Amelia’s Magazine | Review: Designs of the Year 2012 at the Design Museum

Design Museum designs of year 2012 -Vivienne Westwood
Vivienne Westwood ethically produced bags.

The Design Museum‘s flagship exhibition, Designs of the Year, has returned for 2012. I went along to the preview to check out the experts’ choice of the best from multiple design disciplines; including fashion, architecture, product design, digital and graphics. Here’s my pick:

Design Museum designs of year 2012  noma bar
Design Museum designs of year 2012  noma bar
Outline Editions have brought along designer Noma Bar and his Cut It Out dog machine, which is able to cut through all sorts of materials. His artwork is inspired by negative space – he gleefully told me how he has taken to trawling charity shops for interesting things that the dog can chomp through. As well as the wonderful simplicity of his bold imagery I am particularly attracted to the upcycling side of this clever project.

Design Museum designs of year 2012 -Photolettering
Photolettering by House Industries allows users to create usable type from vintage American fonts. As something of a font fiend I love this idea!

Design Museum designs of year 2012 -GF Smith
GF Smith create beautiful papers (they were used in the first two issues of Amelia’s Magazine in print) and their colourful display was inspired by the microscopic detail of paper fibres. Designed by SEA Design with Field.

Design Museum designs of year 2012 -De Designpolitie
Using bold yellow with red and black typography, De Designpolitie of the Netherlands have created a brand identity for the two day What Design Can Do! conference in May 2012. I love that they are not afraid of making a statement!

Design Museum designs of year 2012 -National Maritime Museum
The National Maritime Museum‘s High Arctic display to highlight the fragility of the environment was represented with a tiny model. This immersive gallery installation must have been quite mesmerising in situ.

Design Museum designs of year 2012 -Mary Katrantzou
Representing the very best of British fashion was an outfit from Mary Katrantzou‘s seminal A/W 2011 collection: great to see the digital detailing and remarkable cutting up close.

Design Museum designs of year 2012 -Suno
Suno of New York was a new ethical fashion discovery: they work locally with artisans to create highly desirable collections – the first one used vintage Kenyan textiles but more recently they were inspired by the subtle colours and abstract designs of Art Deco illustrator George Lepape.

Design Museum designs of year 2012 -Vivienne Westwood
And then there’s Vivienne Westwood grinning gleefully from beneath her bird’s nest hair. Her Ethical Fashion Africa collection is created out of scrap materials by marginalised women in Nairobi. The outcome? Typically colourful designs with outrageous slogans embroidered out of Masai beads.

Design Museum designs of year 2012 -Bethan Laura Wood
I was most intrigued by Bethan Laura Wood‘s incredible Moon Rock table, made using colourful kitchen laminates. Her Totem lighting was also on display. Miranda Williams previously spotted Bethan‘s beautiful work at London Design Week, for this talented lady also makes jewellery.

Design Museum designs of year 2012 -Thixotropes by Troika
Thixotropes by Troika are huge spinning LED sculptures that combine art and science. Hypnotic!

Design Museum designs of year 2012 -Studio Bertjan Pot
Heracleum is a hanging light by Studio Bertjan Pot – designed to imitate the branching form of a plant.

Design Museum designs of year 2012 -The Comedy Carpet
The Comedy Carpet in Blackpool is a huge 2,200 sq metre granite installation designed by Gordon Young with Why Not Associates. It features jokes and catchphrases in glorious decorative fonts of all sizes. I am very impressed that such a thing was commissioned!

Design Museum designs of year 2012 -Hovding Invisible Cycle Helmet
Design Museum designs of year 2012 -Hovding Invisible Cycle Helmet
The Hovding Invisible Cycle Helmet is designed for stick in the muds such as me who refuse to wear a bike helmet. It contains an airbag that sits around the neck and is only activated should an accident occur.

Design Museum designs of year 2012 -Orb-It
The Orb-It is a small hand held rechargeable vacuum hoover by Black & Decker. It looks very cute, but I’d like to see it in action.

Design Museum designs of year 2012 -Kokoro & Moi
Stockmann packaging by Kokoro & Moi has a delightfully playful Finnish quality.

