Clerkenwell Design Week - 2011

Through the grey clouds and lashing rain CDW shone through! a

The three day show returned to EC1, bigger and better than last year. Sprawling around and in the streets of Clerkenwell. (The name Clerkenwell comes from the Clerks’ Well in Farringdon Lane, where London parish clerks performed mystery plays in the Middle Ages.)

With my snazzy pink wristband on I was ready to see what I could squeeze in, in an afternoon.

This is inside the amazing Farmiloe Building on St John Street. Untouched by city developers and trendy wine bars, this building was a great choice for the varied designs and brands within it.

This is a short video of the 1st floor on the opening night. If you know the Band name, please let me know and I’ll credit them on you tube.

The event was sponsored by Jaguar, so there were a couple of concept cars on display.

Also in the Icon area was the Flux Chair by Flux Furniture BV, which just won the Grand Designs Best Product category that just one best product for the Grand Designs Awards.

In a darkened archway was this installation was sponsored by DORN BRACT, Transforming Water Installation, Tryptic film by Daniel Askill.

Dorn Bracht Installation

On the ground floor was ASAP an exciting new design collective,  consisting of four British-based furniture brands which have featured on my blog before: Another Country, Scene, Assemblyroom and Pli.

Ella Doran’s prints and wallpapers was brightening up the walls, in the background you can see the award winning Geo wallpaper.

Deadgood had a large stand with a mixture of pre-existing products and new designs. Below is the Strip Light by Viable London.  ‘ The strips lock together with a nifty little design feature allowing this floating shade to fit any bulb’.

The new Collection by Lee Broom for Deadgood was on show, I love the mix of polished brass and the rich parquet wood veneer, but it really comes into it’s own in situe, as you can see in the newly fitted personal shopper area for Topman.

James UK returned from ICFF New York in time to show their whole collection.

Pinch showed their new collection recently launched at Milan in April. A highlight is the Willo coffee table, which has a more feminine feel to it with its steam-bent ash legs.

The Buildings interior was so varied an eclectic mix of industrial concrete and wooden partitioned rooms. Within the rooms were, a pop-up shop from the Design Museum and one from the Dezeen Watch Store.

Up the staircase, there is a warren of small office spaces, untouched since the building was vacated, you can just see the built in wooden units with brass handles at the back – ace! DesignMarketo took up residence in one room. Which is a platform to help young designers reach a wider audience.

Their quick and simple shelving units are a clever way to occupy the space without having to fix anything to the vintage wallpaper.

Hitch Mylius is an award-winning British manufacture, below is the pebble like hm63a, b and c, designed by Designed by Nigel Coates.

Dare Studio had plenty of room for their ever increasing design collection. With there new evil genius Wingback Chair Hardy, and side table Drone.

I’ve always been a fan of Swedish design brand Swedese, but their new Fisherman lights are fab, the oversized scale mixes tradition with the modern…if only I had space for one.

Designersblock were Bodging Milano.

This photo gives and Illusion of sunshine, but on Thursday the 26th of May the heavens opened across the UK, so it was a very swift and soggy walk to the House of Detention.

As we ran for cover, we found the entrance; walking down some stairs into a dreek looking Victorian brick building.

In the Dark and Damp Victorian prison several people had found refuge! As I walked along the main corridor there were cells flanking on each side. Thankfully the doors of the cells were open and within them a mixture of design, art and installations.

Although sometimes it was a bit of a squeeze with you, the designer & the product!

Bark furniture is based in Cornwall, and a collaboration between husband and wife team, Jonathan Walter and Lakshmi Bhaskaran.

Instrospection 2011, by Sarah Weistner ...’creates and interesting play between mirrors and light questioning the viewers perception of space...’

This was a new bubble lamp by Tobyhouse who I exhibited with in Milan back in 2009.

Cyril Sideboard by Liquid Design.

Theo, had this product installation and a pop-up shop with in the Farmiloe Building.

Giles Miller installed this bar in a disused petrol garage, unfortunately the freshly ground coffee wasn’t enough to entice passers by in the wind and rain.

There are some great photos on Dezeen.

With very squelchy feet I Came to Craft Central, where rather than the rooftop market they had to squeeze inside .  This Supa Frank illustration as well as the others inside really brightened my day!

A retro feel with Lulu Guinness' life-size pin art machine, allot of fun had by all.

I wish I only had more time to see what the rest of the design week had to offer.