Cover Feature www.thedesignermagazine.com 23
Left: Tea Un Kim’s illuminating fairy-tale
take on recycling
Above: Ercol’s Napoli sofa decked out in
special fabric designed by Timorous Beasties
One sofa sported fabrics by avant-garde
Glasgow textile duo, Timorous Beasties.
Other ideas included London-based
Korean designer Tea Un Kim’s fairy-tale take
on recycling, which improbably wraps lacy
tights around empty plastic bottles to make
intricate glowing light pendants.
Another Birmingham bright spot was the
Cabinet Makers stand, with top pieces from
their annual young designers’ competition.
One winner was Limahl Asmall with his Nest
circular table (you saw it in our autumn
review of 100% Futures, Designer, November
2008). Its heavy glass top rests on stacked
wooden struts – and Asmall has already
made six to commission.
Amy Vinn (from Lincoln University)
bettered even Bassett with a jaunty pile-up
of liquorice allsorts stools and table. But she
badly needs a manufacturer, as making by
hand means a retail price of around £2,000.
Lighting winner was Majid Asif whose
Tetra slot-together lamp is a glowing tribute
to that ubiquitous packaging – think milk
or juice cartons. Ingenious LED technology
powers a long-lasting glow from a concealed
battery – no socket needed. This idea is
already affordable at £20 from Asif’s website.
Interiors Birmingham launched
www.interiorshub.com – they say it’s the
‘ultimate information-based website’ for
people working in interiors, offering news,
jobs and supplier details (400 so far). It
even has a presence on Facebook and
Linkedin. However, it seems more to be the
mouthpiece of its instigator, the exhibition
organisers themselves, UBM. But, they have
their fi ngers in enough pies to make things
interesting – including September’s Decorex,
which they now own.
Then it was on to Cologne for the
Furniture Fair (and its ‘Passagen’ fringe
events) where the talking point was ‘Clouds’,
a new fabric ‘system’ for walls, from design’s
darling double act, the Bouroullec Brothers.
They have been billed as France’s heirs to
Philippe Starck. ‘Clouds’ can be screwed in
various confi gurations to the wall, but is
more soft sculpture than wall covering. It
can also be used as a room divider when
suspended by strong threads.
‘Clouds’ consists of eight-sided felted
fabric shapes which come eight or 24 to
a box, to be folded Origami-style and ➔
spring fairs.indd 23 26/2/09 15:22:16
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