The panel of judges encompasses a diverse range of artistic talent, which explains the chaotically eclectic nature of this exhibition. Despite some arbitrary choices (I mean, there’s so much good design out there, where do you start?!) Designs of the Year offers a great chance to discover some exciting new design from a wide range of fields. My one wish would be that more designers begin to incorporate sustainable practice into their work: one of the wall infographics depressingly stated that only 19% of projects on show have been designed to be sustainable. It will take more than that to sort out this mess we are in.

Find out more information at the Designs of the Year 2012 website.

Categories ,2012, ,Bethan Laura Wood, ,Black & Decker, ,Blackpool, ,Cut It Out, ,De Designpolitie, ,Design Museum, ,Designs of the Year, ,digital, ,Ethical Fashion, ,Ethical Fashion Africa, ,fashion, ,Field, ,Fonts, ,Furniture, ,George Lepape, ,GF Smith, ,Gordon Young, ,Granite, ,Graphics, ,Heracleum, ,High Arctic, ,House Industries, ,Hovding Invisible Cycle Helmet, ,Laminates, ,Lighting, ,Mary Katrantzou, ,Moon Rock, ,National Maritime Museum, ,Noma Bar, ,Orb-It, ,Outline Editions, ,Photolettering, ,Print Design, ,Product Design, ,review, ,SEA Design, ,Stockmann, ,Studio Bertjan Pot, ,Suno, ,The Comedy Carpet, ,Thixotropes, ,Totem, ,Troika, ,typography, ,What Design Can Do!, ,Why Not Associates

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Amelia’s Magazine | Louise Wilkinson Illustrations and Ceramics: an interview with the designer

Louise Wilkinson ceramics- Lemon Tree dinner plate lifestyle

I first encountered Louise Wilkinson’s inimitable ceramics designs at Tent London last September, and instantly fell in love. The likes of Liberty discovered her beautiful bone china early on, and she has more recently created bespoke illustrations for panelling in the shop at the V&A. I caught up with her to find out more about her career to date, where her inspiration comes from and how she set about putting her illustrations onto china.

Louise Wilkinson ceramics- jug lifestyle

I absolutely adore your debut Maple Collection, inspired by English gardens, Oriental china and a love of nature. How did you construct the designs and how long did the process take to apply them to so many different shapes?
I like to draw a few pencil sketches first on scraps of paper and then at a later stage I draw my artworks on the computer with a pen. I love to create intricate artworks with witty details, often with a narrative. The designs are then screen printed and hand decorated in Stoke on Trent. It took many months to consider the shapes and designs together and then to fit the artworks correctly.

How do you pick the colour ways for your designs?
For my Maple Collection, I chose to have navy blue as the main colour with bold, playful, pops of colours for highlights. I often kept to two colours per design, for instance I liked the combination of a citrus yellow accent with navy blue or a coral red with navy blue.

Louise Wilkinson ceramics-Trees plate

What was the best bit about growing up in Yorkshire?
I loved growing up in the counrtyside, being able to spend a lot of time outside. We lived opposite a large field with lots of trees, me and my sister would often play and run around! I have lived in London over 10 years now, so it is nice to have the balance of London life and also visiting my family up north!

Louise Wilkinson Logo peacocks

You have already led a varied design career, studying illustration before moving into print and textiles for fashion. It sounds like the ideal career I never had! What was the highlight of those first years out of college?
I had always wanted to study Illustration so I took an Illustration degree at University. It was great to learn about the different aspects of image making, and after graduating my first job was working as an illustrator designing the prints, patterns and characters for children’s clothes, drawing everything by hand. I moved to London and worked in the fashion industry as a print and textiles designer, whilst also working on freelance book and magazine illustrations. I learnt a lot about working in different styles, techniques and applications to fabrics. It was great to get to know more about the commercial world and seasonal trends. Kids clothing is a fun area to work in!

Louise Wilkinson ceramics-Apple Tree dinner plate lifestyle

Why did you decide to create your own range and how did you effect that move?
I have been an illustrator and print and pattern designer for over a decade but I had always wanted to create my own artworks – to have a little more creative freedom and work for myself, creating timeless, playful and beautiful pieces. I launched my first collection in Liberty after attending the Best of British open day and it went from there!

