A pop-up store for the Science Museum made from 4000 test-tub

The Science Museum is launching a Christmas pop-up store which uses test-tubes filled with coloured water as its key design point.

The store has been designed by BAT Studio and is at Bluewater in Kent until 31 December.

BAT Studio co-founder Jonty Craig says that for the interior design concept, it wanted to use “colour and repetition to create surfaces with texture and depth that references sweetshops and pharmacies”.

The consultancy filled 4000 test-tubes with coloured water and used them to create screens and line walls in the space.

Craig says: “Framing displays of chemistry sets and other science-themed toys, both the decoration and the content of the shop complement each other, creating a colourful and playful space.”

Alongside the test-tubes, Craig says the consultancy wanted to use “materials which could be considered as ubiquitous components in the science of modern buildings but which are rarely elevated to be used for this aesthetics”.

Shelves in the store are formed from cable tray, which is suspended from galvanised channel by threaded bar.
Cable tray is also used to provide peg boards, and forms tables and the till counter.

(Mon, 17 Nov 2014 | By Angus Montgomery )

The Eureka moments behind famous designs

The first sketches for designs including the Brompton bicycle, the Anglepoise lamp and the Eiffel Tower are going on show as part of an upcoming exhibition.

Initial designs for the Brompton bicycle

The Eureka Moment Gallery opens on 25 November at London’s Proud Archivist Gallery.

The first patent design for the Anglepoise Original1227 Lamp

Among the exhibits will be the first patent design for the Anglepoise Original1227 Lamp, architectural drawings for the Eiffel Tower from 1887 and SeymourPowell’s initial concept for the Life Tech Smart Jacket.

Sketch by Andrew Ainsworth of the mechanics of getting Superman to fly in the 1977 film

There will also be the original drawings for the character that went on to be Dennis the Menace (sketched on a fag packet) and pencil sketches from designer Andrew Ainsworth of the mechanics of getting Superman to fly in the 1977 film.

Source: ©DC Thomson & Co. Ltd. 2014

The original 1950s drawings for the character that went on to become Dennis the Menace

The exhibition has been curated by Mark Champkins, the Science Museum’s inventory in residence, in partnership with O2. It marks the launch of the new Samsung Galaxy Note 4, and all exhibits in the show will be displayed on the tablets.

Original pencil drawings of Hello Kitty, by Yuko Yamaguchi

The Eureka Moments Gallery is at Proud Archivist, 2-10 Hertford Road, London N1, from 25 November-7 December.

Sketch of Covent Garden Christmas decorations

Concept for SeymourPowell's Life Tech Smart Jacket

Architectural drawings for the Eiffel Tower, from 1887

 

(Fri, 21 Nov 2014 | By Angus Montgomery )

Black, Yellow, Wood and Graphite – D&AD introduces new Pencils

From next year, D&AD is introducing new Wood and Graphite Pencils, which will be awarded alongside its traditional Black and Yellow Pencil prizes.

The Wood, Graphite, Yellow, White, Black and Gold Pencils

The new pencils replace the previous “In Book” and “Nomination” categories, which D&AD says have been “often undervalued or simply misunderstood”.
The new Wood Pencil will replace the “In Book” category and is, D&AD says, equivalent to a bronze award. This will be awarded to every project featured in the D&AD Annual.
The Graphite Pencil will replace the “Nomination” category and act as a silver award. This will be given to “standout work”, D&AD says.
The Yellow and Black Pencils remain, alongside the White Pencil, which was introduced in 2011 to recognise “the power of creative communications to effect change for good”.
The new range of Pencils will sit alongside two special awards, the Most Awarded category, the winner of which receives a Gold Pencil, and the President’s Award.
They will be used across all D&AD awards schemes, including the New Blood programme.
D&AD chief executive Tim Lindsay says the move follows feedback from D&AD members and entrants that there was “confusion” around the awards hierarchy.
Lindsay adds: “Our aim was to make things clearer, but we also didn’t want to default to a conventional system.
“We wanted a system that was unique, but instantly recognisable, with each Award’s place within the hierarchy apparent. Wood and Graphite both felt like the right logical extension of our existing Pencils and symbolic of the craft at the heart of creative excellence.”
The new awards will come into effect from May 2015 at the next D&AD Awards ceremony and all historical awards will now be referred to using the new system.
The new Pencils have been designed by Turner Duckworth.

