Shoreditch Design Triangle presents experiments in materials during LDF 2022

London Design Festival 2022 has coloured the streets and nooks of the city with vibrant shows, interactive talks, fun workshops, immersive exhibitions and stimulating installations. From Islington to Brompton, Greenwich to Park Royal, and Shoreditch to Mayfair, all key locations in the city are adrift with presentations and conversations on design, sustainability, metaverse, digital art and more. One of the oldest districts at the design fair is the Shoreditch Design Triangle. Established in the year 2008, this district seeks to celebrate the creative industry in the eastern part of London, United Kingdom. All events at Shoreditch are hosted and curated by creative establishments and brands from this region. Now in its 15th year, the Shoreditch Design Triangle, open from September 17 to 25, 2022, is one of the largest design districts in London. The week-long event comprises various product launches, design exhibitions, workshops, installations, talks, tours and culinary experiences, with each programme giving us a glimpse into the evolution of various creative industries in the region.

A few highlights from the design week include the showcase of early works by Jasper Morrison, the unveiling of VitrA’s new flagship showroom, a presentation of Lee Broom’s Divine Inspiration collection and Offecct’s new designer collections, and a glimpse into the London Fire Brigade's workspace. Some talks at the design event that further help make sense of the abstractive ideas that largely dictate our creative processes include Design, Craftsmanship and Climate Change by Copengahen-based furniture brand Ca'lyah and Design for Better 2.0 - Talk and Product Launch by British creative consultancy The Future Collective.

With the intention of exploring and understanding the material experimentations apparent at Shoreditch, we enlist a few select projects that caught our eye.

‘Coastal Myths’ exhibition by Studio Sahil

London-based product and design-consulting firm Studio Sahil presents Coastal Myths, an exhibition dedicated to the exploration of day-to-day glass objects. The event is curated by Open Space, an organisation dedicated to promoting emerging creative practices and promoting artistic dialogues through annual programmes. The exhibition takes cues not only from regular glass objects lying around us but also from stories and myths and the sea shore. The word ‘Sahil’, which means coast or shore in Turkish, serves as a key reference point and inspiration for the showcases presented at the exhibition. The islands next to these shores have always found significant space in mythology, classical literature as well as popular culture, hinting, thus, that these sea-bound landforms encapsulate latent narratives.

‘Jelly Salad’ exhibition by Christopher Farr and Bethan Laura Wood

Jelly Salad is an exposition comprising rugs with imprints of different vegetables gathered together to form abstract compositions. Designed by Bethan Laura Wood, they serve as an extension to her ongoing exploration of food presentation and representation. This constitution of vegetables, suspended in a sea of jelly, and stamped on the Christopher Farr or CF Edition rugs, gives way to free imagination. The CF Edition rugs are made using the hooked rug technique. Inspired by traditional American techniques of cutting and crafting rugs, this method was adopted by Bethan because it reminded her of sliced cabbage. The rug design is available in two colourways, namely Lime Jelly and Lemon Jelly, and measures 1.2 x 1.8 metres.

“I love the weird mix of natural and processed in the universe of the ‘Jelly Salad’ and its connection to popular culture and changes in the domestic landscape. When the hook rug samples reminded me of cut savoy cabbage I thought the two could be a perfect recipe together to create a fun family of carpets,” says Bethan Laura Wood.

‘The Gathering Hand’ by GRAS

Edinburgh-based architecture, design and conservation studio GRAS’s The Gathering Hand is the firm’s first furniture and objects collection created in collaboration with leading makers in the creative industry. GRAS’s motto is to create and conserve spaces and objects of heritage or otherwise extraordinary importance, keeping in mind the context, materials, ideas, techniques and technologies associated with them. The Gathering Hand, on display at Blue Mountain School in the district, is a celebration of man’s innate drive to make and build. “Our intention with the collection was to distil and communicate the value of physical creation: the use of both hand and mind to explore the potential of material and form. This age-old pursuit holds life-affirming benefits that are self-evident to the maker,” explains GRAS’s Product Design Engineer, Alistair Byars. The showcase at the exhibition includes tables, vessels and totemic objects. Simply shaped and carefully proportioned, each piece reveals the natural characteristics of the material used to build it. The collaborators who came together with GRAS to build the collection include Namon Gaston, Antwerp-based studio Corkinho, Cambridge-based glass artist Edmond Byrne and Albion Stone.

HAY presents latest launches at 20th anniversary

Danish furniture brand HAY presents some of its latest launches and a few previews of upcoming collections at Magazine London. One of the furniture pieces displayed by the brand includes the Balcony and Palissade + Palissade Park outdoor collection by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec. Other pieces on display are collections built in collaboration with Laila Gohar and Muller Van Severen, among others.

‘Almost Instinct’ exhibition by SCP

British manufacturer and retailer SCP presents Almost Instinct, an exhibition comprising five presentations, namely the SCP 2022 collection, the One Tree project, the launch of lighting brand Blue Green Works, Wilkinson & Rivera’s Of Nature and Beasley Brothers Repair Shop. The first showcase in the line-up is the SCP 2022 collection by Ilse Crawford & Oscar Peña. Initially launched during Milan Design Week this year, the SCP 2022 collection features new upholstery and furniture designed by Ilse Crawford & Oscar Peña, Matthew Hilton, Philippe Malouin, Sarah Kay, Donna Wilson and Terence Woodgate. It is defined by fresh energy and is plush and decorative.

The One Tree project includes the repurposing of a dying ash tree from SCP founder Sheridan Coakley’s garden, into various different usable products. Created by Max Bainbridge, Poppy Booth, Oscar Coakley, Sebastian Cox, Sarah Kay, Matthew Hilton, Peter Marigold, Moe Redish, Wilkinson & Rivera, and Faye Toogood, the project puts a spotlight on wood and raises discussions around questions of how we grow them, how we use them and how we secure their future. The project aims to give purpose to a material that would otherwise have been discarded and disposed of.

Wilkinson & Rivera’s Of Nature is an exhibition comprising four chair designs inspired by ‘Verb List’, a 1967 artwork by American sculptor Richard Serra. While the 'Verb List' is a handwritten collection of actions related to Serra's self, material, place, and process, the designers present the four chairs as actions. They are all made using different kinds of wood, are made using different techniques, and are called Puffed, Wilted, Whipped, and Rippled.

Lastly, a functioning repair shop crafted by furniture designer Carl Clerkin at Somerset House during the latter’s Eternally Yours exhibition is on display as part of SCP’s presentation. In order to be reused, Clerkin, Very Good and Proper, Ercol, Pearson Lloyd, Jasper Morrison Studio, and John Tree Studio provided Beasley Brothers Repair Shop with damaged parts, waste materials, and extra stock. The outcome is a variety of unique products, a preview of which may be found right now at the festival.

Shoreditch Design Triangle is open to the public from 17 to 25 September, 2022.

Everything you need to know about London Design Festival 2022. Celebrating its 20th year, the festival takes over the city of London with installations, exhibitions, and talks from major design districts such as Brompton, Shoreditch Design Triangle, Greenwich Peninsula, Design London, Clerkenwell Design Trail, Park Royal, Mayfair, Bankside, King's Cross, William Morris Line, and Islington.