Lighting, jewellery, soft furnishings and print went on sale to the public at this year’s Design Mart, a three-day pop-up shop at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Arts, Gateshead UK. The Design Mart kicked-off Design Event, the North East’s biggest design festival, which celebrates product, graphics, illustration and architecture. Event organisers commissioned eight designers based in the North of England to develop a new product or range of products using new materials or processes.
Design Event acting director Kala Preston said: “We are thrilled with the success of this year’s festival, the sheer volume of public support we have seen at all of this year’s events so far has been overwhelming. It just goes to show how important design and culture is to our region, and how proud we are of the home-grown talent we have right here.”
Our creative director, Joanna Feeley reviews her top picks from the show and pin-points the key trends.
Back in June, I was asked to sit on the selection panel for Design Event, selecting 22 finalists from 70 entrants to exhibit this October at the DesignMart pop up shop at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Arts, Gateshead. As we are based in the North East ourselves, this was a really great opportunity to really shout about the imense design talent here in the region, something I want to share with you in this post.
Mixing Hard and Soft
Whether it was porcelain imprinted with lace, or solid oak tables with leather trims, there was a big focus on blending hard and soft - or furniture with textiles - at the show. Northumbria University graduate Hannah Wales’ repurposed silicone, (traditionally an industrial material), was imprinted with cable and rib patterns on heat resistant cup sleeves, mimicking textures found in traditional knits. Trend Bible favourite Raskl produced a gorgeous oak desk with leather pocket and trims including rather sweet leather socks for each table leg, while Stitched Ceramics’ porcelain vases and cups were imprinted with lace patterns, adapting elements from the world of textiles to hard goods. Anne Laycock’s beautiful ceramic and ribbon necklaces were a striking example of ceramics extrusion being introduced to jewellery. We’ve seen lots of examples of this trend coming through at New Designers, 100% Design and Designjunction and we expect this to continue to trickle down to a commercial, domestic level. Check out the work of Imogen Luddy in our Designersblock report who also embraced this mix of hard and soft, and our top pick from New Designers 2010 Tortie Hoare who also explored the concept for mixing leather with wood in furniture.
Above Left; Silicone cup sleeves by Hannah Wales,
Above Right; Porcelain recepticles imprinted with lace, by Stitched Ceramics
Above Left; Solid oak table with leather pockets and trims by Raskl, Above Right; Ceramic and ribbon necklace by Anne Laycock
Industrial
One of our key trends for Autumn / Winter 2011/12 was Utilitarian, a focus on industrial materials being introduced to domestic settings. For some of our clients, we have added a glam element to this look for Christmas – Utility Luxe – to juxtapose the raw elements wth glossy, high-shine surfaces, making this trend less difficult to interpret in a home environment (see below pages from our trend book published in 2009).
Neil Conley (who won the One Year On Award at this year’s New Designers exhibition) showcased his dimmable interior table lamp made from amberised borosilicate glass (did we mention that amber is THE colour for home interiors for 2012?). The piece pays homage to Thomas Edison’s filament bulb, displaying the bulb’s transition from functional object to design icon, celebrating the beauty of the functional and the ordinary, a key strand to this Utilitarian trend. The Scaffolding jewellery range by Hannah Schofield was inspired by building work in Hannah’s native Manchester, while David Urwin’s table lamp also took Northern industrial inspiration, namely the mining traditions and equipment associated with North East coal mining, to create this new blend of function, history and raw beauty.
Above from left; Amber lamp by Neil Conley,
Scaffolding jewellery by Hannah Schofield, Miners lamp by David Irwin.
Our favourite example of this at the show was the work of Tatsuya Akita, below, who created a desktop range using rough industrial cast concrete, mixing this with polished spun metal. Trend Bible presented Tatsuya with Most Forward Thinking Product Award; we particularly liked the concept of keeping and celebrating the ‘scars’ in the products caused by the manufacture.
Above; Desk accessories by Tatsuya Akita
British Nostalgia
The Brit-centric trend has been riding on the crest of a wave for 4 summers now, and we expect to see this continue to influence product design through 2012 with the Diamond Jubilee and London Olympics happening next summer. Our Voyager story for Spring/Summer 2011 predicted a focus on British iconography including Routemaster buses, black cabs, red pillar boxes and telephone boxes. There was plenty of evidence at Design Mart that this trend is still going strong, and there were some beautiful and fresh approaches to this on-going theme.
An old Trend Bible favourite, Susan Bradley, exhibited powder coated metal bookends in the shape of Routemaster buses and black cabs (and more obscure British icons like the Gherkin building and Battersea Power Station in London), while Claire Baker recycled beautiful old military medals with laser cut plywood and perspex giving a very distinctive but subtle British look. The beautiful telephone box artwork by Prefab – as Prefab describe themselves – put pure British rock ‘n’ rebellion into traditional iconic imagery.
Above from left to right; Reworked military medal brooches by Claire Baker, telephone box artwork by Prefab77, Routemaster bus bookends by Susan Bradley.
Colour Block
Powder coated metal continues to be a big theme for products that can be used both indoors and out, and is one of the best materials for delivering strong, vibrant colour. I loved these metal birdhouses (I bought them in orange as Christmas gifts!) by ReThinkThings - a sure fire way to brighted up a dreary winter garden – or for that matter, a children’s bedroom.
Above images; ReThinkThings
Slotted
The trend for taking inspiration from old school chairs continues, and we love these familiar yet fresh looking wooden benches and stools with metal legs by David Irwin for deadgood, below left. Two furniture designers showed benches and tables with cut-out slots, a trend we’re spotting at all the major design shows this Autumn.
Above left; David Irwin for deadgood, right; Afid Design
Fifties
Fifties design is still high on the agenda for furniture for 2012, so watch out for kicked-our table legs, drop-leaf tables and Formica surfaces, as seen at Nick James, below.
Above images; drop leaf table and sideboard by Nick James
A Dog’s Life
A playful design aesthetic was evident across the board at the show, demonstrating that the only way to a customers heart during a recession is through genuinely engaging products. These DIY paper dog kits were a hit with us!
Above image; paper dog kits by Lazerian.
Etched
Laser etched (solid and ply) wood became the basis for clock faces through to the actual awards themselves, designed by Reluctant Hero.
Above left; design award by Reluctant Hero, right; clock by Ellen Thomas
Huge congratulations to David Irwin, for the Best Interior Product for his Mining Lamp, Tatsuya Akita, for the Best Retail Product for his desk accessory range and again with the same range in the category of Most Forward Thinking Product, and Hannah Wales took the award for Most Innovative use of Material for her Sili Mugs.
You can read The Guardian’s review of the show here.
