Creative Watch

Clerkenwell is the home of the creative set in London whether it be architects, designers or artists.  For three days (19-20 May) the entire area is buzzing during the Clerkenwell Design Week Festival.  An international event that showcases the latest creations and designs.  Whether you are looking for a space age office, an eco house or the quirkiest lamp in the world, you will find it.

A concept car that isn't sure if it is a scooter or a car, a chair covered with hand woven textiles from Guatemala and rug made to any design you want were some of what I saw while sheltering from the torrential rain and hailstones yesterday.

An Army of Gnomes

 Fiercely  guarding their property, the gnome army was out in force.  Flag flying, frogs ready for the second assault. Don't mess with us!

Art for Charity

"Art is Charity" and during the design festival you could watch artist Ricardo Cavolo create this mural, without any risk of getting paint on your clothing or in your hair.  The finished piece was to be divided into sections and auctioned off with the proceeds going to the charity Kids.

Get Funky

Clerkenwell is where the trendies live and the designers work, so no surprise that the funky Design Week Festival is held here.  From high end interiors to quirky accessories, international exhibitors to local alternative, it is all here.
 You won't find these designs in Ikea or your local high street store.  A great opportunity to see the latest ideas and to meet and chat with the designers.  Plus you get to go inside a number of buildings not usually open to the public.
The festival runs until 22 May.  Perhaps a new lamp or bespoke coffee table is beckoning? I could settle for the Tiger chair.

Endless Stair

The London design festival has begun and here is one of the more playful items: endless stairs in front of the Tate Modern.  Quirky and playful everyone wanted to climb to nowhere.
The design festival runs until 22 September, however the stair installation will be open until 10 October.

It's the 10th annual design festival in London. Running for 10 days it features hundreds of events showcasing the best in design from furniture to wallpaper to glassware, from British and international designers. Designer Lee Broom was British designer of the year in 2011 and he's nominated again this year, so I went along to his studio to see what he would do this year for the festival.

He has styled his studio into a general store, with sawdust on the floor and mahogany shop fittings than give you a sense of stepping back into the Victorian era, and collaborated with the Cumbria Crystal factory for hand blown,crystal light bulbs, hand cut and engraved by their artisan glass makers. An extra bonus, you can buy these beautiful pieces at his store.

James Bond - 50 years

Fifty years of Bond movies! All those gadgets and designer clothes plus trailers from some of the iconic movies they're all on exhibition at the Barbican "Designing 007: Fifty Years of Bond Style".
While standing in the queue to get in we debated how many movies could we name and how many actors played James Bond. How many can you name?
What about many of the other big name actors who also appeared - Robbie Coltrane as
Zukovsky? Diana Rigg as Mrs Bond? etc ...
Who could forget Q's futuristic (at the time) super spy gadgets and accessories ... the car phone, underwater breather, the radio active homing pill, and the Bell Textron jet pack being just a few.

This is a great exhibition that shouldn't be missed. It finishes 5 September so get down there.

Solar Tree

This solar tree sculpture popped up during design week. Pretty and functional, 'solar tree' can function independently for up to three days. Alternatively it can feed power back into the grid.

It will remain in St John's Square in Clerkenwell until after the Games.

New St Martins Opens

Central St Martins university of arts previously in Charing Cross Rd officially opened the new campus in Kings Cross last night. The £200 million project includes the transformation of the grade II Victorian Granary buildings. The three-storey building is based around an internal street, naturally lit through a translucent roof and consists of 10 acres of floor space.
From Kings Cross and St Pancras stations a new path way with funky lighting leads the way into the university.
Previous students of Central St Martins have included: Colin Firth, Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen and Yinka Shonibare. Hang around here to see who the new stars coming out of this university will be.

Leggo Glasshouse

Pretty cool don't you think? A leggo glasshouse. During design week we get to see some pretty amazing ideas around the streets of London. Look for this one in Covent Garden.

Fashion

Two very styly design students