News and pictures from the design sector
Cosentino opens new Hatton Gardens showroom
Global surface manufacturer Cosentino has announced the November opening of its brand new Hatton Garden showroom in London. A creative hub designed to inspire, connect, and host events for industry professionals, the space includes a fully stocked sample library, an Atelier lab and bookable meeting rooms within the 420 sq m space.
Its three floors display Cosentino’s product portfolio, demonstrating application for projects; from flooring, cladding and furniture to facades.
The new showroom is equipped with a fully working Atelier lab that helps architects and designers, specify the right products for interior and exterior projects.
With its fully stocked sample library, interactive digital display boards and desk or meeting spaces for hire, teams can touch, experiment and experience Cosentino first-hand, seeing projects come to life before their eyes.
Cosentino City London will also be the brand’s UK event hub. An impressive schedule of events is in place, including exhibitions, roundtables, supper clubs, CPDs, industry parties and more. www.cosentino.com
Lumsden designs retail and products for The Art of Banksy
Image Credit: Ryan Howard
Lumsden, specialist designers for the cultural and visitor attractions sector, has created the retail, box office and entrance space for The Art of Banksy, the major exhibition that has opened on London’s Regent Street.
Upturned plastic crates, lorry palettes, corrugated metal sheets and oil drums are turned into merchandise units and retail fixtures, which take their inspiration from Banksy’s street art, using an approach that focuses on the urban environment and the notion of found objects.
The box office continues the street-find feel having been constructed from breeze blocks with painted metal red barriers to guide the queues.
Elsewhere, an illuminated red heart sculpture takes pride of place and the two window displays have also been designed by Lumsden. www.lumsdendesign.com
Fabled Studio designs new sister restaurant The Wolseley City
Fabled Studio captures the grandeur and impeccable standards for new restaurant The Wolseley City, which takes visual cues from its sister restaurant The Wolseley Piccadilly. Situated on King William Street, London, the new restaurant offers two private dining rooms, three bars and salon spaces, and mezzaninelevel dining experience. Drawing inspiration from the architecture of 160 Piccadilly, created in 1921 by William Curtis Green, and the fashionable trends of the 1920s, Fabled Studio’s design scheme pays homage to the site and era of decadence. www.fabledstudio.com
Arper supports exhibition showcasing ethical and responsible architecture
Arper is supporting the groundbreaking exhibition A Lot With Little, which made its world premiere at the Venice Architecture Biennale and continues an international tour in 2024. A project created and produced by curator Noemi Blager with films by Tapio Snellman, showcases the work of ten architects from across the globe who have responded to the climatic, social and economic crises. www.arper.com
The Harrison School of Design Competition launches
Global branding, interior design and architecture specialist Harrison has launched its inaugural design competition, ‘The Harrison School of Design Competition’. UK students can apply their knowledge and devise an out-of-the-box fine-dining concept that challenges conventional hospitality design, with cash prizes awarded for first, second and third place. Harrison is also offering the first-place recipient a two-month placement at its Birmingham office. www.weareharrison.com
New president for global manufacturer Camira Group announced
Textile designer and manufacturer Camira Group has announced Chris Silguero as the new company president to head up its group business in North America. Camira CEO Alan Williams commented: ‘We’re thrilled to have Chris on board. He has proven executive leadership expertise and will be instrumental in delivering our ambitious growth plans within the hugely important North American marketplace.’ www.camirafabrics.com
Panaz launches flagship showroom at Clerkenwell Design Trail
Panaz, a leading manufacturer of contract fabrics, has launched its first London Showroom during the Clerkenwell Design Trail (4-5 October). Celebrating its launch, Panaz hosted a drinks reception at the showroom, which is located at 66 Clerkenwell Road.
The showroom has been designed to showcase the fabrics to visitors, which is exhibiting Panaz’s latest designs and collections. It includes the company’s recent collaboration with Timorous Beasties, which produced a capsule collection launched at the Clerkenwell Design Week earlier this year, and Meridian, a geologically inspired range of woven jacquards, and plain and sheer draperies for the hospitality sector.
Rollie Attard, CEO at Panaz, commented: ‘We are thrilled to [have taken] part in this year’s Design Trail, even more so to welcome people to our new showroom. At Panaz we take pride in offering high-quality fabrics that meet the exacting needs of our customers across a range of sectors. This includes hospitality, healthcare and workspace, as well as cruise.
‘The space is stunning and a great opportunity for people to see what we are all about and see our range of fabrics with information about the latest developments.’ www.panaz.com
New identity, mural and shopfront designs in Twickenham
Align Design and Architecture has undertaken a high street regeneration scheme for real estate investor Essential Living in King Street, Twickenham. The components of the scheme range from a new set of shopfront design guidelines for retailers, together with new street furniture, new identity and a striking, large-scale mural located at one end of the retail parade.
