A little trip to London Design Festival 2015
23rd September 2015
London Design Festival is in town so we decided to take a little trip to see what it’s all about.
Last week Letty blogged about ‘our top 5 things to see at LDF‘, so we were super keen to see these beautiful installations up close and personal, and tick as many off our design festival list as possible.
London Design Festival is really big and it’s spread out at different locations all across London. But by some stroke of luck, the majority of our ‘must see’ list happened to be exhibiting in London’s very lovely V&A museum… so we headed straight there.
I know Letty explained all about each of these installations and the inspirations behind them in her blog, so I won’t go too much into that now. But I did take some photographs to share with you, I guess this is a little look at these crazy cool installations through my eyes.
This is the ‘Mise-en-abyme’ by Laetitia de Allegri and Matteo Fogale…
Sheets of coloured acrylic stand next to one another, creating a tunnel of beautiful perspective which gets progressively smaller and darker as you pass through it. The name “Mise-en-abyme” actually translates from French as “placed into abyss”… a pretty fitting title I think. As you’re walking through you do get the feeling that, if this tunnel was to carry on and on, you may just get swallowed up into some kind of crazy colourful abyss. Luckily this time I made it out the other side!
The tunnel was installed on a beautiful bridge, overlooking the V&A’s famous renaissance gallery. Stood right in the middle of this gallery was the next installation on our list; The ‘Tower of Babel’ by Barnaby Barford, measuing 6 metres high and made up of 3,000 individual china blocks, each one depicting a real London shop…
Now this is one that you have got to see in person, my photos aren’t going to do it justice, but the detail on these tiny little shopfronts is just insane. Forgetting the fact that each one is only about the size of my hand, you literally feel as though you could push the tiny little doors open and step straight inside. Did you ever see the film ‘The Borrowers’? These would make perfect little Borrowers houses! ahhh I love that film.
My favourite thing about the Tower of Babel was the fact that Barnaby even included the graffiti that exists on each shop. Graffiti is already something that intrigues and fascinates me, and to see it on such a miniature scale was very cool.
Next on our list was the ‘Curiosity Cloud’ by Mischer’traxler. Unfortunately there had been a bit of an accident with one of the very delicate bulbs which makes up the cloud, so for the next 20 minutes or so the installation was closed… what a perfect opportunity to have a wander through the V&A’s beautiful gardens.
I didn’t realise just how beautiful the building itself actually is. The last time I visited this museum was probably about ten years ago, so I guess I wasn’t paying too much attention to the architectural beauty at the age of eleven, but this time it’s grandeur and loveliness definitely wasn’t wasted on me.
How beautiful are the Hydrangea’s lining the garden? These remind me of my mum, she loves them. Just before they shed all of their pretty petals, she’ll pick them, let them dry out, tie their stems together with a piece of lovely old ribbon and hang them in the perfect little spot.
So after a quick wander and a few photographs of the gardens, we headed back up to see the ‘Curiosity Cloud’ by Mischer’traxler. Luckily it was back open and ready to be explored…
This amazing installation is made up of 250 mouth-blown glass bulbs, each one containing a handmade artificial insect. This piece works using sensors; as you walk towards these bulbs they light up and the insects begin to fly frantically around inside, and then as you step away, the insects calm down and return to stillness once again.
The thing that hits you first about this piece is the noise it makes, the noise of each little insect flying around and bumping into the glass bulb as it goes. It’s hard for me to explain, but it’s a nice sound, quite loud but strangely soothing. Like the sound of raindrops hitting your window while your snuggled up inside, or that lovely buzz of crickets and grasshoppers which fills yours ears as you step outside on a warm summers night.
If you’re going to visit one location at this years London Design Festival then go to the V&A! It’s completely free to enter and you get the added bonus of exploring the museum’s other treasures whilst discovering these beautiful pieces of design. The London Design Festival runs until September 27th, so there’s still plenty of time to have a good look around.
So, that’s three ticked off our list, and if we get a chance to visit our remaining two ‘must see’s’ then we will be sure to show you too!
If you’d like to find out some more info on the LDF and where you can find each exhibition, check out their website here.