Like me you are an avid fan of the illustrations found in children’s books, an aesthetic which I think comes through in your designs. Any favourites that you keep returning to?
Yes I do love children’s book illustrations, I always admired the painted collage technique used in the classic tale of The Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, which is a classic. I also love Alain Gree’s cute illustrations and Russian fairy tales. I’m influenced by the traditional decorative arts, nature, exotic dreamlike places and often by different exhibitions I may visit in London. I love art and illustration, including Japanese and Chinese paintings, Matisse, Henri Rousseau, George Lepape….

Louise Wilkinson ceramics-Trees jug

What are your favourite pieces of homeware to design and why, and what is the hardest thing to design?
I love designing all the pieces, especially the plates and the cups and saucers. I like the flat surface area on a plate, which is like a blank canvas for artwork… and I like the little details you can add to cups and saucers. I’d say teapots can be harder to design for, as they are slightly more spherical.

What could we expect to find if we visited your work studio, can you describe it for us?
I am based in South East London where I have a large wooden desk with a Mac monitor and a pen tablet – it’s nice to have lots of surface area. There are lots of things around such as notebooks and pencil sketches, china samples, boxes, packing tape, bubble wrap, brochures, postcards! I have a lot of research in draws and on the walls. I also have lots of magazines and art books because I love looking in books for research rather than always using the internet. Oh and there is always a cup of tea on my desk, I drink too much!

Louise Wilkinson ceramics-Teacups

Why is it important for you to maintain strong relationships with UK suppliers?
I think its great to manufacture as much in the UK wherever possible to support the industry, and it is nice to meet the lovely team in Stoke on Trent who I work with.

When can we expect a new collection from you, and can you share any hints as to what that will be?
I will be selling my exclusive artworks which were created especially for my recent collaboration on the Christmas shop installation at the V&A. I’m also exhibiting at the Modern Show in Dulwich on March 16th 2014. I love this Mid Century design show, which it is local to where I live. I will also be exhibiting at Tent London again, during London Design Week in September.

Louise Wilkinson ceramics-Coral red plates

Do you have any plans to expand into other areas of design and if so what?
I love creating artworks and illustration and this can be applied to many different surface areas. So hopefully new things soon, I have lots of ideas.

Finally, do you have any exciting plans for 2014 – in either business or life – that you can share with us?
Hopefully a few nice trips away, perhaps to Copenhagen or Finland. I may also be getting married this year, which is exciting!

Categories ,Alain Gree, ,Best of British, ,Bone China, ,Ceramic design, ,ceramics, ,Chinese, ,Designer Maker, ,Dulwich, ,Eric Carle, ,George Lepape, ,Henri Rousseau, ,interview, ,japanese, ,liberty, ,London Design Week, ,Louise Wilkinson, ,Maple Collection, ,matisse, ,Mid Century, ,Modern Show, ,Russian, ,Stoke-on-Trent, ,Tent London, ,The Hungry Caterpillar, ,va

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Amelia’s Magazine | Drawing Fashion at the Design Museum

Gareth David Ackland lives and writes in a vibrating triskadekahedron called London. When not writing, here he makes paintings about guilt, colonialism, biodiversity loss, vanity, terrorism, evolution, consciousness and doom, which you can see on the website named below. He also eats fine cheese and entertains the severely autistic with a guitar and a kazoo.

Go and have a look at www.gackland.com

Gareth David Ackland lives and writes in a vibrating triskadekahedron called London. When not writing, pharm he makes paintings about guilt, recipe colonialism, more about biodiversity loss, vanity, terrorism, evolution, consciousness and doom, which you can see on the website named below. He also eats fine cheese and entertains the severely autistic with a guitar and a kazoo.

Go and have a look at www.gackland.com

Gareth David Ackland lives and writes in a vibrating triskadekahedron called London. When not writing, seek he makes paintings about guilt, pilule colonialism, biodiversity loss, vanity, terrorism, evolution, consciousness and doom, which you can see on the website named below. He also eats fine cheese and entertains the severely autistic with a guitar and a kazoo.

Go and have a look at www.gackland.com

Illustration by Daria Hlazatova

Fashion illustration. You may have noticed we get pretty excited about the genre, pharm particularly with Amelia’s new book on the way. Drawing Fashion at the Design Museum has been hotly anticipated and it doesn’t let down. Put together by Joelle Chariau of Galerie Bartsch & Chariau over 30 years, and the show covers fashion illustration from the early 20th century forward. The present installment at the Design Museum is the first time the collection has been shown together.

