Clerkenwell Design Week 2012 – review

Clerkenwell Design Week took place last month (22-24 May). Illustration: Luke Fenech

The first flourishes of summer appeared in late May, just in time to give Clerkenwell a golden veneer for its annual design week, sponsored by Jaguar Cars. The area, with its ever-growing creative design community, was splattered with fuchsia pink placards and signs indicating the various and unusual venues.

The Farmiloe building, a grand Victorian warehouse, played host to established and emerging furniture designers, amongst the slightly out-of-place latest Jaguar car models (unfortunately, there has to be some promotional opportunity in it for them). Upstairs, were ‘gifts’ and ‘smalls’ designers, including Stoke Newington based Dezeen, famous for its influential architecture, interiors and design website.

A short walk through the winding streets of Clerkenwell, past the beautiful forest of umbrellas in St James’s Church Garden (a project by Draisci Studios and Fulton Umbrellas) brought you to the House of Detention –   ancient catacombs, once a prison – housing more small labels. There was a host of Hackney designers, including Stoke Newington based sculptor-cum-furniture designer Greg Cox.

Reasserting Clerkenwell Design Week‘s pulling power with retail clients, Cox said: ‘It’s the second time I’ve publicly shown my work. I generally make bespoke furniture for peoples houses. But I’m also trying to launch some new work, which I can sell through shops, and this is another reason for doing Clerkenwell.”

Hackney-based James Tattersall’s Arts and Crafts motif skateboards were a brilliant twist on the idea of product design, or redesign.

In the Craft Central HQ, a congregation enthusiastic ‘doers’ were participating in a lunch-hour workshop.

Round the corner, in St John’s Gate, Swedish vinyl flooring company Bolon and infamous Italian fashion house Missoni had erected a house of vibrant pattern and vinyl texture, beautifully framed by the ancient cobbled arch.

The buzz in the design studios, cafes and venues of Clerkenwell Design Week asserted that the area’s design community are still leading the way.