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LDF18: The London Design Fair Provides an Eclectic Mix of Craft and Design

10.02.18 | By
LDF18: The London Design Fair Provides an Eclectic Mix of Craft and Design

Likened by one design commentator to a ‘Moroccan bazaar’ the London Design Fair (formerly known as ‘Tent’) is an eclectic show, sprawling across three floors of the Old Truman Brewery in London’s East End, with work spanning disciplines and exhibitors ranging from recent graduates to fully-fledged design companies and even entire countries – the acoustic panels above were part of the Finnish Pavilion ‘Nordic Happiness’ by Icelandic industrial designer, Katrín Ólína, for Finnish design house Made by Choice.

At the other end of the spectrum, the Lunar Chair is by Falmouth University graduate Felix McCormack. “This chair is about a commitment to simple geometry and really exploring the nuisances of what makes a chair comfortable,” he says. “I called it Lunar because of the hanging circular seat; it’s actually an ellipse to accommodate the curve of the backrest but is a perfect circle when you look at it straight on from the front or back.”

To create Nordic Mood, Ekin Kayis, has developed a new thermo-shock-resistant ceramic clay, from which he creates vessels that can withstand the temperates required for him to blow molten glass directly into them, fusing the two materials together.

Katharine Gorham’s wall hangings create a ‘living wall’ to bring nature inside. “Bold, energetic designs mean you can enjoy the positivity plants bring in all seasons,” she says. Together with her cushions, they are made in the UK, using 100% natural cotton for optimum depth of color.

Laurent Peacock’s Piper Table is made from peppercorns embedded in resin and held within rectilinear hardwood joinery. “Reminiscent of the pattern found on Shagreen – decorative stingray leather often used in high-end furniture making – the Piper surface brings the traditional look up to date, with clean contemporary styling, a neutral, complementary color palette, and no stingrays harmed,” says the designer.

Design studio Feldspar launched the Devon Clay Espresso cups, made from clay sourced just yards from their workshop. “These cups are made entirely within a 10-step radius at our studio on the edge of Dartmoor National Park in Devon,” say co-founders Cath and Jeremy Brown. “We dig up the clay – an earthenware dotted with china clay – just outside our back door, and then refine it multiple times through differing sieves before leaving it to dry in cotton sheets hanging from the house.”

Louise Madzia combines her two passions of ceramics and illustration in these cheeky flower pots. Her main collections are made in the potteries of Stoke-on-Trent in the UK. She also creates one-off slab-built pieces by hand, which are then hand painted and glazed in her Buckinghamshire studio.

Sue Pryke’s latest collection is a step away from her usually rigorously consistent work and embraces the wobbly lines of the handmade. She’s worked with everyone from Wedgwood to IKEA and now creates her own brand of timeless tableware in subtle color palettes.

Rug makers FloorStory collaborated with interior design consultants Trifle* to create Colour Stories – two-tone rugs that seamlessly transition from one color to another. You pick the colors and the size and they do the rest.

And finally back to countries and the hot pink Swedish Pavilion. The Diagonal Wall Basket by Andréason & Leibel provides small and decorative storage nooks for bathrooms, bedrooms and hallways (above) and Mylhta by Lisa Hilland (below) offers a colorful and contemporary take on femininity.

Katie Treggiden is a purpose-driven journalist, author and, podcaster championing a circular approach to design – because Planet Earth needs better stories. She is also the founder and director of Making Design Circular, a program and membership community for designer-makers who want to join the circular economy. With 20 years' experience in the creative industries, she regularly contributes to publications such as The Guardian, Crafts Magazine and Monocle24 – as well as being Editor at Large for Design Milk. She is currently exploring the question ‘can craft save the world?’ through an emerging body of work that includes her fifth book, Wasted: When Trash Becomes Treasure (Ludion, 2020), and a podcast, Circular with Katie Treggiden.