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Clerkenwell Design Week London - 2015 A Review
John Sacks
Photography by John Sacks
John Sacks 2015
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Review of Clerkenwell Design Week 2015 JSA Consultancy Services,
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CDW London
Mid-May in London should be warm and sunny and although there
were interludes where the visitors to this mainly outdoor festival
were reminded just how glorious an English summer can be, they were
interspersed with showers, some heavier bursts of rain and a very
chilly breeze. Nothing however could dampen the spirits of the
crowds that flocked to the events, venues, installations and
showrooms which make up this all-embracing design-fest. Clerkenwell
is a colourful, mixed-use district just to the north of the very
centre of London, made up of multi-storey buildings many of which
used to house the areas brewers, distillers, printers and watch and
clock makers. Historically important it has variously been home to
such diverse personalities as Oliver Cromwell, Charles Dickens and
Lenin much of the character of the area has been retained by
converting the former workshops into a combination of showrooms,
bars and restaurants, with the upper stories used as apartments.
This mixture of uses brings employment to local residents and those
from further afield, and a bustling, thriving, dynamic community
which after sunset, enjoys eating, drinking and making merry.
Clerkenwell Design Week is unlike any other office interior related
show. It owes its existence to the dozens of office furniture and
interiors showrooms which have opened in this very compact area,
attracted by the architects and designers who moved into what was
then inexpensive, vacated, semi-converted, former industrial space.
The entire area can easily be covered on foot from end to end in
half an hour, taking in colourful displays from all over the world.
Interspersed with the mainly ground floor showrooms are fascinating
historical buildings including churches, a prison, courthouse,
workshops as well as attractive open spaces, many of which were
commandeered by CDW, with every nook and cranny having been
imaginatively transformed into temporary display space. The effect
of the district putting itself on show is heightened by eclectic,
design-oriented, street displays and activities, many of which are
frankly whacky. They do however successfully link showroom to
showroom and the display and exhibition venues.
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The UK economy has seen relatively good growth rates over the
past few years and the office furniture market has been expanding
steadily. The strength of sterling has encouraged imports and both
local and overseas office furniture and interiors companies have
been increasingly attracted to exploit the London market and open
Clerkenwell showrooms. What was cheap space has now become
expensive. There is however a momentum to the process which makes
it almost essential for companies wanting to sell into this large
and dynamic market to have show space in the area. There were more
than 80 showrooms participating in this years CDW far more than
last year - and the three days of the show were nowhere near enough
if you wanted to cover the entire show properly. For many visitors
from the UK, the show was as much about finding new possible
suppliers of which they were unaware, as it was about seeing new
products from the companies they already knew. Well over 50,000
visitors were expected, up on last year despite the disappointing
weather, and like all good shows, much time is spent on making new
friends and meeting and greeting old ones. Hundreds of pre-planned
and impromptu meetings were taking place whichever way you turned,
and the eating and drinking places did a roaring trade.
Trends
Office working practices are changing and so are the
environments, as much in the UK as anywhere in the world. This
continued to be clearly represented by the products displayed at
the show, with plenty of space devoted to furniture for breakout
areas and alternative ways of working. Manufacturers design and
development budgets are clearly back in place, but many products on
display had already been seen at last years Orgatec or Neocon, if
not in Milan. Real wood finishes seem to be making a strong return
after many years of colourful, if boring, MFCs or laminates.
Natural and reconstituted veneers in both light and dark finishes
and well as solid timbers were seen everywhere, from both UK
companies such as Frem, Verco and Hands, and Continental European
and US manufacturers including Vitra, BuzziSpace, Vitamin Design
and Gunlocke. There was little emphasis on traditional
workstations, although, where there was, height adjustability, real
wood finishes and freestanding pieces rather than systems were
often featured. In seating, apart from some notable task seating
such as Wilkhahns new In chair designed from Wiege Design and Spree
from GGI, most of the emphasis was on seating which would be as
happy in a hotel lobby or your home, as it would be in your office.
Attractive, comfortable-looking individual loungers were everywhere
- such as Thonets magnificently relaxing new H08 chair designed by
Formstelle of Munich - upholstered in earthy, organic finishes.
