Designs of the year 2012: architecture, digital, graphics, furniture and more
One of my very favourite shows is Designs of the Year, which has just opened at the Design Museum near Tower Bridge (and you’ve got until July to catch it).
Filling a spacious light and airy upper floor are clusters of round plinths showing off a host of products shortlisted for Awards in seven categories: architecture, digital, fashion, furniture, graphics, product, and transport.
(Above) Morag Myerscough's geometric design at the Birmingham Interiors Show
I love what the curators called the “designs with a conscience” - Vivienne Westwood’s bags made by African women, a redesign of the emergency ambulance by the Helen Hamlyn Foundation at the RCA, an earthquake-proof table for schools, and a super-sleek new wheelchair designed and manufactured by its enterprising user, Andrew Slorance (iimaginedesign.com), who whizzed around me showing off his Carbon Black’s finer points.
On the other hand, does the world really need another chair? Nearly half the furniture section was chairs, though the ingenious Tipton rocker by Barber Osgerby was a show stopper. This is the pair that have done the Olympic torch, and that is in this show as well. We were told that Kate’s dress had been nominated for an award, but all we got to see was the veil. This show is so dense you really need a couple of visits to take it all in. Category award winners and the overall winner of the Design of the Year Award 2012 will be announced in April.
Last month, I was a little quiet on the blog front - those big January trade shows (see my report on this year's spring fairs) were pretty punishing. And I got my camera stolen in Paris at the big Maison & Objet design fair. After buying a replacement I had to go direct to the big Interiors show in Birmingham.
Up at Birmingham, Rory and Piers of London’s Designersblock had put together a brilliantly off-beat “Design Village” for the centre of the show, complete with its own bar and “pub”.
Exhibitors from the outer fringes of the design world included London’s most potent pattern people, doing their take on “bed and breakfast” room-settings. Morag Myerscough covered a very solid looking bed with an aggressive geometric design (studiomyerscough.com) which sucked you inwards.
House of Hackney showed Dalston Rose, a subverted toile wallpaper, with inky hues and a dip dye effect along the bottom (houseofhackney.com).
And dear Donna Wilson let out a crowd of her signature knitted creatures to frolic in a paper-cut out forest (donnawilson.co.uk).
Meanwhile, I was one of the judges for the New Design Britain competition. I loved this wallpaper panel by Colleen Ellington (pictured right). It reminds me of Klimt, and there is something of a likeness between designer and subject.
All pictures by www.barbarachandler.co.uk
See more pictures of the design fairs on www.flickr.com/photos/barbarachandler/
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