#YellowtraceTravels: London Design Festival 2015.

Oh boy. I’m feeling slightly overwhelmed with the sheer magnitude of this post, which is essentially wrapping up the best bits of our recent trip to London Design Festival 2015, and also giving you a little taste of our London experience – all in a single article. Big task, and a slightly insane one at that, but that’s never stopped us before. Having said that, I sincerely hope this post doesn’t give you motion sickness from too much scrolling, cause it’s a whopper. Please forgive me!

After sitting it out for years with London Design Festival (due to our super-champion efforts with Milan Design Week attendance and coverage), Nick and I set out on a little self-initiated tour of #LDF15 to see what all the fuss was about. And I have to say – there’s a lot of fuss about LDF these days. Is it warranted? I’m still not entirely sure. Is there lots to see? You bet! Is it all awesome? Definitely not. Were there a few highlights? For shiz! Should you make a point of going there one day yourself? Well, this you can decide for yourself after scrolling through our photos. Ha!

Nick and I spent six nights in London exploring the festival and the city itself. We flew from Sydney to London (and back) via Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific who were absolutely amazing as always. After a super disappointing experience with our Airbnb accommodation booking (never again!), we checked into the Ace Hotel in Shoreditch (East London) which proved to be the perfect base for the week.

This was our second time in London in 8 years. Last time we spent about 5 days in the city, mainly catching up with friends and drinking ourselves silly during the night and sleeping most of the day. In other words, we saw sweet f.a. last time, and this trip almost felt like our first visit in many ways. I have to admit, up until this trip, I struggled to understand the charms of London and the attraction it holds for so many Aussie expats. In a way, I still struggle with this notion, but there’s no doubt London is absolutely freaking incredible and seriously epic. It has to be said that London is a hard city, a super busy place and an overwhelmingly ginormous metropolis that can be quite intimidating at times. But underneath it all, there’s a gentle tenderness and a complexity that’s incredibly alluring. There is SO MUCH to see and do in London, and London Design Festival provided us with a great opportunity to navigate the city and stick to a path, as I could imagine it would otherwise be really difficult to decide where to go first.

Alas, I’ve decided to wrap up our week in a chronological fashion so you get to see the places and the events the way we experienced them ourselves. Hope you enjoy! And make sure you have a sick bag handy in case you develop scrolling-induced motions sickness. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Related Posts: 
Highlights from Design Junction // London Design Festival 2015.
MULTIPLEX by Tom Dixon at the Old Selfridges Hotel // London Design Festival 2015.

Ace Hotel, East London

Ace Hotel Shoreditch is super cool, ok? As in monster-freaking-almost-a-bit-too-hipster cool, and without a shadow of a doubt THE trendiest hotel in East London. With record players in your room, a basement bar and even a photo booth in the lobby, this place isn’t your average hotel.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

During LDF, Ace Hotel teamed up with Modern Design Review to curate a distinctive showcase of objects by a group of established and emerging designers from across the world, including Philippe Malouin, Studio Vit, Tomás Alonso, Marcin Rusak, Hilda Hellström and Parsha Gerayesh. Dubbed ‘Ready Made Go’, the show was held on the premises and many of the commissioned objects on display were for sale (some of which are shown in photos above). The brief of the show was to create objects that offer a solution to real challenges faced by a busy London hotel. The collection of objects commissioned, made and put into use for the annual design event will be incorporated into Ace Hotel’s various settings for continued use. Clever.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Ace Hotel London Shoreditch has become the unofficial home of the East London creative class. The lobby is always, always, ALWAYS this rammed with people working away on their laptops (of which 90% are Macbooks, naturally). Don’t these dudes have an office to work out of? I guess not. 
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Universal Design Studio are the designers behind Ace Hotel Shoreditch. Also located in East London, these guys know the neighbourhood well, and they’ve masterfully translated the Ace’s vintage-Americana look into something a bit more urban and London-centric. 20th-century vintage is the name of the game throughout the spaces including the rooms, with beds dressed in custom duvets by the French brand APC. The rooms are smart, well-lit, and in terms of comforts, they’re great value for the money. (When I say this, do keep in mind that London is frightfully expensive across the board!)
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Hoi Polloi is Ace Hotel’s restaurant – a modern English brasserie that’s rigorously local with a super beautiful fitout.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Left: Hoi Polloi with a view through to Hattie Fox’s flower shop — East London’s hippest florist, if there is such a thing. Right: Ace Hotel lobby bar. Always slammed, except for this split second by some miracle of chance.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Somerset House

