GF Smith – AmeliasMagazine

This year I went along to the Pick Me Up exhibition at Somerset House on a quiet weekday, giving me plenty of space to walk around the exhibits and chat to people along the way. In the Pick Me Up Selects area I was delighted to find many familiar names, including some recent graduates. Here’s a few of my favourites: there were many more so do check out this page.

This cheeky airplane is by Edward Cheverton, a recent graduate of the University of Brighton. He specialises in deceptively naive collages and mini sculptures.

Billy (otherwise known as Alex Godwin) divides her time between the UK and Germany, creating distinctive iconographic artwork with a playful edge.

Jack Hudson graduated from UWE a few years ago. I love the way he plays with scale in images such as Wibble Wobble, above.

Finnish designer Linda Linko mixes fine art with illustration and graphic design in large scale abstract artworks.

Moving upstairs, there were lots of exciting artworks to be discovered on the stands hosted by collectives and galleries. Works by Becky Liddiard caught my eye on two walls; firstly on this repurposed plate featuring a pair of horses, and then with her Mushroom Botanic risograph.

I first discovered Margaux Carpentier at Pick Me Up in 2011 and more recently I’ve been following her on instagram, where she posts pictures of her highly patterned animals. At the Animaux Circus sign painting stand I admired her work in progress, a war squaw for the Puck Collective shields project.

Other works that I loved included Doing the Dictator Dance, by Alec Doherty, who is currently showing in 80s Youth, an exhibition curated by Printer of Dreams.

Moving onto the next floor I discovered this gigantic artwork by Malarky at Beach London.

At the Unlimited stand a super sized gem print by Paul Farrell grabbed my attention.

Over at Outline Artists I was introduced to new works by Hvass & Hannibal – including this awesome jungle print.

Andreas Neophytou produced this intriguing abstract print on lovely paper in conjunction with GF Smith.

Isn’t this Roller Disco Girl awesome? Owner Camilla was kind enough to offer me a print of my choice, and I chose these Toucans, also by Jessica Das: she must be one of my favourite finds from this year’s Pick Me Up.

Over at the Handsome Frank stand I admired this lady riding a tiger, by the wonderful Lesley Barnes.

Skull, rainbows, clouds, stormy seas… papercuts by Helen Musselwhite are so damn clever.

I love to read Paul Thurlby’s Alphabet book with Snarfle. Paul Thurlby has an idiosyncratic ‘retro modern’ style that is brilliantly realised in this ace musical pussycat print.

On my way out I was introduced to the delights of bag making with Sally Walton of Carry-a-Bag – a business she set up in response to the vast amount of plastic bags that are only ever used once. Thanks to the involvement of Outline Artists visitors were invited to choose a fabric design from the newly relaunched Heal’s Fabrics collection. Like many others I chose the fabulous Peacock design by Malika Favre. Since it was the end of my visit and I was unable to wait for the bag to be made up they kindly offered to send it to me and it arrived promptly in the post a few days after. What a delightful surprise.

Written by Amelia Gregory on Wednesday May 7th, 2014 5:22 pm

Categories ,2014, ,80s Youth, ,Alec Doherty, ,Alex Godwin, ,Andreas Neophytou, ,Animaux Circus, ,Beach London, ,Becky Liddiard, ,Billy, ,Carry-a-Bag, ,Doing the Dictator Dance, ,Edward Cheverton, ,GF Smith, ,Graphic Art, ,Handsome Frank, ,Heals, ,Helen Musselwhite, ,Hvass & Hannibal, ,illustration, ,Jack Hudson, ,Jessica Das, ,Lesley Barnes, ,Linda Linko, ,Malarky, ,Malika Favre, ,Margaux Carpentier, ,Mushroom Botanic, ,Outline Artists, ,Paul Farrell, ,Paul Thurlby’s Alphabet, ,Peacock, ,Pick Me Up, ,Pick Me Up Selects, ,Printer of Dreams, ,Puck Collective, ,review, ,Roller Disco Girl, ,Sally Walton, ,Somerset House, ,Toucans, ,Unlimited, ,Wibble Wobble

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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

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

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.

Written by Amelia Gregory on Wednesday February 8th, 2012 8:04 pm

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

Amelia’s Magazine | Pick Me Up London 2014: graphic arts exhibition review

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

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