(Thu, 16 Oct 2014 | By Angus Montgomery, Design Week) 

A new look for paper brand Favini

Silk Pearce has worked on the strategic repositioning of Favini, the Italian paper manufacturer, and designed a range of packaging materials in a bid to better align it with the luxury and fashion markets.

Favini acquired Arjo Wiggins’ casting paper division in 2013, increasing its casting release product range capabilities for the luxury and fashion markets, which it has since expanded into.

Silk Pearce says that the new positioning shows the brand’s passion for design textures and finishes.

The new look rolls out across 20 new swatches for paper ranges, brochure cover designs, catalogues, a new website, social media skins and exhibition collateral.

Favini has two core offers: The design and creation of surface textures for eco-leathers and synthetic materials for use in industries such as fashion, luxury goods and sportswear; and innovative papers for high-end print and packaging.

Still from promotional film

The new website showcases the Favini’s product ranges, business operations and its commitment to eco-friendly production and sustainability, and includes a series of online videos designed, directed and produced by Silk Pearce.

Silk Pearce first worked with Favini in 2008 and has since worked on redrawing the Favini mark and branding and packaging projects including the launch of the eco-friendly paper range Crush.

(Tue, 11 Nov 2014 | By Tom Banks )

Designers work in miniature for V&A doll’s house exhibition

Designers including Paul Priestman, Dominic Wilcox and Bethan Wood have created miniature rooms for a new doll’s house exhibition set to open at the V&A Museum of Childhood in London.

Kaleidoscope House USA, 2001, by Laurie Simmons, Peter Wheelwright and Bozart

A total of 20 artists and designers have contributed doll’s houses for the show, which also looks at historical and contemporary designs for the houses.
Priestman has created a never-ending party table, while Wood’s design features scaled-down versions of her own furniture.

If a Budgie Dreamed of being a Magpie, by Bethan Wood

Dominic Wilcox has created an “offline hideaway” complete with candelabra and a jug of juice, while Donna Wilson has designed a llama’s bedroom.
As well as showcasing the specially designed houses, the Small Stories exhibition will tell the stories of 12 doll’s houses from the past 300 years.

The Longest Party Table in the World, by Paul Priestman of PriestmanGoode

The museum says these exhibits will portray a journey through “the history of the home, everyday lives and changing family relationships”.
Each house will be displayed at a particular time of day and visitors can use buttons alongside the showcases to activate the narration and light up each character as they talk.

Hopkinson House - bedroom detail set in 1940s

Small Stories: At home in a doll’s house, is at the V&A Museum of Childhood, Cambridge Heath Road, London E2, from 13 December 2014-6 September 2015.

(Mon, 10 Nov 2014 | By Angus Montgomery )

New image of the Queen set to grace UK coins

A new portrait of the Queen is set to appear on UK coins from next year, the Royal Mint has announced.

The 1953 portrait, by Mary Gillick

This will be the first new portrait of the monarch since 1998 and only the fifth image commissioned during the Queen’s 62-year reign.
A number of designs have been submitted by specialist designers for the new portrait, and the winning design will be revealed next year.

The 1974 portrait, by Arnold Machin

The designs were submitted in a closed competition and will be assessed by the Royal Mint Advisory Committee.
The current portrait of the Queen was created by Ian Rank-Broadley and has been in circulation for 16 years.

The 1985 portrait, by Raphael Maklouf

The new image of the Queen will feature on the new £1 coin, which is set to go into circulation in 2017.
In September, the Royal Mint launched a public design competition to find designs for the “tails” side, with the winner to receive a £10 000 fee for their design, which will stay in circulation for around 30 years.

The 1998 portrait, by Ian Rank-Broadley

 

(Thu, 6 Nov 2014 | By Angus Montgomery, Design Week) 

Is there a North/South divide in design?

It’s one of the questions being posed at the Great Debate at the Design MCR Festival, but what do you think?