Somerset House hosted a number of projects for LDF 2015. As a major centre for arts and culture in the heart of London, Somerset House is set to become a prominent new destination for Festival visitors. One of the main attractions this year was a curated exhibition of 10 major international designers dubbed “10 Designers in the West Wing”, which presented the work of an impressive list of well-established names, all of whom have been invited by the London Design Festival.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

My first distraction from the festival events programme came in the shape of an interior – naturally. This space is Tom’s Kitchen at Somerset House, which opened in 2009 following the success of its big-sister in Chelsea. The venue includes a restaurant, deli and a beautiful terrace, which during the summer months is one of London’s super popular al fresco bars with views across the river. I can’t say I know who designed the interior, but this place is a serious stunner!
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Top & Left: Paperless Post and PATTERNITY designed ten invitations and an immersive installation celebrating their exclusive new patterns. Right: Edward Barber & Jay Osgerby created an intimate reading room filled with Knoll furniture designed by the pair alongside other collaborators Glas Italia. Their installation also featured their latest paper lanterns named ‘Hotaru’ (meaning firefly), made from mulberry bark using age-old methods of production in Japan, and housed on frames constructed from bamboo wire. Simply stunning.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Left:Luca Nichetto’s modular Alphabeta lamps for Hem reflect a playful functionality. Just like combining letters of the alphabet to create words, the configurable pendant lamps – with a nod to Scandinavian minimalism – are composed of a myriad of colours and shapes, making each constellation wholly unique. Right: Ross Lovegrove with KEF – The convergence of Art, Design and Technology. The installation featured 100 unique anodised MUO wireless speakers by Ross Lovegrove for KEF, finished by Neal Feay Studio. Look closely, and you will be able to see Thomas Heatherwick reflecting in the mirror!
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Top & Left: The joint work of Tabanlioglu Architects and Arik Levy used diverse mediums of light and solid, dry and wet, warm and cold, in an interdisciplinary collaboration between architecture and art. Right: Spine, located in the Stamp Stair in the South Wing of Somerset House. This installation was  designed by Nassia Inglessis to celebrate the launch of the new dimmable Plumen 002 LED low energy bulb from Plumen.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

The Drawing Room by Faye Toogood. The genteel traditions of the typical English drawing room were redrafted by Toogood, evoking a reinterpretation of a derelict country house environment – although in this case the surrounds were literally drawn in.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Left: The latest shelf collection “nest shelf” by nendo. A far cry from his spectacular installation in Milan earlier this year. Right: Punkt launched the new MP 01 mobile phone designed by Jasper Morrison. To mark the launch, Morrison curated a space at Somerset House that reflected a belief in creating thoughtful, intelligent consumer electronics which rebalance people’s relationship with technology.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Festival distraction No2 – the amazing Spring Restaurant. Seriously divine in every way.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Louis Vuitton Series 3 Exhibition

LV’s blockbuster exhibition is on show inside a Brutalist London landmark at 180 Strand, designed by Frederick Gibberd. Louis Vuitton’s creative director Nicolas Ghesquière and set designer Es Devlin conceived the incredible exhibition featuring a series of head spinning rooms, which we will bring more of in a separate post. Whether you are into fashion or not – this exhibition is must see.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Covent Garden Balloons by Charles Pétillion

French artist Charles Pétillon presented his first public art installation ‘Heartbeat’ – and his first ever live work outside of France – in Covent Garden as 100,000 giant white balloons filled the grand interior of the 19th Century Market Building. Weaving its way through the South Hall, ‘Heartbeat’ stretched 54m in length and 12m in width, and incorporated gentle pulsating white light to symbolise the beating of a heart and reflect the history, energy and dynamism of the district. Incredible and a massive tearjerker!
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

19 Greek Street – The Art of Progress

Soho gallery 19 Greek Street presented their exhibition titled Art of Progress, which showcased a theme of ethical living across the 4 floors of the gallery. The exhibition included a cafe with a “planet-friendly” menu and a floor converted into an apartment to showcase of furniture, product and lighting design. A lecture room hosted talks from speakers around the theme of sustainability (including a trippy virtual reality video watched by yours truly as per Exhibit A). The top floor of the Victorian town house was where the visitors were encouraged to take a break from the bustle of London Design Festival with a series of workshops on mindfulness and meditation.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Around London