The quick overview: the show captures the power of illustration to reflect not only the fashion but also the tone of the times, in a way unique to other media forms such as photography. It proves that although photography has become the predominant media from the 1930s, illustration still holds a valid and special place in fashion.


George Lepape

The longer version: split into five eras, the exhibit focuses the viewer to the changing role of fashion illustration and its connection to the culture it is a part of. The first, From Gold to Silver 1910-29, captures the optimism and new worldviews of the early 20th century with bold use of colours, a new vibrancy and a focus on lifestyle in the illustrations. The single figures of Erté, the Vogue and La Gazette du Bon Ton George Lepape covers bring out the new silhoette of the 1920s. Stylised illustrations celebrate the lifestyles that few could afford, but which encapsulate post war enthusiasm. The highlight here: George Lepape’s Chapeaux D’Hiver for Le Bon Ton in pen, ink and watercolour, showing both the original and use in editorial.

Moving forward to 1930-46, the tone of Time & Decay reflects the changing times: the depression, the movement of focus from Paris to America during the war years, the popularity of the cinema and a focus on leisure and sportswear in fashion. This more casual tone is brought through the illustration, with looser strokes, more muted colours and more introspective compositions. This section highlights the talent of Bernard Blossac and René Bouché.


René Gruau

Enthusiasm returns in New Rhythms, New Rules 1947-59, introducing Dior‘s ‘New Look‘ in 1947. The illustrations of Réne Gruau perfectly capture the ‘exagerated elegance’ of Dior’s bold new style. His bold use of colour and line, with a predominance of red, white, back and orchre shine through this section of the exhibit. The timelessness of the illustrations is highlighted by a Vogue Paris cover illustration, first published in the 1950s, republished for the Juin/Juillet 1985 edition, that would look equally contemporary today. Another highlight is a single pink glove, showing a movement from full figure to individual detail and objects of the body.


Antonio Lopez

The true star of the show is Antonio (Lopez), the sole focus of Liberty & Licence, taking the viewer through 1960-89. Anotonio’s bold graphics in pencil and watercolour celebrate the dynamic feminism of the 1970s and especially the 1980s. This is power illustration to the max, matching the era’s power dressing with big shoulders, tight waists and attitudes to match. Hitting the mood of each decade, Antonio’s style adapts through the 1960s-80s, with a focus on form and art.


François Berthoud

The exhibit concludes with The Tradition Continues 1990-2010 and Fashion Drawing for the Future. The illustrations chosen in this section react against ‘the cult of the individual’ and big budget commerciality of fashion and advertising. Matts Gustafson and François Berthoud show new paths forward in terms of form and technique. Berthoud’s Allure de Chanel for Rebel, France (enamel on paper) reduces the figure to positive and negative forms.


Mats Gustafson

Overall, illustrations are more moody and suggestive and are often simplified to form, colour and movement. An Aurore de la Morinere for Christian Lacroix published in Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazine loses the form of figure and clothes to a shimmer of colours, becoming etherial and fantasy rather than any depiction of the body. A dark illustration for Alexander McQueen with the figure walking away from the viewer and displayed alone poignently reminds of the loss of this fashion great.

There is currently a resurgence of interest in fashion illustration and Drawing Fashion celebrates this. With any retrospective, it’s difficult to cover everything and there are a few illustrators missing – notably David Downton who we interviewed recently. The exhibition, however, demonstrates illustration’s power to take the viewer beyond the simple display of clothes and connecting what we wear with the mood, ideologies and changing tides of the 20th century.

Get all the information you need, including the line up of talks associated with the exhibition, in our listings section.

Categories ,20th Century, ,Alexander McQueen, ,Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration, ,America, ,Antonio Lopez, ,Bernard Blossac, ,chanel, ,Christian Lacroix, ,Daria Hlazatova, ,David Downton, ,Design Museum, ,Dior, ,Drawing Fashion, ,Erté, ,fashion, ,François Berthoud, ,Galerie Bartsch & Chariau, ,George Lepape, ,illustration, ,Joelle Chariau, ,La Gazette du Bon Ton, ,Mats Gustafson, ,New Look, ,paris, ,René Bouché, ,vogue, ,Vogue Paris

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