“There’s a London and ‘everyone else’ divide if you choose to see it – perpetuated by constant rumblings around HS2, grumpy TV presenters refusing to move to Salford, and BBC2’s ‘Restaurant Wars’. I, for one, don’t see a divide. Music branded London’s first ever men’s fashion week, we’ve delivered London Fashion Week for the past ten seasons, and we repositioned The Brit Awards. Incidentally, we also work for the Premier League champions, who without wishing to rub it in, happen to reside in Manchester. But no, definitely no divide.”
Adam Rix, creative director, Music

“For me I stopped thinking about a geographical North and South a long time ago as a lot of our business is spread all across the country, but what I do see is the North as being more entrepreneurial, possibly due to its financial constraints. With this I see some studios being more experimental, multi-disciplined and with a real DIY ethic. There are far more freelancers, especially in digital, here in the North, which means studios can be more flexible in their approach to projects. The results of this are lots of collaborations, with clients waking up to the fact they can get a great product from not just one agency.”
John Owens, creative director, Instruct Studio

“This question is an unhelpful and divisive one given the very real fears about a lack of diversity in the UK design scene. George Osborne’s aggressive promotion of London as a design capital, rather than the UK’s worldwide reputation for design, risks being counter-productive. When looking at the design demi-gods for which we as a country are known, we see that they are from ordinary backgrounds, from all over the UK, and mostly the recipients of a free higher (and even postgraduate) education. There has, of course, been huge industrial change which has caused a very real economic divide between the North and South. Formerly learned on the job, the decline of traditional industries in most of the Northern cities has been an absolute blow for tactile craft and engineering skill. The scale and impact of this loss is only just starting to be felt. In the same vein however, I am also wary of an emerging ‘creative cities’ agenda that excludes rural communities from the off. It is tempting to say that designers from the North have a sense of humour and playfulness that designers from the South perhaps do not. At best, we can see this in the emerging field of critical design. Patrick Stevenson-Keating from Belfast (not Northern, but I’m reading between the lines) brings an import into his practice which one wonders would be the same if he grew up in Surrey. At its worst, however, this is a lazy assumption, and ignores the economic realities of working as a professional designer. While Dominic Wilcox may hail from Sunderland, he is now firmly planted in Hackney. APDIG has been discussing these issues at the ‘Great Debate’ as part of the Design MCR Festival, and looked to tease out how the creative industries across the North can play a role in a more managed model of devolved, regional growth. However, while it is my hope that ‘Northern’ does not become a byword for ‘diversity’, I suggest that the provocation itself should move to a more interrogative one concerning class, gender and access to education.”
Naomi Turner, head of the Manufacturing, Design and Innovation Group at at Policy Connect.

“With the tech available to us today, there is absolutely no reason why creatives outside the South East, can’t work with clients within the M25, and vice versa. In fact, c’mon! This question needs to zoom out a little. At GBH, we regularly work in Herzogaunerach, Boston, Doha, Paris, Los Angeles, New York, Mojave, San Francisco, Milan, Brescia, Valencia, and Wuhan without even leaving Chiswick. Get out there, and go get ’em.”
Mark Bonner, creative director, GBH

“I don’t think the divide is so much North/South as London/Everywhere else. There are lots of great, extraordinarily talented agencies outside of London (SB Studio, KerrVernon, Designers Republic to name just three that come to mind instantly), but it seems like many companies prefer to be based in London for work, recognition, and possibly drinks. Certainly we think it’s vital to be in London – the majority of our clients are here, and most of the best designers live here too. And it’s a great thing for British design – London is rightly recognised as one of the leading centres of design in the world, and it benefits everyone as a result.”
Noel Lyons, partner, Kent Lyons

“Is there a North/South divide in ideas, ingenuity, innovation, insatiable curiosity, imagination, intolerance for lazy thinking, inability to take seriously any inane, insubstantial geographical stereotypes? Dunno. But all our clients in London think not. And the ones in the Far East agree with them.”
Martin Carr, managing director, True North

“Britain is a small country with only one capital city which is called London. For those who hadn’t noticed, London is also the economic centre of Britain. Therefore there are greater economic opportunities for businesses in proximity to London. While more design work is almost certainly carried out in the South, it would be lazy to think that the standard of that work is automatically superior. While a lot of design does happen in the South, it also happens everywhere else, in the North, the the East and West.
Folks outside of the South could always hold out for some sort of Alex Salmond of design, but that seems pretty pointless given that we work in an industry founded on collaboration, consensus and mutual respect.”
Craig Oldham, partner, The Oldham Goddard Experience 

(Thu, 30 Oct 2014, Design Week)