Last week Cult headed to London for London Design Festival 2022, and it was was our first time covering this international design event! Marking the festival’s 20th anniversary, the 2022 edition ran from 17-25 September and featured a programme of more than 300 events across 12 design districts, including exhibitions, talks, workshops and open studios.
View our live coverage here and read on for highlights from &Tradition, HAY and more.
&Tradition.
&Tradition launched their September 2022 collection with an exhibition in their beautiful London showroom overlooking St James's Park. The key novelty is X, a lounge chair by Hvidt & Mølgaard, a Copenhagen-based architecture and design firm established in 1944, which is now in production for the first time since 1958. This new release was introduced with an engaging design talk between Wallpaper* Design Editor Rosa Bertoli, &Tradition Head of Design Els Van Hoorebeeck and Malene Hvidt and Kasper Molgaard.
X Lounge Chair
by Hvidt & Mølgaard
After experimenting for years with the concept of a laminated wooden frame inspired by old wooden tennis rackets, Danish design duo Hvidt & Mølgaard released X in 1959, a lounge chair with a distinctive sloping silhouette and understated aesthetic.
Inland Sofa
by Anderssen & Voll
Torbjørn Anderssen and Espen Voll wanted to design a sofa that would provide the utmost comfort within a clearly defined architectural framework. With this vision in mind, they designed Inland, a low-form, deep sofa with high arms and a warm black steel-footed base that gives it the sense of floating.
Alima Trolley
by Note Design Studio
Inspired by the 'creative chaos' of working from home, Note Design Studio decided to create a storage unit that would house their collection of books, magazines, drawings and objects. The result was a sleek trolley with a distinctive V-shaped design built into its surface that allows stacked books to be easily stored and displayed.
Colette Lamp
by &Tradition
Named after the famed and pioneering French author known simply as 'Colette', &Tradition's new table lamp has an avant-garde aesthetic. Showcasing a tactile shade and base fully encased in a crisp, off-white cotton-linen blend, this dimmable lamp is elegant, fresh and playful.
Rotate
by Space Copenhagen
Rotate's unassuming appearance belies its highly functional design. Designed to suit a wide variety of purposes - from an office trolley, to a bedside table or bathroom storage unit - this asymmetrical piece can be inserted into any space. To ensure maximum adaptability, it sits on discreet wheels to facilitate quick and simple maneuverability from one location to the next.
Tung Table
by John Astbury
Contemporary British designer John Astbury wanted to create a side tableendowed with a sense of monolithic strength. The result was Tung, a compact piece supported by three curved legs that allude to the architectural presence of ancient pillars.
Herman Table Lamp
by Signe Hytte
Named after Herman Bang, the Herman lamp is a tribute to the notable Danish author's enduring artistic legacy and the way in which he led his life. Regarded as a trailblazer who shone a light on dimly lit issues society chose to ignore, Bang became a key figure in the Modern Breakthrough. Much like his stories, the Herman lamp offers a small beacon of light that has a literary quality to it.
HAY.
The HAY London showroom was refreshed to include the latest launches and previews of upcoming collections, including collaborations with Laila Gohar, Muller Van Severen and Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, among others. HAY also celebrated its 20th anniversary with a party and Q&A with New Order designer Stefan Diez.
Sobremesa Collection
by Laila Gohar x HAY
New York-based conceptual artist and chef Laila Gohar uses food as a means of telling stories. Together with HAY, she has designed a collection of tableware and kitchen accessories that celebrates the joy of hosting – from sourcing ingredients, to cooking, setting the table, and finally sitting down and enjoying the people around the table. The collection is called 'Sobremesa', which is the Spanish tradition of 'relaxing and enjoying idle moments and each other's company at the end of the meal'. Available from early 2023 in Australia.
HAY Furniture News
Launching Summer 2023 in Australia (L-R): Passerelle Table and Pier Shelving by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Pastis Collection by Julien Renault, Colour Cabinet by Muller Van Severen, and Result Armchair by Ahrend.
HAY Lighting News
Statement table lamps for all environments, including (L-R): Parade Lamp, Common Lamp, Apollo Table by Studio 0405, Anagram by Sam Weller, Paper Cube by Bertjan Pot, and LBM Table Light.
Trends & Inspiration.
In addition to visiting our brand partners, we also made time to explore the countless creative installations, gallery exhibitions and showrooms throughout the week. Here is a round up of our highlights.
Swivel by Sabine Marcelis brought colour and interactivity to St Giles Square, a vibrant public space beside Tottenham Court Road.
L-R: The House by MAH, Beton Brut at Paul Smith, 'Of Nature' by Wilkinson & Rivera at the SCP showroom, Kvadrat installation launching new knitted upholstery textile Arda by Front.
Viaduct presented '10 Years of Muller Van Severen' with an exhibition of their furniture and lighting, including the HAY Arcs Vase and Colour Cabinet.
L-R: Max Clendinning Interior Eulogies at Sadie Coles HQ, Alex Eagle showroom, Vitsoe showroom.
Haptic Nature by Voukenas Petrides and Steven Petrides at Gallery Fumi. The exhibition includes light sculptures shaped like tree trunks and anthropomorphic totems, a bench, chandelier, table, mirror, chairs and small sculptures in polished bronze, plaster and textured cast aluminium.
L-R: Cafe Cecilia, Material Matters - a new design fair based on the critically acclaimed podcast of the same name.
Jan Hendzel Studio reimagines two suites in the Town Hall Hotel in Bethnal Green.The London-based furniture manufacturer showcased an array of functional pieces of furniture throughout the suites, which are designed to look like art galleries.
New HAY Balcony range on show at the Twentytwentyone showroom in Islington.
For London Design Festival 2022, The Conran Shop partnered with It’s Nice That to present Meet Me in the Metaverse. An immersive installation taking over the brand's Chelsea location which saw the digital and physical collide in a playful exploration of design’s role in this intriguing new world.
The Victoria & Albert Museum held a host of exhibitions during LDF22 including a nine-day glass blowing display by Omer Arbel Studio, 'From the Forest' showcasing design projects that engage with questions around environmental stewardship and the sustainable use of wood, and 'Plasticity' - a monumental 3.6-metre-high sculpture created by Italian architect Niccolo Casas, exploring the possibility of turning a harmful waste material into something new.
'Paper' is the inaugural furniture collection of London-based designer David Horan, exclusive to Béton Brut gallery. Informed by decoupage and the Japanese Mingei movement, Horan layers handmade paper over a series of original architectonic forms – seating, a screen, coffee table – in a new applied ‘vegan vellum’.
INTO SIGHT is a life-sized media platform installation, where Sony Design plays on sensorial effects that transform simple boundary surfaces into an infinite vista through shifting light, colour and sound.
The New Craftsmen presented Claylarks - a new collection of unique pieces by a group of makers from a variety of practices.
Celebrating London Design Festival, Heal’s launched an exhibition that pays homage to the design icons over the past century, such as the CH24 Wishbone chair by Carl Hansen; Type 75 lamps (including Giant) by Anglepoise; and Egg chair by Fritz Hansen.