All eyes were on 100% Design at this year’s London Design Festival. Under new ownership and with a new director, the hype had begun months previously and continued right up to the moment we entered the rather spectacular entrance, designed by London agency Shaw + Skirm. In its 18th year, this predominantly trade show seems to have found its feet again. Here are our top picks from the Interiors Section.
MARK were launching three new products including The Milly stool, designed by MARK founders Anna Hart and John Miller and the Verso chair, designed by Tomoko Azumi and first seen in an exhibition about its design and making process earlier this year.
Based in the very South West tip of England, MARK make 80% of their products either at their own facilities in Cornwall or with partners within a small radius. They launched at 100% Design in 2008.
Phillip Watts Design were showing a wide range of interior accessories, but it was these solid hand cast aluminium door handles in the shape of angel wings that caught my eye. Beautiful.
Marco Stefanelli repurposes found wood like sawmill scraps, pieces of urban architecture, and logs carried by the river, and breathes new life into it by “pulling the light from the subject” as he puts it.
The trend for embracing natural materials, particularly wood, is definitely still in evidence and Welsh designer David Colwell‘s A Chair is a great example of this. Made of steam bent ash with tubular rivets, it’s flexible, comfortable and ticks all the eco boxes too.
Plant & Moss‘ Clamp Lamp embraces a quirky DIY aesthetic which was also very much en vogue at this year’s LDF. All their products are handmade in the UK. The individual lamps can be attached to almost any surface and shine their light wherever you need it.
It was great to see &Then Design graduated from the emerging designers area with a whopping great stand in the main Interiors Section. I’ve long been a fan of their quirky aesthetic and personality-filled products.
And sneaking into the Internal Pavilion slightly, I had to share La Familia by Brazilian design brand Bravo!, a product that uses two of Brazil’s most abundant materials, wood and copper, and combines traditional handicraft with new technology thus supporting both.
