September 20, 2016

The EJP Design Festival Edit | Part Two

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Hurrah, we’re already three days into London Design Festival and what a cracker it has been so far with Brixton Design Trail and London Design Biennale proving to be amazing escapes for me. Check Part One of my guide if you want to get up to date but in the meantime, here’s Part Two with my own itinerary from Wednesday and beyond!


Wednesday 21st September

Patternity Revive chair for Natuzzi

With the ‘The World’s Biggest Design Party’ taking place in the evening, you’re probably going to want to keep Wednesday pretty calm and chilled. I’d suggest perhaps taking it slowly and seeing a few different things in central, just before letting your hair loose on the cobbles of Granary Square!

Natuzzi RE-THINKING RE-VIVE

Three of my favourite designers, Camille Walala, Patternity and Eley Kishimoto have reinvented the Natuzzi classic Revive chair and interpreted the brief in their own way. I love the idea of a traditional Italian brand collaborating with such vivacious designers and the resulting chairs do not disappoint with shapes, patterns and colour. Just pass me the footstool and give me a shout when all this design malarkey is over. If you’re a real Walala fan you might also want to check out her mural at Clerkenwell LDN and her pedestrian crossing on Southwark Street – busy lady!


Natuzzi, 80-81 Tottenham Court Road, London, W1T 4TE

HAM x west elm

I’m a lover of HAM’s graphic bunny prints so of course a visit to see them larger than life is well and truly on my to-do list. The bunnies have taken over the windows as well as the store and west elm will be running a series of crafty events every lunchtime and evening, coinciding with their LDF showcase and allowing you to learn something completely new. 

west elm, 209 Tottenham Court Road, London, W1T 7PN


Other notable events and stop off points for Central are the London Design Festival showcase at Selfridges as well the Light & Colour presentation at Skandium where the Panthella Mini light has been arranged in a creative installation and the RIBA site-specific installation by Giles round, Living in the Office. If you’re a trooper and these events do take take you early into the evening,  make sure you also pop into Heals for their annual design party complete with workshops, live music and drinks!


Thursday 22nd September

It’s Nice That x The Conran Shop : A Load of Jargon
Be a real Made in Chelsea member on Thursday for their late night openings. Although I’m of course more about the brands with a graphic nature, I’m also quite partial to a little bit of luxury design and Chelsea is totally the area for a little bit of champagne with some more extravagant products. The Chelsea Design Quarter boasts Lema who will be presenting their collection for 2016, Boffi who will showcase a special exhibition by Michael Anastassiades and a rather spectacular lighting showcase from John Cullen lighting. For getting back to the graphic roots, I’d also highly recommend the It’s Nice That x The Conran Shop: A Load of Jargon party where you’ll find music from Sugarhouse Records, live screenprinting and drinks, all while celebrating industry buzzwords and lookin’ pretty cool. 

Friday 23rd September


For me Friday will likely be all about London Design Fair (previously Tent London) where slightly smaller brands tend showcase and essentially this is probably where I’ll end up discovering a whole lotta blog content. I’ve already got my eye on independent designer makers Dana Haim, Sunny Tood Prints, Troels Flensted and Melina Xenaki as well as group stands from Form & Seek, Etsy and The Makers Place. I’m also looking forward to catching up with James & Malissa of Pressed and Folded, Alexander Mueller and Natalia Geci having previously met them and gone crazy over their work – make sure you check out them all and be sure to say hello as they’re all lovely!


The new branding of the show is hopefully going to be interesting so I can’t wait to see the graphics, how it’s different from previous years and of course hearing some of the talks which include This Is India, reflecting on inclusivity within design and The Open Debate, hosted by the Design Museum, with an aim to explore the predominant trends influencing Open design. Don’t forget how near this also is to the rest of Shoreditch Design Triangle – a coffee at Modern Society might well and truly be in order along with a browse at Ace Hotel’s Ready Made Go 2. 


London Design Fair, Old Truman Brewery, 26 Hanbury Street, London, E1 6QR

Saturday 24th September

Behind the scenes for Verena Hennig’s designjunction installation
The penultimate day of LDF belongs to designjunction and it’s selection of wonderful brands. Hopefully you won’t have regrets from the Wednesday night! I think both myself, and everyone else attending LDF, will probably be a little exhausted right about this time so my advice is to head straight to Verena Hennig’s stand for a relaxing bum and back massage from her debut ROLL collection. If you happen to be press or a VIP,  you can also check out her lounge (which I happened to help install) where a huge mural by Michael Vestner shows off the design process and minimal and typographic furniture from ByAlex support relaxing and very pretty plants from geo-fleur.

Other brands on my designjunction tour will be H Furniture for their collaboration with Studio Makgill, Bethan Grey for the launch of her Shamsian Collection, One We Made Earlier for a chance to make my own necklace and Not Another Bill  because they just seem to stock every damn pretty thang in the world. 

designjunction, 1 Granary Square, London N1C 4AA
Sunday 25th September

Error by Present & Correct
I think the last part of LDF is all about catching what you might have missed and visiting all those little exhibitions a little far out. I’ll certainly be paying a visit to Error at Present & Correct for a celebration of the eraser, taking ‘from where I stand’ shots at Bert & May who have collaborated with Darkroom and ultimately exploring the striking paper flower installation at Quill London (not buying any stationery, promise). All of these look like brilliant events, but all are slightly further out on the trail and in need of a little hunting. 

There’s so much to see over the course of the week and I’m not sure it could ever ALL be done but I hope this selection of my own highlights has helped bring a couple of places to visit. What are your own plans for the rest of LDF? Hit me up if you’re around for a coffee!

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Emma Jane Palin is a freelance art consultant, interior stylist and multi-award-winning blogger residing in Margate, UK. She has worked with various home and lifestyle brands not limited to West Elm, Apple, John Lewis, Habitat, MADE, Caran D'Ache + No.3 Gin. Emma is also a regular contributor to Hunker where she writes about design trends and interior advice.

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