Sensing Spaces

Sensing Spaces: Architecture Reimagined, curated by Kate Goodwin at the Royal Academy in London, runs until 6 April and is an ambitious exploration not just of contemporary international architecture but of how architecture can be exhibited. Taking the form of a series of site-specific responses to the Royal Academy's lush Beaux Arts interiors by seven architectural practices from around the world (including Grafton Architects from Ireland, pictured above and Álvaro Siza Vieira and Eduardo Souto de Moura from Portugal), the exhibition brings a slice of an international biennale or triennale to one of London's major art galleries.

Here's the Heads Up #19

The blog is back to life! After MONTHS of having no internet in my flat I'm finally connected to the rest of the world again, so without further ado, I'd better get blogging. Let's kick things off with a heads up of art, design and architecture events going on in both Dublin and London for me/you/people to get stuck into...

Textiles and Patterns by Alexander Girard

Opened late last year and running until 9 February, Pop Art Design at the Barbican is an exhibition exploring how commercial design influenced the art of the 50s and 60s and how that art in turn influenced design. If it's a period of art and design you're unfamiliar with the exhibition provides a really nice introduction, while there are a couple of things on show that might be new to the already initiated. One such revelation to me was the work of Alexander Girard, an architect who trained in Italy and Britain before moving to New York and beginning to work across architecture, interior and exhibition design, typography, furniture and fabrics. He became Director of the Fabric Division at Hermann Millar in the 1950s and most of his best work was done for them. Pop Art Design includes some of his wallpaper patterns, ceramic objects and mural designs while a little look online brings up a whole host of brightly-coloured playful patterns for fabric and other applications. Girard's work is fun and frivolous and I can't believe I'm only finding out about it now! Though I realise as I've looked through his archive of work, some of his stuff (such as the wooden Vitra dolls pictured at the bottom) is familiar, I just never knew the designer behind it. I'm certainly glad that now I do...

Tom Eckersley at LCC

Last week I went along to the opening of Tom Eckersley: Master of the Poster at London College of Communication. Running until 29 January, this exhibition explores the work of graphic designer and educator Tom Eckersley and shows a range of his work for London Transport, the Whitechapel Art Gallery, the United Nations and the College itself (formerly London College of Printing). In fact, LCC is home to a substantial archive of Eckersley's work, as he founded the College's graphic design undergraduate programme, the first of its kind in the UK.

Reimagining Traditions at LDF

This article was first published in Architecture Ireland #271.

From 14 to 22 September the 11th edition of London Design Festival proclaimed that 'Design is Everywhere' and it certainly seemed that for those 9 days it was. While in a showcase the size of LDF there is a myriad of projects, products and trends to be seen (here's a post about one of the highlights), one thing that struck me about a number of the exhibitions and products I saw was a reimagining of tradition, in terms of process, material or aesthetic. A number of designers and curators presented work which stemmed from, revisited or played with the notion of the traditional, whether it was taking traditional forms or aesthetics and playing with them or engaging with traditional materials and processes. At a time when technology and its advances seem to be at the centre of so much of what we do, many of us keep coming back to our past.

100% Norway

A real highlight at the recent 10th edition of London Design Festival was 100% Norway, also celebrating its 10th birthday. An annual exhibition presenting the best and most interesting of Norway's product design, mixing established and emerging designers working across a variety of scales, materials and objectives, I'm really glad to have made it to this year's show (thanks to the guys from Designgoat for pointing me in the right direction: I would have totally missed it otherwise). Commemorating 10 years of exhibiting in London by bringing together 10 established designers and 10 emerging ones, 100% Norway presented a range of confident, attractive work. Some pieces totally fucntional, others more playful or expressive, all of it was designed and made to high standards and proved that while Norway hasn't been cultivating its design industry for as long as its other Scandinavian neighbours, they haven't let that hold them back now.

Here's the Heads Up #17

Welcome to the first London/Dublin edition of Here's the Heads Up, with some info on current and upcoming design exhibitions and events that a) I've been to, b) I plan to go to or c) I wish I could go to but am sorry to say I'll miss. Enjoy!

British Sheep Breeds

At the beginning of the month I headed along to the opening of the Craft Scotland Summer Show, showcasing the work of more than 30 Scottish-based designers and makers. One of the highlights of the show is a collection of work by Irish-born, Edinburgh-based textile designer Fiona Daly. Fiona and I studied together in Dublin but her work would have stood out from the rest of the show even if we hadn't :) Fiona's recent work is a collection called British Sheep Breeds which combines woven wool and screenprinted cotton to create beautiful functional items which also inform you about wool and its origins. Her collection of cushions are double-sided: one side is a particular wool woven in a simple pattern and the other side is organic cotton with the sheep the wool came from screenprinted on it (see Mr. Welsh Mountain as an example below). Accompanying the cushions is a range of sheep-themed (but not at all sheepish) screenprinted tote bags with the relevant wool woven to create a tag peeking out of the side (pictured at the bottom).