‘The overall intent was to create a harmonious sense of unity for the parade’s shopfront elevations…whilst also forming part of an integrated whole,’ commented Nigel Tresise, director of Align Design and Architecture. www.aligngb.com
Studio Found designs new Fitzrovia ‘Parisian inspired bistro’
Image Credit: Billy Bolton & Studio Found
Hospitality design specialists Studio Found has worked with the Woodhead Restaurant Group to create the French-bistro-inspired restaurant on the site previously occupied by a travel agent.
Located at its namesake 64 Goodge Street in Fitzrovia, London, within 18th to 19th Century grand apartment buildings, its deepgreen shopfront reflects British countryside meeting Parisian bistro. The site was acquired by Woodhead Restaurant Group, which tasked London-based Studio Found with a ‘French-bistro-inspired design that boasts elegance and rustic feel whilst feeling effortlessly luxurious’ taking cues from head chef Stuart Andrew’s time spent cooking in Paris.
Design director and founder of Studio Found Ed Plumb commented: ‘The brief for 64 Goodge Street was interesting: timeless design that reflects a laid-back luxury found on the streets of Paris whilst prioritising comfort within all design aspects. We steered away from a cliché design of a restaurant of this style and instead reflected the rusticinspired cooking through our material selection of farmhousestyle features such as a combination brick and rough timber flooring and sawn timber planks for dining tables…[with] aged brass and marble also included.’ www.studiofound.co.uk
The biggest design celebration is here: the FX Awards
FX has been busy planning stage sets, lighting, costumes and colour – and now it’s almost time to celebrate the 2023 industry awards. The FX Awards, which returns to the JW Marriott Grosvenor House London, on 29 November, will welcome a packed audience of architects, designers, specifiers, suppliers and clients.
Compered by Hugh Dennis, who will be on stage presenting the finalists and announcing the winners, guests will be ready for dancing and dinner at this year’s ‘Oscars of our Industry’. Tickets have nearly all sold out, so grab the last ones while you can! Check out the FX Awards website on how you can be there and we look forward to celebrating with you. www.fxdesignawards.co.uk
Nissen Richards Studio Welsh music venue scheme submitted for planning
Cardiff grassroots music venue Clwb Ifor Bach has submitted ambitious expansion plans, designed by RIBA Award-winning architects Nissen Richards Studio, which will see its current site expanded and upgraded.
The new designs by Nissen Richards Studio seek to retain Clwb Ifor Bach’s character, charm and heritage, while modernising and future-proofing it for future generations. They include the takeover of an adjacent derelict site on Cardiff’s Womanby Street, where the venue is currently celebrating 40 years of successful operation. Cardiff Council purchased the land adjoining the current venue and agreed to lease it to Clwb Ifor Bach in a bid to protect the city’s live music heritage. The proposed revamped 1,270 sq m venue will include improved facilities, such as green rooms, increased toilet capacity, new bars, offices and workshops, plus increased capacity to allow for higher-profile acts.
‘The old and new building exteriors will have different treatments to create a sense of “honest drama”,’ said Jim Richards, director of Nissen Richards Studio. ‘The existing building will feature a textured charcoal black render, whilst the new building will feature new, fired brickwork…[and] a faceted front, with a thin LED strip demarcating the two buildings to create an “active” frontage.’
Fundraising has been launched to support the redevelopment and the venue now has 18 months to raise the monies needed to turn its ambitions into reality. www.nissenrichardsstudio.com
Entries open for Design Guild Mark Awards 2024
The Design Guild Mark has opened entries for the 2024 awards, inviting designers and companies to submit entries for three categories: Furniture, Lighting and Interior Design Elements. Entry is open to British designers working in the UK or abroad, and designers with UK-based design practices.
Submissions can be for individual or a collection of products that are currently in production that are designed for, and manufactured by, an industrial design process. Designs can be for domestic, office, hospitality, educational or corporate use, either for both interior and exterior environments.
Designers and companies have until 24 November 2023 to submit an entry to meet the early bird deadline and until 19 January 2024 for the final deadline.
The Design Guild Mark is a non-profit award programme, established in 2008 by The Furniture Makers’ Company to raise the profile of British industrial design and to recognise excellence within the discipline. www.furnituremakers.org.uk
Oshinowo Studio designs Adidas’s first West African flagship
Photographer: Tolu Sanusi Image © Oshinowo Studio
Lagos-based architecture practice Oshinowo Studio (formerly cmDesign Atelier) has designed sports and streetwear label Adidas’s first West African flagship store in Lagos, Nigeria.
Located in the sought-after Victoria Island area, Oshinowo Studio’s design draws inspiration from Lagos itself, the home of urban culture in Nigeria and centre of creativity. The two-floor, 380 sq m project is a retrofit of an existing 1970s building and is conceived as a combination of clean lines overlaid with a facade that adds texture, with the design reflecting the depth and complexity of the upcycling, reuse and regeneration that can be found throughout the city. www.oshinowostudio.com
