Here we are in Mayfair, not far from Bond Street, where we might be in a top store which in the 19th century would have been selling high quality ceramic vases from China, or from one of the renowned European porcelain houses such as Meissen, or from one of the best potteries in Stoke-on-Trent, to […]
How can designers respond to the new 21st century social and environmental issues? The recent exhibition from students across the different design courses at Central Saint Martin’s in the Lethaby Gallery at King’s Cross showed a selection of student projects responding to issues as wide ranging as improving urban communities, supporting local communities, creating fashion […]
King’s Cross continues to demonstrate what the best design-focused urban regeneration can achieve. With The Granary housing Central Saint Martin’s at its heart, expansive and interesting public spaces and a blend of new buildings by the best architects alongside refurbishments such as Thomas Heatherwick’s Coal Drops Yards, King’s Cross has set a standard which others […]
So, you have commissioned a well-known artist like Pablo Picasso or Andy Warhol to do your portrait. A bold decision – are you sure that you will like the result? Lady Churchill famously destroyed a portrait of her husband by Graham Sutherland because she couldn’t stand it. In this era of selfies and digital cameras, […]
What will be the toys of the future? Children just love playing with building blocks, being able to create new forms and structures from a range of shapes, hence the success of LEGO. Many children, who may be future architects or engineers, will try to pile them up into towers that challenge gravity until […]
Tom Dixon, (born in 1959), who was the Creative Designer of Habitat in the late 1990′s, has not only has just been awarded the London Design Medal, but he has contributed to make King’s Cross the creative and design district that it is today with his expansive presence in the arches of Coal Drops Yards, […]
Well done to J P Hackett and its contractors for what should win an award as the most imaginative building hoardings in London this year. Amusing, lively, bringing life to the street, this is what hoardings should be about, plus great advertising for the company. J P Hackett have set the bar for other companies […]
Two of the most moving of the works in ‘Materia’ are Girjesh Kumar Singh’s architectural sculptures made of bricks and mortar saved from homes destroyed in conflicts in his hometown of Uttar, Pradesh, reminding us both of the suffering and destruction which sadly still goes on in many parts of the world, but also that, […]
Beware if Jasmine Thomas-Girvan (born 1961) ever asks you home for dinner. You might be in for a surprise. Here in Mayfair, the dining room table is awash of all sorts of sinister things. The crockery and the silverware are traditional, the sort of thing you would have found in elegant houses in Mayfair a […]
You think a little of Rodin’s famous bronze sculpture ‘The Burghers of Calais’, with the six dignified Burghers with their expressive faces showing different emotions, having rough rope nooses around their necks coming out to meet the English on the surrender of the city in 1346. Rope is also a feature of Laurence Edwards’ bronze […]
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