London Design Festival Top Ten

BERCO lounge chair at 100% Design

This time last week I was dining alfresco in a candle-lit back yard in lively Camden. A week on and I’m back at home warming my feet on the stove and looking out on an infinite expanse of starry sky, the Atlantic breakers crashing on the West Beach, quite a contrasting soundscape to that of the bustling city. I was south for London Design Festival - 100% Design at Olympia, Design Junction at Kings Cross and The London Design Fair in Old Truman Brewery and lots of interesting exhibits in between.

The purpose of the trip was to build up a list of potential suppliers, meet makers/designers and learn about products. I came home laden with samples and the possibility of some exciting collaborations.

Four common threads across the festival that I was particularly interested in were natural colours of wool, emphasis on sustainability/environmental awareness, geometric shapes and heritage. I was particularly interested in seeing what was being done with undyed British wool. My favourite 10 finds were...

Tom of Holland

Makers House was highly recommended by several folk so I went along early on Sunday morning when it was lovely and quiet. It was a handy stone's throw from Tottenham Court Road tube stop, tucked away down unassuming Manette Street. In quite a Narnia-style way, the entrance was through a black painted arch into an English country house courtyard – white busts, tranquil lush green plants and lavender with a mural resembling the facade of Ditchley Park painted against the facing wall – a far cry from the Saturday-night aftermath and graffiti of the Soho left behind.

Maker’s House was the result of an exciting collaboration between Burberry, launching their new collection, and The New Craftsman - resulting in a beautiful and unique addition to London Design Festival. Makers House was located in the former home of Foyle’s bookstore - this being the building's final fling before it's demolished to make way for luxury flats. For one week, Burberry had transformed the venue into a cafe, showroom and events space to celebrate the launch of its new collection.

This collection was inspired by Virginia Woolf’s novel Orlando – in which the protagonist’s gender changes midway through, resulting in a collection which is interestingly 'genderless'. It was also inspired by the work of Nancy Lancaster, an interior designer best known for running decorating firm Colefax and Fowler and restoring stately home Ditchley Park in the 1930s. Many of the pieces in the collection reference Lancaster’s love of rich colours and floral patterns. She is said to have ‘codified’ the English country-house look and this was very much reflected in the entrance court yard, dusky pink walls upstairs and lavish patterned green carpets on the grand staircase.

Inside there were several makers working away downstairs (they changed throughout the week) and chatting to the public about their work; a little shop, a performance space centred around a spiral staircase, a beautiful café and a mood-board-style wall showing Burberry’s inspiration for the new collection. Upstairs mannequins modelled the new Burberry collection and a film showed the (very impressive) opening.

Tom of Holland

My favourite maker was Tom of Holland (tickled by the name which he shares with one of my uncles – in Orkney folk are often referred to using their first name, o’ for of and then their farm name). Tom’s ethos is centred around ‘make-do and mend’, he says he likes doing things that ‘take forever’. He was situated within a cosy canvas tent attractively decorated with colourful woolen socks (in need of mending) hung up in a row, and ribbons of luxurious samples of fabric from the Burberry collection. He was inviting the public to bring in old woolen items for him to mend with this fabric.

Herdwyck 10, Cherchbi

Adam Atkinson

The striking natural wool colours, hand shears logo, stunning Herdwick sheep skin and eye-catching photos of sheep drew me into Cherchbi’s stall at Design Junction. Bag Designer and founder of Herdwyck 10, Adam Atkinson draws on the story of these native Cumbrian sheep and the traditional communal farming of them to market his designs.

Adam told me the story of how it all began. He was up in Cumbria, house-sitting for his parents who were away travelling and was saddened to see that a neighbouring farmer was burning his Herdwick fleeces as he didn’t feel there was any value in them (a similar story resulted in the creation of Gudrun and Gudrun in the Faroe Islands). After four years and ten attempts at getting the design right (hence the name) Adam had worked out his designs. He has created a really slick and beautifully designed collection that has appeared in windows of leading stores such as Liberty, London. All the materials and specialist skills are sourced within the UK. There was a map up showing this. Now based back in London, Adam returns to Cumbria several times a year.

