It’s that time of year again and design explorers with their crumpled maps in hand are climbing stairs, tramping down long passages and exploring the amazing complexities of the Victoria & Albert Museum to find this year’s treasures in the 2018 London Design Festival.
Starting with a 3-dimensional maze designed in Exhibition Road by Waugh Thistleton Architects and constructed in plywood to engender discussion about housing in London, other treasures include Pentagram’s Dazzle based on First World War camouflage on ships (but this is inside out), Memory and Light – an immersive production of Arvo Part’s music by Arup, Henrik Vibskov’s Onion Farm in the dark Tapestry Galleries, Michael Anastassiades’ design for drinking fountains across London, Carolein Smits ceramic figures in ‘Death in Paradise’ and Amy Jayne Hughes interpretation of historic vases and covers. The variety is, as usual, breath-taking, with video and music adding to the adventure,
Also on display are the finalists in British Land’s Celebration of Design and design work by Year 3/4 primary schoolchildren in 3 schools working with 3 artists. Catch them young – these could be the future design entrepreneurs that this country will need post-Brexit, despite the Government’s lack of support for the design industries, or finance or ……
Lastly is a vision of the future when all those retail warehouses embrace new technology and 3D printing and therefore will become redundant. You can have any ironmongery you want, freshly made on the spot.
