Highlights from London Design Festival

Spent a great afternoon wandering around Design Junction, part of London Design Festival 2014. Located in the industrial environment of a former Royal Mail sorting office on New Oxford Street, it contains four floors of interior design trends and influences, as well as one-off collaborations, thought-provoking installations and a programme of talks and demonstrations.

A fantastic collection of  carpets by some of the leading international carpet design studios was showcased by Wallpaper* magazine and AfghanMade Carpets. They were all handmade in Afghanistan by local craftsmen.

Giulio Iachetti’s Paese Mio rug for Nodus is a poetic representation of every home in My Country. The colours are inspired by Afghanistan’s desert landscapes.

Script by Brad Davis/Janis Provisor for Fort Street  Studio took small segments of written characters from the Dari and Pashto languages to create a diamond shaped shield. With their reinterpretation of a classic Middle Eastern motif, Davis and Provisor seek to evoke the feeling of protecting the Afghan people and overcoming past assaults on their culture.

Copenhagen based Gam Fratesi created Platonism for Christopher Farr, a design that combines simple, geometries to create a pleasing abstract arrangement.

Ghost by Marti Guixé for Spanish firm Nanimarquina recreates the mythical pictorial motifs of birds, flowers, horses and deer that appear and disappear like ghosts in this unconventional take on a Kerman rug.

I love this collaboration between Paul Smith and Angelpoise

The classic Angelpoise Type 75 desk lamp has been given a refreshing colour-blocking makeover 

Angelpoise also features in A Child’s Dream, an installation where 19 designers, such as Tom Dixon, Terence Conran, Faye Toogood and Ab Rogers have been invited to customise Angelpoise Type 75 Mini desk lamps and Ercol’s stacking chair. They will be auctioned off with proceeds going to Teddy’s Wish to aid research into Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, Neonatal Death Syndrome and help support grieving families.

Guess which is by Tom Dixon and which by Donna Wilson..

Dezeen and BMW Mini collaborated with six cutting-edge designers to visualise the future of travel. Alongside Lucy McRae’s design which sought to explore the effect of space travel on the human body by “vacuum-packing” in a type of suspended animation, this stained glass car by Dominic Wilcox caught my eye

Taking technological developments which could make the car of the future driverless and safe as his starting point, Wilcox imagines a handmade, intricate design, which replaces typical auto design with a reappraisal of a millennia-old traditional craft. Inspired by the stained glass windows of Durham cathedral, it is very beautiful.

There are lots of demonstrations, from armchair upholstery and crystal cutting to tile designing

This lovely London Transport themed cafe provides sustenance to keep going.

Wouldn’t it be great if every tube station had a space like this?

Kirkby design produce upholstery and cushions based on classic London Underground patterns

After a while, comfy seating starts to look VERY appealing

How inviting is this orange armchair?

A reassuring message to the disorientated from the chaps at String

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