London Design Festival is a great time to visit the city as the number of design shows, workshops, pop up shops are phenomenal and this year was no exception.
After visiting 100% Design, Tent London, Design Junction, Designers Block, the Conran Shop, and of course the Design Festival at the V&A, three very clear trends emerged from the shows.
The first was obvious as London had turned red! The launch of the Louis Vuitton and Kusama collection was celebrated by the facade of Selfridges being bathed in red hot light and the shop floor being covered in huge red spots. A lot of people were wearing red jeans too…
The Conran Shop who were launching a beautifully pared down and updated Soda Stream (the perfect Christmas present) designed by Yves Behar decided to show a collection of design classics – all chosen in red which when set against their trade mark blue walls looked stunning. It was interesting looking at chair designs spanning the twentieth and twenty first centuries all being shown in the same colour as it forced you to consider the form of the chair more than you may have done had they been shown in their original colours.
I suspect red is a micro trend derived from ‘London 2012′ and all things red, white and blue as the colour trend predictors tell us that green is the predominant colour for 2013. However, it was certainly an ingenious and arresting colour to use in the exhibitions as the excitement around the shows was palpable.
The other two trends (more subtle) I shall put in my next post – this is just a quick post to celebrate all things red.
Back soon with the next post.
So vibrant, great stuff!
Thanks Conor, yep, London is pulsating with colour right now. Thanks for your comment, appreciated.
Great photos as ever! We’ve moved over to http://weareconran.com, if you didn’t see, by the way.
Thanks Sam, that’s kind. London is looking good isnt it!
Yep, I spotted your new blog, very nice, clean looking and full of goodies. Absolutely love the green bottles project, brilliant.
I look forward to what seems to be fire engine red up in Edinburgh. We need something to brighten our low gloom… I guess those red jeans I’ve been ogling are my next purchase! Great images, as always
Thanks Kellie! And yes, a touch of hot red up here would definitely help – what is wrong with our weather these days, its positively gruesome. I’m off to St.A to check out the storm damage tomorrow (that’s if the bridge is open!)
I just love London! It’s been too long since I’ve been. I remember the last red trend here was back when I lived in San Jose, CA during the tech boom when the economy was really hot. I seems like a confident color you see during good times(at least that’s what they said back in the 90′s when it was huge) Hopefully we’ll see that confidence again!
Hi Marie, I love London too and always feel so pumped up after visiting it. Yes, I agree totally, it is such a bold and confident statement, just what we need to instil some good vibes and confidence in the economy. Mind you, you are not lacking colour in San Francisco either!
Nice to hear from you Marie, thanks for your comment, spot on as usual!
This makes me want a visit to London, I haven’t been for a while. That red and blue combination looks fabulous, love it
Hi Sandra, its such an energetic city isnt it? I love it too and I enjoy going for a couple of days and then coming home to the space and fresh air up here – best of both worlds really. Yes, your artistic eye would have loved all the colours I saw at the Design Festival. I’m just going to nip over to your blog to see what you’ve been painting.
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