London Design Festival 2009: Women Stand Behind Their Work

Chauncey Zalkin — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:14:39 +0000

Review of 100% Design London and Designersblock

Recent design school grad Freya Godwin-Brown clutches one of her resin and fabric sculptures after we chatted for thirty minutes about everything from her upcoming move to Australia to the skies of Shanghai which inspired this body of work.

Eleanor Young, textile designer, shows an exciting juxtaposition with her dainty vintage furniture pieces that she’s upholstered with her bold asymmetric geometric patterns, creating something entirely feminine out of shapes ordinarily associated with masculinity or 80s pop ‘topshop’ style youth wear. What she’s created here feels fresh and sophisticated at the same time. She also tries out digital printing for the first time as seen on the pillow on top of the small bench which worked really well with the embroidery. The way she matched her dress to her collection was also a nice touch.

Camilla Meijer is not a recent grad. I didn’t even get a chance to stop and talk to her – but I love her patterns (see Abigail Borg, a rising star as well).

Eadadin Dempsey sits in her final project after she talked excitedly about her first show. Simple construction, nothing extraneous, inspired by thatched roofs in her native Ireland. She’s a graduate from Dublin Institute of Technology.

Aimee Louise Hartshorn who came from Dublin with Eadadin sits on her twelve-legged rocking stool.

Yura Kim from South Korea made these resin light fixtures by hand but don’t ask her how she did it because she won’t tell you. She said, “sorry, I took a long time to figure out how to do it.” Fair enough and she’s done a beautiful job. They are even more impressive in person. The one behind her in pink looks like a fragile shell or a birds nest.

These three women make up Rooms Design, an interior and product design company from Georgia (the country, not the state). Quite an interesting trio. The woman in the middle is the business side and the two women on the ends are the designers. They also worked in collaboration with a fashion designer who dressed chairs in military uniforms. This collection was a inspired by the recent Russian invasion and communist occupation of Georgia during the cold war. The fear is that ‘things will become drab again if freedom is threatened;. The lamp in metal represents the Soviet Union and the wooden lamp is modeled after an American 50s desk lamp, a bold expression of designs potential to communicate political sentiments, something you might not expect from a commodity.

Holly Palmer creates whimsical furniture that doesn’t overpower. I want that table and the teacup behind her. More Alice in Wonderland charming than boutique hotel showy, these struck me as great for small spaces.

Tres Tintas Wallpapers: A Gem in The Crown of Barcelona Design

Chauncey Zalkin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 12:37:58 +0000

One thing leads to another. When you are a designer in Barcelona, you usually have your hands in many pots — it’s a free-flowing creative place if there ever was one, and seemingly not dictated by the market. The feeling in the air is of childlike innocence. There are no restrictions and design is a virtue — so it’s not surprising to see Julia Pelletier’s site listing her projects as including everything from costumes for Madame Butterfly to the curation of an illustrated book festival at La Central bookshop in Raval. I’ve also been getting her email updates for months about craft workshops she puts on for children there.

But what I want to share with you today is her wallpaper and the wall coverings of other fashion designers at a Barcelona company called Tres Tintas .I’ve been interested in the European market for wall coverings for some time.

The first to burst onto the scene were wall decals that were sophisticated and minimalist which I brought back to New York from Paris in 2006 for friends. But as things go, they multiplied and degraded becoming ubiquitous in Paris and all over Europe. The statement was so bold that it got relegated to a cheap ‘trendy’ mass market decor solution pretty fast. Too many candelabras, flitting birds, bold flowers, borders of grass, and trompe l’oeil statues and bookshelves can put you off the style.

But innovative wall treatments as a category have endless possibilities. One of my favorite companies also has one of my favorite websites, Surface View out of the UK where you can see blinds, murals, and wall coverings behind various rooms but they rely on databank’s of images for the website offering and the more niche custom work is done offline. Also on Tres Tintas is the work of Catalan designer Mriam Ocariz whose flowers are truly remarkable.

-Chauncey Zalkin

What Women Make » wallpaper

London Design Festival 2009: Women Stand Behind Their Work

Review of 100% Design London and Designersblock

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Tres Tintas Wallpapers: A Gem in The Crown of Barcelona Design

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