Marnie uses only green oak to create furniture, swings and accessories and has a lot to say about the material. Continue Reading…
Italian artist Paola Orsoni creates lyrical fusions of terracotta, glass, and metal. She has harnessed the disruptive process of hot and cold to cajole the marriage of unlike materials into vibrant splashes of radiant color and dynamic texture. Created entirely by hand in her Milan studio, each terracotta tile is first glazed, followed by the application of glass and metal. The tile is then reheated allowing the glowing layers to meld into a single surface. As the tile cools another process occurs, as cracks emerge and the fused elements become permanent. This patented system of shifting temperatures imbues each tile with a complex energy. The fate of the final composition is evident only after the molecules have finished their dance of expansion and contraction.
Orsoni has been a professional artist her entire life, abandoning porcelain painting to experiment with tile because of her necessity “to put the light into my work”. The pigmented glass she uses is smalti from the 19th century Orsoni foundry in Venice (the two Orsoni families are not related). Deep limpid puddles of saturated pigment are punctuated by metal garnishes of aluminum, copper, and brass. There is an ephemeral nature to Orsoni’s designs. The borderless dripping color in homage to Pollock, the vulnerable dandelions, and the nuanced shadows belie the strength of the tile and the methodical process of production.
Orsoni has mastered the ingenious manipulation of glass. In addition to the tiles she has invented “ice” coatings in three frosty shades of stillness. The pillowed surfaces are bordered with tiny metal studs that cause disquietude in the surreal paradox of “fluffy” glaciers. The coatings are also used to clad brushed steel furniture, evoking a serene modern coolness.
Orsoni will frame the individual tiles to create paintings, however practical, it is an unnecessary elevation. In reality every tile she creates is unique, and even unframed is a singular work of art.
