LDF13 East

My personal highlight from last week's London Design Festival was going on a Tokyo Bike tour around East London with a group of British and American journalists and a couple of Danish interior architects. We set off from Design Junction, cruised along the Regent's Canal and popped in to see what was going on at Established & Sons, Twentytwentyone, Tord Boontje, Donna Wilson, SCP to name a few... tough break, I know.

They're really easy to ride, a bit like Dutch bikes, as they're quite upright, but just have a few more grip-twist gears. And don't they look pretty all lined up in a row... Their name is self-explanatory: mountain bikes were designed for mountains, Tokyo Bikes were designed for Tokyo. Simple. 

I took this picture of Faye Toogood's installation "The Conductor" [fluorescent lights controlled by analogue switches which you're allowed to touch] at Established & Sons. Some wag in our group jokingly referred to this as an "Instagram trap". Haha.

On a slightly different wavelength was the fantastic Vernacular exhibition at Tent London organised by the Crafts Council of Ireland. There were some beautiful hand-crafted pieces on display including these lovely ceramics by Jack Doherty. Also Makers & Brothers' Jerpoint Water Carafe & Glass, Designgoat's Gray Chair, Clancy Moore's Strand Lamps and Donna Bates's parlour lights.