IDEATE Festival, Kilkenny

50 years ago saw the opening of the Kilkenny Design Workshops, the first government-sponsored design workshop of its kind in the world. At the height of its activity, KDW brought together Irish and international designers to create work, generating high quality graphics, textiles and products. In fact, Danish designer Holger Strøm designed his iconic IQ lamp while based at KDW in 1973. Though it may not have stimulated a design culture quite as it intended (there are/were a lot of other factors at play in Ireland's slow design development, just one being Ireland's limited industrial-scale manufacturing capabilities), KDW cemented Kilkenny as a creative hub in Ireland, leading to the opening of Ireland's National Craft Gallery on the KDW site and inspiring the Crafts Council of Ireland to base their operations in the city.

Here's the Heads Up #16

Designgoat at the opening of Making Things Better as part of Design Intelligence at the National Craft Gallery. Photo by Pat Moore, courtesty of the NCG

IRELAND

Tuesday 18 June: NEWNOWNEXT, Tatiana Bilbao
Samuel Beckett Theatre, TCD, Dublin 2
The latest series of talks presented by the Irish Architecture Foundation (and supported by Arup) is entitled NEWNOWNEXT, bringing exciting young architects from all over the world to Dublin - some for the first time - to speak about their work. The series kicked off with Jeanne Gang and booked out in no time: keep an eye on the IAF's site for free tickets to hear architect and urban advocate Tatiana Bilbao of Mexico speak about her diverse portfolio of work.

Tuesday 18 June: Urban Knights
Science Gallery, Pearse Street, Dublin 2
If you'd prefer something else on the 18 June, Science Gallery's Urban Knights series of talks from people in Ireland and abroad making changes in cities continues with presentations from John Lynch of the Copenhagen Institute for Interaction Design, founder of Rothar Anne Bodes and others.

Degree Show Dates for your Diary

Image via University of Ulster

This is a busy time of year as final year art, design and architecture students mount their work and art and architecture schools open their doors for their annual degree shows. Here's a list of dates and locations of final year shows both in Ireland and Scotland for those of you keen to see work from the newest entrants to the creative industries. It's as exhaustive a list as I can come up with, but if your show isn't here, drop me a line and I'll add it. Unfortunately I've put this list together too late for a couple of shows (apologies to those of you looking to see shows in Ballyfermot, Athlone and Duncan of Jordanstone in Dundee...) but most of the schools in Ireland and Scotland are covered. Thanks to James Benedict Brown for providing some of the architecture dates (you'll find his pretty comprehensive list of architecture shows in the UK and Ireland here), while Creative Review's rundown of art and design shows in the UK may also help you plan your degree show trips. Enjoy!

Here's the Heads Up #15

Image of OFFSET2013 via Creative Review

Welcome to I Like Local's first bi-island Heads Up, with information on exhibitions and events both at home in Ireland and here in Scotland. I'm sad to be missing the Irish events listed, but the Scottish events at the bottom provide some consolation :)

IRELAND

Until Friday 5 April: Future Makers
NCAD Gallery, 100 Thomas Street, Dublin 8
This exhibition, curated by Angela O'Kelly, shows the work of the most recent recipients of the Crafts Council of Ireland's Future Makers awards and grants, and includes the work of fashion designer Natalie B. Coleman, glass artist Karen Donnellan, product designers Klickity and others. More info here.

Friday 5 - Sunday 7 April: OFFSET2013
Bord Gais Energy Theatre, Grand Canal Square, Dublin 2
I'm not going to lie - it's a real shame I wont make this year's edition of the OFFSET festival. Three days of inspiring speakers from Ireland and abroad, great events, cool parties and heaps and heaps of design enthusiasm, it's an absolute MUST if you can make it. Tickets are still available, as are lots of videos from previous years (I know what I'll be watching next weekend...)

Designs on 2013

Parlour Lighting, image courtesy of I Do Cartwheels

This article was first published in Architecture Ireland #267

2012 is over and a new year has begun, and ‘tis the season for making plans, reviewing past projects and kicking off new ones. With that in mind I spoke with a number of designers, collaborators and curators to get a sense of what they’re planning and hoping for in 2013. Some have kicked off the year with major projects, others are putting the wheels in motion for events later in the year, but it’s clear from all who I spoke to that 2013 will be filled with much design activity.

