London Design Week at the Design Centre Chelsea Harbour on 9 – 14 March 2014 promises to be ‘the perfect mix of style, imagination and directional design’. With 500 brands showcasing their latest interior ranges and a programme packed with panel discussions, talks, launches and receptions, for a week, the design world’s attention will be focussed on DCCH.
Amongst those exhibiting are a wealth of textile stalwarts. Leafing through some of the upcoming collections that will be presented, COVER can’t help but note a mass movement away from the designer decay and faded grandeur of late towards a brighter breezy mood, inspired by nature, full of lush foliage, metallics and tropical colour.
Leading the way down the botanical path are Colefax and Fowler with luminous fierce florals from Manuel Canovas. Garden songbirds, flowers and butterflies adorn lightweight fabrics from Creation Baumann, who will host an indoor spring picnic, complete with lashings of ginger beer. Rubelli celebrate their 125year anniversary with a talk by design director, Alberto Pezzato and the launch of A Stiller Life – their luxurious new fabric cultivation.
Collaborations abound; Romo have worked with impressionist painter, Jessica Zoob who will discuss the challenges involved in translating canvas into fabric. Lewis & Wood launch the English Ethnic fabric range, produced in collaboration with artists Melissa White, Flora Roberts and Su Daybell, all of whom will be in attendance for a discussion of their design experience. Harlequin unfurl fabrics and wall coverings with a stylised bohemian feel.
Edelman Leather have been influenced by tree textures with the Woodland Leather collection and invite you to ‘Celebrate the Beauty in Nature’ with champagne and canapés. At the more formal, Great Gatsby end of the design scale Top Floor Rugs will show their graphic art deco carpets and offer ‘Jazz Age Cocktails’ to go with them.
Ptolemy Mann, Bunny Turner, Rory Dobner and Emma Bridgewater are amongst those in conversation during the fair.