A Christmas thank you from Relay

2011 has disappeared as if a mere blink of an eye. It started with Ӧrsjӧ supplying all of the bedroom lighting for the new Radisson Blu Stockholm Waterfront (interiors by RPW Design) and Zeitraum winning not one but two Interior Innovation Awards at IMM Cologne.   

During the year we provided Rvw Mollis chairs and Zeitraum Morph Bar stools to Virgin Atlantic Lounge at Heathrow Terminal 3 (interior design by Glock, supplied by SCP Contracts), Zeitraum collaborated with new illustration paper Wrap for Show 2 at Viaduct, Ӧrsjӧ exhibited at Clerkenwell Design Week for the first time (but not the last!), we started our collaboration with Mitab by delivering Lobby sofas to the new Westfield shopping city at Stratford (thanks to Conran Contracts) and ended the year working with Edge Architecture and Design and Viaduct to deliver Morph Bar stools to the 5th Floor cafe at Harvey Nichols. 

You can now also find us on Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook. Don't forget to follow and "Like" us for instant updates on new product launches and project installations.

Phew! We're off to put our feet up before it starts all over again in January. 

To everyone that has supported us this year, we say a huge thank you. Have yourself a merry little Christmas and we look forward to seeing you all in 2012.

London Design Festival 2011 - Our Highlights, Part 1

The fact the London Design Festival lasts 9 days is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it gives you more time to get around all the events you want to see. A curse because the longer the festival lasts, the more events are added to the program. In all there were over 300 events across London, and only the most intrepid (or those with a teleporter) were ever going to get to all of them. The lesson we learned from last year's LDF and tried to employ this year was prioritise, prioritise, prioritise. 

There was a greater sense of cohesion amongst the new "design districts" this year. It felt more co-ordinated so events within a district happened at similar times so you didn't feel obliged to dart back and forth across town. Tuesday saw the launch parties in the Shoreditch Triangle and Clerkenwell showrooms, Wednesday Fitzrovia, Thursday was Brompton and so on. Better for the feet this way.
Our main focus was of course Shoreditch and Tramshed. SCP and Michael Marriott installed a 7 metre tall orange plastic totem on Curtain Road, for the benefit of those people who still did not know where their store was. Inside, the store had been turned into a Design Department Store with everything from erasers to sofas.

Just around the corner, the online design bible Dezeen took up temporary residence on Rivington Street with Dezeenspace. A pop-up shop with a 1m x 1m gallery platform for young designers to showcase their wares, with a new designer a day. (Dezeenspace is still in residence until 16th October, so you still have time to catch it)
Moving north, Twentytwentyone had two events in their two premises. The newly expanded shop on Upper Street (literally, a hole was punched through the wall to the former cafe next door just days before) was the focus for a re-launch of Robin Day's 1952 lounge chair. Meanwhile their River St. showroom hosted a show entirely in marble from Italian company Marsotto. We have our eye on the Tilt table by Thomas Sandell.   

Heading ever so slightly west, next stop was Viaduct, who debuted Show 3, focusing on new and exciting forms of lighting. Ӧrsjӧ were well represented with both Baklava and Lean included in the show.

Designjunction was the cool new kid on the block. After a successful debut in Milan this year, Designjunction itched up in London and took over the sprawling basement of Victoria House. Presenting collections from UK and European brands, there were also exhibitors from Australia and New Zealand, like new company Resident and a shop focusing on smaller items with a British connection, curated by Scene. We particularly liked new British company Another Country's second collection.  

An absolute highlight of this year's festival was Hemma, an exhibition of contemporary Swedish design for the home at the Swedish Ambassador's residence. Ambassador Nicola Claes opened the doors to her stunning Adams designed home, packed the furniture into storage and gave the space to new and established designers and manufacturers from Frederik Farg to Orrefors, Anna Kraitz to Front. The first image at the top of this post shows Mia Cullin acoustic screens with Svenskt Tenn lighting in the entrance hall. Below is some beautiful glass from Simon Klenell.

This would probably be a good place to pause and put your feet up. We'll be back with the west London action in a separate post. You can see more images in our Facebook album.

Mitab and Ӧrsjӧ at Tramshed 2011

The 2011 London Design Festival is fast approaching and is bigger than ever. Back for its 9th year, design districts are springing up all over London and there is so much to do that unless you have a tardis or a will of steel you won't make it to everything. Our advice is to pick up a copy of the yellow ICON Design Trail distributed across the city to make best use of your time.

Having said that, can we recommend you make some time to visit the Tramshed in Shoreditch, where Mitab and Ӧrsjӧ have joined forces to present some of the hottest names in Swedish design. Furniture by Form Us With Love, Swedish Ninja and Jonas Wagell will sit alongside lighting by Claesson Koivisto Rune and Matti Klenell.

Form Us With Love have quickly established themselves as a force to be reckoned with on the Swedish design scene and look set to emulate the international success of Claesson Koivisto Rune. Matti Klenell is the master of quiet craftsmanship, preferring to let his work do the talking, while Jonas Wagell and Swedish Ninja bring a certain sense of joy and fun to their work.

The Tramshed debuted at last years LDF and has already become a "must see" show. New collections by Søren Rose and Benjamin Hubert for de la Espada, the ever-fresh Ercol and new British design from the likes of Plant & Moss and Reeves Design will all be complimented by a seminar series conducted by Sam Grawe, who until recently was Editor-In-Chief at American style bible, Dwell.

Our hotlist for the rest of the Festival includes the CKR retrospective at Skandium, Hemma at the Swedish Ambassador's Residence, Noma Bar's "Cut It Out" at Outline Editions, John Pawson with Swarovski in the stunning St. Paul's Cathedral, Viaduct's Show 3 and if all else fails, make sure you give yourself a couple of hours at the V&A. Acting as the festival hub, the V&A will play host to a myriad installations, displays, talks and workshops. The perfect one stop shop if you're pressed for time during LDF.

For more details on the events happening across London check out the LDF website and Twitter feed. If you are a Twitterer, use the hashtag #ldf11 to search for posts and promote your event. We'll be tweeting as we go - you can follow us HERE.

See you at the Tramshed!

SHOW 2: Zeitraum / Wrap at Viaduct

Viaduct are regarded as one of the UK's leading exponents of the best in contemporary furniture and lighting. In September 2010 they launched their dedicated exhibition space and we are delighted to work with them on SHOW 2.

A collaboration between Zeitraum and the new illustration magazine Wrap, SHOW 2 will feature key pieces from the Zeitraum collection, including the UK launch of Morph Lounge (fresh from IMM Cologne), Side Comfort Home and Bondt amongst others. It will be the first time many of these products are exhibited in the UK.


The exhibition runs from 2nd March until 2nd April

Viaduct
1 - 10 Summers Street
London
EC1R 5BD
020 7278 8456

Weekdays 09.30 - 18.00
Saturday 10.30 - 16.00


Keep checking the Viaduct blog for further news and updates.