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CULTURE, ECONOMY, INTERIORS, GRAPHICS, TEXTILES, MATERIALS & SOCIETY Notebook by designer Amanda Culpin, living and working in London, writing about anywhere. More about where some of this ends up at www.utilityprojects.co.uk

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New Address

tack is also online here http://www.utilityprojects.co.uk/notes/

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Had an interesting couple of hours at the Haworth Tompkins RCA Dyson Building in Battersea where visitors had (very trusting) free rein to wander the studios and get a bird's eye view of the workshops from glazed galleries – a glimpse into a particular working world. Among the exhibitors Michèle Oberdieck showed her glass objects resting on their sides, open-mouthed, cut polished edges, smooth, stretched and pinched-in forms and stand-out use of dazzling yellow, brown and pink: a wake-up combination. Looking forward to the end of year show.

Michèle Oberdieck http://micheleoberdieck.co.uk/news/

Royal College of Art http://www.rca.ac.uk/schools/school-of-material/

Architects http://www.haworthtompkins.com/

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Not so very new, Damien Hirst’s enterprise opened in October and is 5 minutes from home so can’t think why I haven’t been before, definitely an interesting neighbour; the gallery is on one of those streets you find increasingly in London that seem to appear out of nowhere despite being 200 years old, tucked in between the river and Lambeth Walk and part of a very rapid development of the entire stretch between Nine Elms and Elephant. The building consists of renovated scene-painting studios and a brick extension by Caruso St John with their particular pared-back but highly refined architecture – somewhat at odds with the Hirst public persona? still, good use of a presumably generous budget and the by-product of many skulls and butterflies. So, the inaugural show is a collection of huge John Hoyland (1934-2011) canvasses that occupy two floors of galleries; no notes or titles, just saturated and overlapping blocks of colour which are perfectly suited to the space and a make a substantial show. I read a scathing review on the inadequacies of the work, compared very poorly with the American abstract expressionists, but I loved it and will go back - it’s on for a few months, the gallery is free, and it’s virtually empty which means visiting is a pleasure and a rare chance to absorb the work. Rowan Moore in The Guardian as usual gets to the point in his review of the architects: A short distance from Hirst’s gallery is the junkheap of towers and desolate open spaces going up in Vauxhall. How much better it would be if it had some of the intelligence of a practice like this.

Site Newport Street Gallery / Architects Caruso St John / Artist John Hoyland

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Agnes MartiIn at the Tate must-see for anyone who likes graph-paper and a masterclass in less is very much more - faint and broken lines and translucent layers playing havoc with eyes and expectations. Loads written about the mysterious and admirable Martin, who did her own thing, my one discovery is that I am massively disturbed by the horizontal line only works, and totally at one with the grid. Wonder what that’s all about. Titles not much help - The Rose, I Love the Whole World - and tiny pin marks at the edges of canvasses are a small clue as to practice and making, otherwise we are left to wonder. Which reminds me of Barnet Newman (favourite Tate exhibition along with Gerhard Richter, think these are my top 3), who knew Martin and whose own works do a similar thing in presenting a simple face and keeping you looking.

On A Clear Day 1973 1974 interview with Agnes Martin

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Basil Spence Council Chamber at Kensington Civic Hall, a gloriously in-tact 70s interior with a level of detail to lust after in the age of (design)&build. Competition win with Kilburn Nightingale & Co.

More about the project here http://www.utilityprojects.co.uk/interior-design-projects/kensington-town-hall/

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Something satisfying about a herringbone thin repeated line, pale or bold both equally good, and on my radar in various materials: concrete flooring, porcelain tile and most directly in textiles. We're working with Wilton on a custom carpet for a Fulham hotel, and delighted to find a British manufacturer with an adaptable and cost-conscious approach which works both ways: they have a fantastic resource of well-tested designs which can be endlessly recycled, re-scaled and coloured, we get something that works uniquely with our building, very easily. Always good to work with people who know what they are doing, especially UK makers.

http://www.utilityprojects.co.uk/interior-design-projects/new-project-page-6/ www.wiltoncarpets.co.uk/‎

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Nicholas Lees works in two very different media - clay and ink, both minimal and monochrome, with something landscape in the works on paper so not surprising to read that the latest series has to do with hedgerows. Intriguing. Nice bulldog clips. www.nicholasleees.com www.adriansassoon.com

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America Square launch

Go Native apartments officially opened today, if you want to stay in the city in a brand new flat filled with things that make you feel at home, this could be the place.

http://www.utilityprojects.co.uk/interior-design-projects/new-project-page-5/

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The Paulistano, see previous post, has found its way into America Square apartments for Go Native. The simple and wonderfully graphic single bent steel frame is waiting for someone to move the mattresses and fit the leather slIng - last stages in putting the hotel together. Opening next week, photographs following.

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the-gasoline-station: Buses as Protection from Assad’ Snipers A young boy walks past a makeshift barricade made of wreckages of buses to obstruct the view of regime snipers and to keep people safe in Aleppo, Syria on March 14, 2015 Picture: Karam Al-Masri/AFP/Getty Images Source: TIME

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mspratibha: tauba auerbach - morse alphabet, no spaces,yellow.2005

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Concrete wall panels at Holborn Library in London, designed by Ernest Ives, from http://www.theimportanceofbeingmodernist.tumblr.com Short piece on the building by Susannah Charlton at C20 Society here http://www.c20society.org.uk/botm/holborn-library/

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Last of the 4 and back to Innovation Design Engineering, a really well presented show: complex ideas involving overlapping disciplines clearly and engagingly presented physically, digitally and in person.

The Ion by Peter Spence is a small box containing a wirelessly connected intelligent motor designed specifically for kids to use in playing and making. Tapping into their natural creativity, un-censored imagination and technological ease the Ion makes an idea mobile: attach one or several to something, anything, and you instantly have endless possibilities for a mad hatters’ tea party of invention, and maybe the start of a lifetime’s problem solving.

Peter Spence Ion Innovation Design Engineering / RCA London 2014

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Still-life photographs by Hélène Kugelberg of the Spellinge Estate, south of Stockholm, built in the 17th and 18th century and where she grew up. No further information available, in the same way that virtually no light is allowed into these mysterious views of aparently perfectly preserved interiors. Hélène Kugelberg Spellinge Graphic Design / Central St Martins London 2014

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I went to see architecture and Interiors at the RCA but got waylaid in Innovation Design Engineering: a brilliant MA course putting makers, thinkers, engineers, and entrepreneurs together to see what happens.

Paul Stawenow showed his Project Phoenix, a neat idea to make the recycling of small electronic components a no-choice part of the life-cycle of gadgets: in-built from inception valuable bits are easily ejected in a ready-to-post pack, you and I don’t have to think about it, industry assists in a real application of environmental standards, and precious resources are saved from landfill. Genius.

Paul Stawenow Phoenix Innovation Design Engineering / RCA London 2014

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Graduate shows 2014 So much to see at this time of year, so little time; here are four designers who made me stop and look.

Skye Gwillim has been investigating freedom, control, pattern-form and the emotional impact of repetitive hand-making through a process that might be described as knitting with paper; the result of these studies is a series of quietly satisfying 3-dimensional geometric structures intended for therapeutic use beyond simple decoration, surprisingly strong and elastic, with exciting potential to develop in use, material and scale.

Skye Gwillim Flow Textiles / Central St Martins London 2014