f l e e t i n g a e s t h e t i c

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design and play 

Charles and Ray 

Eames

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Ettore + Nathalie 1980s

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hello autumn #mood

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brand love 

We Compost re-brand.

http://www.wecompost.co.nz/

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Martyna Golik from The Danish Academy of Fine Arts graduate project Touch That Taste explores the relationship between the senses, in particular how taste is manifest in colour and texture. The project is based on data in which a study group had to eat and smell items representing the five taste groups, and translate the experience into vision and touch. The resulting collection in- cludes an Umami carpet, a Sweet pouffé, and Bitter slippers.

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Hotel Droog

Design company Droog creates and curates cutting-edge products and events around the world. They have a branch in Hong Kong but their Amsterdam base is the main event. Hotel Droog combines a designer concept store, cafe, gallery, garden and one room where guests can be immersed into the Droog lifestyle.

I have wanted to visit Hotel Droog for years, so on my recent trip to Amsterdam I headed straight there. Amsterdam is full of beautiful design shops and cute cafes but Droog has an edge, you can see that their carefully curated shop focussed on playful yet functional design objects which aim to challenge the way we think about design. The cafe was peaceful when we went, which was a contrast to most tiny, busy places in Amsterdam.

The building is so spacious, you feel able to explore, around every corner is another room filled with interesting objects. The cafe is a great place to relax, with a simple yet stylish menu and a bookshelf filled with interesting reads. My new favourite place in Amsterdam, Droog is a place to spend a while, indulging in design, exploring the garden and enjoying a peaceful drink. 

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Fluid forms and unexpected materiality continue to inspire me. These functional objects d’art are by Stokholm based designer Erik Olovsson.

Indefinite Vases are sculptures or containers. Functional or decorative. The contrast between the cut stone and the form of the hand blown glass emphasizes the relation between space and object, an interplay between a fragile material and its solid counterpart.

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Post-Couture Collective

I've been so busy these past six months so I’ve only just found the time to check out the highlights of October’s Dutch Design Week! I would have been there again if I could’ve, I will definitely aim to make it to Eindhoven this year. 

As always the Design Academy Eindhoven’s graduate show was a highlight, particularly Martijn Van Strien’s Post Couture Collective. This capsule collection has been making waves due to Van Strien’s innovative idea for a post-internet fashion industry model. 

Her designs take form via downloadable patterns which can be purchased cheaply and lazer-cut at your nearest Maker-Space. The fabric Van Strien recommends using is a 3D knitted spacer foam, constructed from recycled PET bottles. The look is typically minimal and Dutch with utilitarian slotting tabs. The construction of the garments reminds me of a more developed version of my graduate collection. 

I like Van Strien’s ideas and her website is beautifully made www.postcouture.cc, however considering the small quantity of Maker Spaces with big enough lazer-cutters (There’s one round the corner from me in Brighton- but it’s a rarity) it may be a long time before we’re all wearing open-source garments. 

However I do love this kind of experimental work, which often emerges from the Masters course at DAE, it makes us consider the concept of clothing - something which is slowly being readdressed and which I believe will evolve in the next decade. Working in the fashion industry, I witnessed a huge amount of waste. Which not only makes me sad for the planet but also for the people who work so hard to make our clothes for very little in return. 

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Creatives of Cornwall

The atmosphere plus creative buzz from Falmouth's arts University has inspired a new generation of young creatives. They’re setting up their own studios, forging a modern Cornish aesthetic which is becoming recognised as craft and quality focused. Here are a few which stand out...

Francli Falmouth - Outdoor accessories and craft aprons  http://francli.co.uk/ 

Tom Raffield - Steam bent wood furniture http://www.tomraffield.com/

Toro Studio Falmouth - Indoor plants and gardening accessories http://www.toro-studio.com/

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This week I visited the COS x HAY showroom on Kensington Highstreet on behalf of Trend Bible. HAY’s home interior pieces clearly appeal to fans of the minimal COS aesthetic and the two brands compliment each other as products are displayed side by side. My favourite piece is a foldable side-table designed by Tomas Alonso (images 1 & 9) which looks just as good hanging on the wall as it does in use, I think this can also be said of COS’s signature button-down shirts. Collection available in selected COS stores and online.

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Ilse Crawford of Studioilse has designed a collection of furniture and homewares for Ikea made from cork and other natural fibres. The collection is designed to work both indoors and outside as well as in any home around the world.  Known for her human-centred approach to design, Ilse describes the collection as “quite low key” but it’s deliberately designed like that. "We see it as background, it’s not trying to compete with these fantastic icons of design – it’s a different thing. But we all need a number of lights that aren’t supposed to be waving at you.” This is a new approach for Ikea who's signature is a functional, minimal aesthetic. Ilse's designs bring soul and tactility to the table, they're quiet pieces which have an impact with their fresh, modern use of natural materials.

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Plates and mugs by ClayKat Ceramics. Her use of colour is outstanding, I love the hand-finished feel of this collection, the liquidity of the glaze is beautiful and with names like ‘seafoam’ and ‘blush’ they’re pretty hard to resist. 

One of the best things about my current work placement at Trend Bible is that I am constantly discovering new designers and makers due to the large amount of image sourcing I have to do! My love of home-wares and furniture is being indulged and I love it.

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The Value of Reputation

Collaborative consumption expert Rachel Botsman predicted in her recent Ted Talk that: “We will soon be living in a world where reputation will be your most valuable asset”

Currently our reputations can help us in the collaborative economy - whether we sell old clothes on Depop, host dinners with EatWith or want to make some extra money running errands with Task Rabbit, our feedback from past ‘collaborators’ is what keeps us afloat. The number of websites exploring collaborative economy is growing at a frenetic rate, we will soon be able to buy everything we need from groceries to services and spaces from these platforms. With this in mind, our online reputations will become a new kind of currency which we will defend with as much urgency as our bank details.

Botsman envisions a future where we can google a person and view a realtime stream of who has trusted them, when, where and why. This would be a kind of‘reputation dashboard’ which would paint a picture of your reputation capital and enable people to decide how to trust you and what value you hold to them. This collaborative revolution is transforming our consumer system, new trust networks and the alternative capital they generate could disrupt the way we think of wealth, power and personal connections.

I think this is an exciting prospect - our global village which has been propelled by peer-to-peer platforms online could exist outside the confines of the monetary economy an rely solely on our past performance as well as exchanging of skills and resources.

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This beautiful floating home, designed and made by Danish couple Lisbeth Juul and Laust Nørgaard, floats in a secluded part of Copenhagen harbour. This is a dream small space - although it must be tricky to downsize, it's definitely worth it for the stunning views and relaxed aesthetic. 

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Outdoors inside.

Maurizio Zucchi cactus temple home, Andrew Franz tribecca factory loft, Potager greenhouse cafe Cornwall, Frameweb..