Left: Obligatory shot of London’s famous Regent Street. Right: Dinosaur Designs new store in London, located within the the Ham Yard Hotel development in Soho.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Top & Left: The essential visit to Liberty London department store. Super beautiful, although I have to admit – it’s looking in need of a little bit of interior TLC (and a step-up in their merchandising game.) Right: The Glade at Sketch is simply magical where artists Carolyn Quartermaine and Didier Mahieu have created an enchanted fairy-tale forest. Their découpage appears like something half-remembered and yet completely contemporary. Best thing ever man!
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

And of course, how could one go past The Gallery at Sketch, where India Mahdavi and David Shrigley went bonkers on the space. Super awesome place for an English high tea!
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Little photo taken from a window of – Babaji – yummy Turkish place where we had dinner, complete with great view of Covent Garden avenues and thriving musical-theatre scene from their upstairs dining room.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Serpentine Pavilion by SelgasCano at Kensington Gardens

The much criticised Serpentine Pavilion by Selgascano in London. Sure, it lacks refinement and feels more like an agricultural tent when compared to previous structures. But what it lacks in sophistication, it more than makes up for in joyous colour and form. I personally loved it.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Victoria & Albert Museum

The Victoria and Albert Museum was once again the “hub” for the London Design Festival with a series of site-specific installations by big-name designers. Curiosity Cloud by mischer’traxler was one of the highlights. 250 mouth-blown glass globes were filled with hand-fabricated insects from 25 species. From a distance, the insects are still, but as one approaches, motion sensors detect movement and set the insects into motion, creating a an almost deafening sound as they crash against the glass. Great place for selfies too.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Left: Zotem – a bold and colourful installation conceived by London-based Norwegian designer Kim Thomé. Created in collaboration with Swarovski, Zotem was an 18-metre-tall double-sided monolith embedded with over-sized Swarovski crystals, rising vertically from the Museum’s Grand Entrance to the Contemporary Ceramics gallery directly above it. Right: The gobsmacking awesomeness of the V&A. So good.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

A major sculptural installation created for the V&A by artist Barnaby Barford, The Tower of Babel told an array of stories about London, our society and economy, and ourselves as consumers. Standing an imposing six metres tall, the Tower comprised 3,000 bone china shops, each one unique, each depicting a real London shop photographed by the artist. At its base the shops are derelict, while at its pinnacle are the crème-de-la-crème of London’s exclusive boutiques and galleries.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Designers Laetitia de Allegri and Matteo Fogale collaborated with Johnson Tiles to create Mise-en-abyme, a colourful and immersive installation. Fascinated by the discovery of one-point perspective during the Renaissance period, the duo created a landscape of overlapping semi-transparent shapes that played with the viewers sense of perspective. The title of the work is a French term that literally translates as “placed into abyss”, and refers to the experience of walking through the installation.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Faye Toogood showcased a two-part installation, The Cloakroom. The first part of the experience was a literal cloakroom, where visitors were invited to checkout one of 150 Toogood coats to wear around the Museum. Each coat was equipped with a sewn-in map that guided the visitor through the second part of the installation: ten places in the Museum galleries, where visitors could discover a series of sculptural garments created by Toogood in response to nearby objects from the Museum’s collection – from a 15th century timber-panelled room to a shining suit of armour.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Brompton Design District

Marmoreal by Max Lamb for Dzek. Following exhibitions in Milan, Beijing and Basel, Dzek brought Marmoreal to London as part of the Jane Withers curated Brompton Design District. The exhibition was set in a South Kensington garage on Thurloe Place Mews, a stones throw from the V&A.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Once Sydney, now London-based florist Simone Gooch of Fjura and designer and colour consultant Laetitia de Allegri combined their world of colours and nature in a collaborative exhibition. The “shop” at 225a Brompton Road was dressed with colourful ceramic pieces handmade and crafted by Laetitia, consisting of made to order small tables and magazine racks. Fjura provided a changing landscape of flowers in the space; responding and complementing Laetitia’s pieces.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Dover Street, London

