From the V&A Museum we headed to the nearby Brompton Design District. The Brompton Design District is a collaboration between leading design shops, exhibition spaces and institutions on and around the Brompton Road, London. Together with the major institutions of the V&A and the Royal College of Art & Design, the area has long been known for its contribution to art, design and education.
First stop: Andrew Martin
Interior design company Andrew Martin specializes in creating and supplying travel-inspired fabrics, wallpapers and designs using ideas sourced from cultures around the world.
Its ideology is to surprise, stimulate and entertain; its aim, to bring its multilayered, multicultural, easy living style to everybody who likes it.
A trip to the Walton Street showroom in London has been described as “like stepping in
to Aladdin’s Cave, with an almost bonkers mix of beautiful and enormous objects that
shouldn’t go together, yet somehow do.”
The whole showroom seemed never-ending and the fabrics and wallpapers were most incredible. The staff was also super friendly and very knowledgeable. My favorite part was a fun little interactive art installation called Dandelion. It was created by YOKE, an interactive design company from Denmark, in collaboration with London-based design agency Sennep and was part of the exhibition Decode: Digital Design Sensations at the V&A in 2009. I made a Vine but the sound is horrible so I’ve decided to share this video by Sennep.
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/10904524]
2nd Stop: de Le Cuona
After Andrew Martin we marched over to de Le Cuona to get an unveiling of the new fabrics by owner and creator Bernie de Le Cuona.
Hailing originally from South Africa, Bernie’s textile collections pair understated English elegance with sub Saharan accents. de Le Cuona works with European craftsmen to create exquisitely understated woven linens with beautiful textural finishes, soft wool paisleys , liquid velvets, and cashmere sheers.
de Le Cuona is available worldwide via showrooms in London, New York and Moscow as well as online.
Fellow Blogtour companion and designer/blogger extraordinaire, Marilyn Russell, wrote a beautiful post on Bernie de Le Cuona back in May. It’s definitely worth a peek. {Read it Here}
3rd Stop: 100% Design
Continuing on we next stopped at 100% Design held at Earls Court Exhibition Centre in West London.
100% Design is still one of the largest and most comprehensive design destinations open during London Design Festival. This year the show focused on four industry sectors, each arranged around a central “hub” by different designers: Interiors by Talenthouse; Office by TILT; Kitchen & Bath by Aberrant Architecture; Eco Design & Build by Material Lab
At the center of the Kitchen and Bath hub, U.K. design studio Mette, in sponsorship with Gaggenau, set up the show’s restaurant and an inspiring Farm Kitchen exhibit which explored the integration of micro-agriculture within the kitchen experience. For the exhibit, Mette brought together a variety of designers and manufacturers, including Bulbo, Back to the Roots, Flip and Tumble, Modern Sprout, ConcreteWall and Auxano,
I wandered the kitchen and bath hub – happy to be in my element – exploring products from Dornbracht, Porcelanosa, Corian, Interior iD, Amberth, deVOL, Pando and Rotpunkt. Brass was definitely trending in the kitchen displays and as expected the bathroom displays were very streamlined and minimal. After my feet and shoulders gave out, I joined my BlogTour in the Bloggers Lounge for a beer.
4th Stop: Casa Brindisa
A short cab ride later we came to our final destination – dinner at Casa Brindisa. Casa Brindisa is a stylish Spanish Tapas restaurant located in South Kensington. This seemingly never-ending tapas dinner (I think we had 7 courses) was hosted by BlogTour sponsor Du Verre Hardware. I really enjoyed having co-founder Gina Lubin at my table and getting the opportunity to talk with her. I also have to note that the Rise pull made a really cute napkin ring.
We rolled ourselves into cabs at the conclusion of dinner and headed back to the citizenM Hotel where many of us gathered in the bar to discuss the events of the day. It was a long but fabulous day. Keep checking back for my next post on day 3.