Also seen in abundance were plenty of slimline, heavily tooled
plastic and
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upholstered side chairs, some stacking, some with writing
tablets and some with wooden legs. Bouncy stools seemed popular
such as Don Chadwicks Ballo from Humanscale. In chair by Wilkhahn
H08 chair from Thonet
There was still plenty of emphasis on enclosures for individual
use or groups all in every conceivable shape and size and made from
fabric, glass, wood and even steel. Most had lighting and there was
some attention given to acoustics - a few had even thought about
ventilation. Apart from reflecting a need to subdivide open plan
areas to create more human-scaled space for short term use, there
was no real pattern of thinking or authority displayed in the
products presented. Very little attention seemed to have been given
to storage. There were a few locker arrangements and some US-styled
executive workstation and storage configurations but otherwise, it
was as if everyone is avoiding hard copy storage like the plague,
and relying exclusively on the clouds.
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Companies and Products
Steelcases UK business is has a large two-storey showroom with
the ground floor focused
on newer products branded Coalesse which have yet to be
incorporated into the
mainstream, including Massaud Lounge from Jean-Marie Massaud and
sixfivezero by Lievore
Altherr Molina.
sixfivezero from Steelcase
Massaud Lounge from Steelcase
One item of new technology came from Frem whose Smart Workplaces
system included a
sensor built into a task chair linked to software which allows
FMs to monitor individual chair
usage by days, times and individuals. Knolls very large and
elegant showroom is arranged
on two floors with rigid separation enforced between office, and
all other furniture. New
products on display included the Pilot chair from British
designers Edward Barber & Jay
Osgerby.
Knolls Pilot chairs
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Koleksiyon from Istanbul in Turkey have an impressive showroom
with much of the
furniture and accessories designed by members of the Malhan
family, who own and manage
the business.
Part of the Koleksiyon showroom.
BuzziSpaces attractive 1st floor showroom overlooks one of the
main traffic junctions in
Clerkenwell from which they can observe the world passing by.
New acoustic products on
display included Buzzifalls space dividers and BuzziCactus, a
floor standing screen in the
shape of a cactus, complete with sharp spines!
Buzzifalls
Buzzicactus
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Humanscale have introduced Ballo, designed by Don Chadwick where
you rest on an
inflatable seat and balance yourself energetically, in order to
avoid falling off. Distracting
perhaps if youre having a serious conversation.
Ballo from Humanscale
A newcomer to London was the German company, Ophelis who took a
pop-up showroom in
the heart of the action and showed Docks, an attractive
sectional seating system designed
by Bjrn Meier from Berlin. Another company from Germany, but
this time long established
here was Dauphin with their extensive ranges of seating, storage
and tables including the
new chair from designer Martin Ballendat, Little Perillo XS.
Ophelis sectional seating, Docks Little Perillo XS from
Dauphin
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Martin Ballendat also featured at Boss Designs large and
impressive showroom where he
presented his new plastic shell chair, Coza.
Coza by Boss Design Martin Ballendat
Sedus from Germany are also long term stalwarts in London and
their wide range of
products was well displayed in their impressive showroom,
including their new Secretair
individual workstation.
Sedus secretair workstation
Haworth has moved in with its newly acquired sister company,
Poltrona Frau, and their
showspace hosted a wide range of their products, as well as a
working area from opendesk
whose software platform links furniture designers and
manufacturers around the world.
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Connection from Huddersfield in the north of England, opened
their large new showroom
only this week in Great Sutton Street fast becoming the areas
focal point - and presented
Roger Webbs Centro table available in two heights and a wide
range of finishes. In keeping
with the trends of the moment, the timber legs and trim looked
attractive.
Centro table from Connection
Another large showroom which was only hours old was Ocee Design
who presented ranges
of task seating and breakout furniture.
Ocee Design showroom
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By Bailey has just opened in Clerkenwell with an attractive
showroom presenting products
mainly from HNI Group companies, one of the largest office
furniture groups in the USA.
Mark Bailey of By Bailey
Bene from Austria continue to add to their portfolio of Pearson
Lloyd products, and showed
the new Timba table and accessories.
Timba table from Bene.
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Kusch & Co always show attractive seating products and their
new Series 3600 ARN
designed by Scaffidi and Johansen was no exception. They also
host one of the liveliest of
the never-ending stream of parties that go on each night of the
show.
Series 3600 ARN by Kusch
And finally ..
Outdoor displays for the show included a sculpture in wood The
Invisible Store (of carbon)
by David Venables for the American Hardwood Export Council, Gx
Glass created by
designers Cousins and Cousins and two brand new concept cars
from Renault
The Invisible Store (of carbon) Renault concept cars
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The laziest form of transport was also sponsored by Renault with
their electric two-seaters
which whizzed you from one side of Clerkenwell to the other in a
few moments. Clambering
in and out, Houdini-like, was a good test of agility.
Renault runabouts
John Sacks London, 23 May 2015