If you’re in need of high end retail fix (or simply a top-quality window shop), then Dover Street is hard to go by. Left: Illuminum Fragrance Shop in London by Antonino Cardillo. So great to visit after our feature earlier this year. Right: Acne Studio on Dover St spreads over four beautiful floors.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

London rooftops from Acne’s 4th floor terrace on Dover Street.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Dover Street Market is a must for a bonkers amazing concept store experience. Comme des Garçons designer Rei Kawakubo’s ground-breaking six-storey space combines the edgy energy of London’s indoor markets – concrete floors, tills housed in corrugated-iron shacks, Portaloo dressing rooms are juxtaposed with rarefied labels. Must visit!
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Rose Bakery on top floor of Dover Street Market is great for coffee, snack and quality people watching. Pretty rooftop views from the terrace (below) also included.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Selfridges

The always inspiring windows at Selfridges (where I could easily spend an entire day). This window installation almost made me want to buy an Apple Watch. Almost!
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Multiplex by Tom Dixon at Selfridges Old Cinema

Multimplex by Tom Dixon is an impressive department store pop-up with multiple brands on show. Separate post to follow soon.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Tent London

Perhaps the most disappointing (to me) shows at this year’s LDF was Tent and it’s un-curated, haphazard nature. Although there were definitely a few interesting things to se, we kind of didn’t get around to shooting them because I was trying to work out how I felt about the show the whole time. The works presented by the Super Design Gallery (shown above) were probably my favourite part.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Design Junction

The ambitious designjunction2015 showcased 180 brands and shops, a host of striking installations, 10 eateries and flash factories across two Central London locations. Separate post to follow soon.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Clerkenwell & East London

Left: The stunning new Carl Hansen & Sons showroom in Clerkenwell. Right: Tramshed in Shoreditch with a giant Damien Hirst sculpture in the middle of the restaurant. Bonkers.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Lee Broom presented his latest collections of furniture and vases against a backdrop of flowers at his Shoreditch showroom. Described by Broom as “an immersive journey through a sea of flowers,” the installation actually looks a lot better in these photos than it did in real life. Perhaps this had something to do with the fact we visited 4 days after it opened. The flowers started to break down by then causing a pungent smell that cut through the nostrils like a blade.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

You can revisit Broom’s impressive installation during Milan Design Week here.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Brooklyn-based chocolate connoisseurs Mast Brothers launched their 2016 collection during LDF15. Known for their rich and interesting flavours, a key selling point to the bars are their bold graphic wrapping. To celebreate the new collection, Mast created a fun installation in the window of their Shoreditch store.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Music company Sonos launched their latest creative hub in Shoreditch, set in a super sweet East London warehouse. The spaces were designed by Brinkworth and the graphic identity by Bruce Mau Design Studio. 
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Left: The Souvenir Project by Irish Design 2015  – a collection of nine souvenirs challenging the perceived notions of Ireland, championing contemporary Irish design and supporting local production. Right: Beautiful display by Pinch furniture, who are celebrating 10 years in business this year.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Pinch launched The Nim table (left) constructed from a hollow cast piece of Jesmonite. 
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Ai WeiWei Exhibition at Royal Academy of Arts London

Not to be missed if you find yourself in London – Ai Weiwei exhibition at The Royal Academy of Arts. Politically charged, provocative, powerful and poetic. Top image is of his sculpture called Flat, consisting of 2tonnes of steel reinforcement salvaged from a devastating earthquake that struck the Sichuan provence in China, claiming the lives of 5000 children (mostly due to poor building practice). Separate post to follow soon.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Touristico Fantastico Moments

I know, I know. I hate your typical tourist traps as much as the next design-crazed individual. But sometimes you gots to make an exception, right? Especially when you walk past them on your way to something “much cooler” and “undiscovered”. Here with London’s iconic Piccadilly Circus, of course.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

This image and above: The view from the Millennium Bridge looking toward North Bank of river Thames and St Paul’s Cathedral.
Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

This post is proudly brought to you in partnership with Cathay Pacific, who currently fly to London five times each day. Cathay’s great connections from Australia allow getting from Sydney to London in under 24 hours, including transit times. For more information visit cathaypacific.com.au. 

[All images © Nick Hughes / Yellowtrace.]