Here's the Heads Up #14

 
Poster by Chris Judge for Damn Fine Dublin

Lots to see and do design-wise in Dublin at the moment. No time cos you still have your Christmas shopping to do? Well amid the selection below you'll find some Christmas markets and pop-ups, where there are plenty of stocking fillers to be found.

A Place to Gather at LDF

A Place to Gather, photographed by Linda Brownlee

This article was first published in Architecture Ireland #265

This year’s London Design Festival saw the Crafts Council of Ireland present an exhibition of Irish craft and design in a venue in Shoreditch. A Place to Gather was curated by Jonathan Legge and brought together a wide range of Irish furniture and objects in a warm, welcoming and homely setting. Over the course of the exhibition’s short run over one thousand people visited the space on Chance Street to see Irish craft and design across various scales and utilising a broad range of techniques and materials gathered together.

Archizines

Image via IAF

Last night saw the launch of Archizines, an exhibition presenting new architectural magazines, journals and independent publications from all over the world. Curated by Elias Redstone and presented in Ireland by the Irish Architecture Foundation and the National College of Art and Design, the exhibition is on opens to the public today in NCAD Gallery, Dublin 8 and runs until 11 January.

Dont try to be Original, Just try to be Good

Exhibition shot including portraits of Rand by Steven Heller

Easily one of the highlights of this year's Design Week (which ran from 5 - 11 November) has been Don't try to be Original, Just try to be Good, an exhibition exploring work by iconic American graphic designer Paul Rand. Curated by the guys from Curate and Design (who you may remember from a small exhibition of work by Dieter Rams in 2011) and funded through Fund It, the show opened in Ebow Gallery in Dublin 2 on 2 November and runs until Friday 16 November. The exhibition features a small number of specially-licensed reproductions along with a pretty decent number of original books and magazine advertisements designed by Rand, giving someone like me - with only a basic knowledge of graphic design history - a really nice introduction to and overview of Paul Rand's work.

Seven/Eleven by Keep Sketch

11/11: print by Dave Comiskey based on Spinal Tap, who always believed in turning it up to 11

Seven/Eleven is the latest project from stationery/design/funtimes initiative Keep Sketch and its collaborators. Keep Sketch celebrated this year’s edition of Design Week by assigning each of seven designers and illustrators a date of the festival (5 – 11 November) to base a three-colour archival giclée print on, with Alex Synge, Fuschia MacAree, Kathi Burke, Stephen Maurice Graham, Dave Comiskey, Mark Crawford and Ross Henderson producing an amazing series. The inspirations - and final prints - are varied, from celebrating the lives and deaths of different prominent figures (or illustrator Kathi Burke celebrating her own birthday on 6 November), portraying the events of interesting dates in history, or simply turning it up to eleven (see above, by Dave Comiskey). All seven awesome prints – produced in editions of 30 – are on display in the Irish Design Shop in the RHA until the end of Design Week (Sunday) and are available to buy for €20 each, which you should because they really are awesome :)

Two Irish Events at LDF

Though this year's edition of London Design Festival (LDF) kicked off last week, two noteworthy Irish exhibitions open tomorrow evening (18 September) and run until the end of the festival. First up is the second event of its kind from online design and craft retailers Makers & Brothers. Following on from Making 01, their pop-up event at New York Design Week (where woodworker James Carroll made a small batch of stools over the course of a few days within a shop/exhibition space), Makers & Brothers heads to SCP East to exhibit some of their stock. Meanwhile, in keeping with the 'Making' theme, Kathleen McCormick will spend the duration of the exhibition making willow baskets. Making 02 takes place until 23 September at SCP Shoreditch, 135-139 Curtain Road.

How To Say The Most With The Least

Recently showing at London's Kemistry Gallery was 'How to say the most with the least', an exhibition of work produced in a collaborative 6-day workshop in São Paulo run by Brazilian studio Mesa & Cadeira and led by British designer Anthony Burrill. The result of the workshops was a series of bi-lingual posters employing some of Burrill's trademark simplicity and minimal use of language to create strong messages. As someone having to come to terms with Portuguese, I was particularly interested when I came across this project. The workshop participants have explored the language barrier between English and Portuguese and found bridges between the two languages, creating a series of work that plays with (twice as many) words to great effect. Scroll down for some lessons in Portuguese... and life, judging by some of the statements in the posters :) A set of 12 prints as well as individual prints are available to buy from Kemistry's online shop.