Clerkenwell Design Week

The fourth annual Clerkenwell Design Week (CDW) will welcome more than 200 designers and manufacturers from Britain and across the globe in London’s leading creative district of Clerkenwell.

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Suitcase Desk by TILT for Club Workspace, photo: Jill Tate

UK-based architecture and design practice TILT has designed two new coworking spaces in London for Club Workspace, a fast-growing network of creative coworking clubs for entrepreneurs, freelancers and professionals.

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Detail view of the ‘Hyde’ stool by Assemblyroom

London-based design duo Assemblyroom have recently unveiled their latest product, this minuscule, vibrantly-coloured stool called ‘Hyde’. Launched at designjuction during the London Design Festival, the fully-upholstered stackable design is produced by specialist automotive manufacturers known for their high standards and top-quality work for the British luxury car manufacturers such as Jaguar or Bentley. (more…)

Super Brands London at the London Design Festival 2012, as captured by Architonic

Our special LDF 2012 partner, Super Brands London, put the super into, well, Super Brands, at their off-Brick Lane venue last week. In addition to hosting the inaugural exhibition of Architonic’s new partner company Materials Council (with attendant gin-soaked launch party, of course), Super Brands London was also home to a high-calibre selection of international design labels. Weren’t there? Fear not. Here’s the whole shebang in pictures…

view Architonic’s photo tour of Super Brands London, London Design Festival 2012

Before Vignelli there was Matter: Herbert Matter’s old logotype for Knoll in the window of their West End showroom during the London Design Festival 2012

While the London Design Festival’s big-top design destinations, such as Super Brands London, Tent, designjunction and 100% Design pulled large crowds, a number of design brands used their city showrooms as spaces for serving up fascinating slices of design-historical culture. Here’s some of what was on the menu. (by Simon Keane-Cowell …yes, he’s back!)

read the ‘Internal Culture: design history revisited at London design showrooms during LDF 2012′ article in full on Architonic

view Architonic’s photo tour of 100% Design, London Design Festival 2012

100 % Design 2012, as seen by Architonic

Everyone loves a comeback. And they seldom come any bigger in design terms than 100% Design, which, this year, under new management made a very clear statement of intent – to put the creativity and excitement back into this London Design Festival regular through a more considered, almost curated kind of approach to mounting a design trade show. More, please.

Architonic’s photo tour of 100% Design, London Design Festival 2012

The Wahaca Southbank Experiment by Softroom Architects and a mural by Tristan Manco; photo by Joseph Burns

Eight recycled shipping containers have been converted into a new pop-up branch of London’s popular Mexican eatery, Wahaca, by the London-based practice Softroom Architects. The brightly-coloured, riverfront structure was erected on Southbank, right in front of the contrastingly monolithic Queen Elizabeth Hall, to coincide with the Southbank Centre’s summer-long Festival of the World. Boasting a dining area spacious enough to accommodate 130 guests, the Wahaca Southbank Experiment will remain open until at least January 2014. (more…)

Close-up of the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion by Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei; photo © Iwan Baan

Following their iconic National Stadium conceived for Beijing’s Summer Olympics 2008, the acclaimed Swiss architectural practice Herzog & de Meuron and the ubiquitous Chinese artist Ai Weiwei have joined their creative forces once again, this time designing the recently-opened Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2012. Featuring a sky-reflecting floating roof suspended 1.4 metres above ground, the cork-clad Pavilion features eleven columns representative of all previous Pavilions commissioned by the Serpentine Gallery to date. Watch the Pavilion captured on film in the video below. (more…)