One of the farmers who sells Herdwyck 10 wool is nicknamed 'Twitter's favourite shepherd' and says that ‘sheep farming is another form of culture, just like Picasso or punk’. James Rebanks began tweeting about his life as a shepherd in 2012 and soon gathered a following of over 40, 000, not surprising that when he brought his first book out it reached the best seller list. He still chooses to be a sheep farmer first and says that he’ll never give up on a way of life that has sustained his family for 600 years.

Heather Scott

I was a little ‘designed out’ by the time I reached the second floor of the design fair on Sunday afternoon and was drawn into the gentle calm and quiet of Heather Scott’s work. Her designs have a distinctive identity. Heather is based near Falmouth in Cornwall and has her workshop on a farm alongside 9 other makers. Originally from Bristol, she did an apprenticeship in carpentry, followed by a year’s course in Design in Falmouth. I liked the fact that the craft came first and think this is reflected in the beautiful quality of what she makes and in her confident style. She recently learned how to weld and has incorporated this as an additional element in her designs. Having recently visited Cornwall it was interesting to chat about familiar places and hear her speak about her love of swimming in the sea and dream to have a beach house.

Camilla Engdahl

Exhibiting as part of the Nordic Design Collective, Camilla Engdahl’s mugs caught my eye. I love their shape and pleasing simplicity. As well as being a potter (her ceramics are handmade in her workshop in Skövde, Sweden) Camilla is also an interior designer. She said that time working for a Swedish homeware store taught her that it is important for designs to be both simple and smart to appeal to a wide range of customers.

Pluck’d

Although not entirely new to the market the idea of reflective wool is still fairly innovative. The range from ‘Pluck’d’ with it’s marriage of natural wool colours and neon reflective wool is both a practical and visually interesting fusion. It’s perhaps a more breathable alternative to some of the more potentially sweaty man-made reflective fabrics - helping folk stay both cosy and safe when out and about as the evenings draw in.

Maria Sigma

Maria’s work struck a chord due to the staggering similarity to some of the knitwear being produced locally from North Ronaldsay wool. I like the ‘zero waste’ sustainability angle. Their philosophy chimes harmoniously with that of North Ronaldsay wool exclusively using natural, non-toxic, materials and undyed, or naturally dyed, wool. 'We consider our environmental impact at every stage of the design and making process, as well as within our daily work environment and studio space' said Maria. Originally from Greece. She explained, ‘weaving is my way of putting the everyday chaos in order and make something honest and beautiful out of it.'

Brodgar Chair​

The Brodgar Bench and Brodgar chair are two of my all-time favourite pieces of furniture – a perfect fusion between stylish contemporary design and the heritage of the straw-back, traditional Orkney chair - a truly exquisite pieces of furniture. The Brodgar chair and bench are a collaboration between Gareth Neal and Kevin Gauld. It was great to see 3 designers down from Orkney exhibiting at London Design Fair – Hilary Grant and Kirsteen Stewart as well as Kevin Gauld.

Vita

I first came across Danish Design company Vita at the start of the summer when putting together a bedroom for my daughter, Isabella. I wanted an over-sized lamp shade that was fun but also had an interesting texture and so hit gold when I came across Vita;s goose feather EOS large. It looks wonderful and provides a fantastic centre-piece to any room - enchanting when the lights on. My one became the centre piece in the dining room during the summer art exhibition at The Old Manse, A Sense of Place.

Florrie and Bill/Janie's Knitted Textiles

I did an upholstery evening class last winter and much to the teacher’s disapproval (said it wouldn’t be hard wearing enough) I transformed a small armchair giving it a new knitted North Ronaldsay wool cover. It looks fantastic and it’s one of my favourite pieces of furniture. The Two retro 1950s chairs upholstered in grey knitted wool, by Florrie and Bill, made me take a second look at Janie's Knitted Textiles stall. I felt that the shape of the chairs was maybe too stylised for this finish but love the concept of knitted wool upholstery. The wool lamp shades were interesting too but I didn’t like the red backdrop chosen – I felt that it was too strong and heavy a colour to show off the natural colours of the wool. Good though to see

another designer championing British wool!

Forest + Found

Forest + Found is a sustainable craft and design partnership set up by Max Bainbridge and Abigail Booth in late 2014. I loved the very beautiful shapes of their hand carved wooden bowls. www.forest-and-found.com