Copenhagen Cool

Shortly after arriving in Copenhagen, I was commissioned by Image Interiors & Living to write a guide to buying design in the Danish capital. Here's a fairly comprehensive list of places to find contemporary, classic and vintage design in a city made for interiors shopping, along with an amazing illustrated map by fellow CPH resident Philip Kennedy (above, click to enlarge). If you find yourself in Copenhagen, happy shopping!

Buy Design in Ireland 2015

It's always handy to know where to go when you fancy a little design shopping, but it's especially useful this time of year. I've put together guides to buying design in Dublin and in Ireland before, but here's one with a few of my old favourites, new finds and seasonal pop ups to make sure you have plenty of options when it comes to buying gifts this year. Without further ado...

Nordic Makers

The timing has been pretty funny: as I move to Copenhagen, a Danish duo open a design store in Ireland. Based between here and Dublin, Klaus Kristian Sørensen and Louis Weyhe Funder opened the doors of their shop, Nordic Makers, in Dún Laoghaire three months ago, bringing limited edition work from small studios and emerging designers all over the Nordic region to an Irish audience. And as Klaus and Louis tell me here in Copenhagen, that Irish audience is lapping it up.

Christmas Gift Guide...ish

I had thought of doing this last year, then life (or laziness) conspired against me and it didn't happen. So I thought I'd make an extra effort to get in gear this Christmas season and started doing some research into things for you and me to buy for him, her, them and everyone else... But then I thought that there are probably plenty of blogs and magazines and online shops listing gifts for different categories of people and presents at various price points, and would I be able to contribute much to the 'BUY THESE OBJECTS NOW!' conversation? I'm not so sure, so here's something slightly different:

The Coolest Charity Shop

While visiting Ealing as part of my History of Architecture course we came across Mary's Living and Giving, one of the coolest charity shops I've EVER SEEN. Charity shops in west London can often be pretty great, as west London's full of rich people who buy high quality things and then get rid of them soon after (a complete and utter generalisation I know, but you do stand to find some top notch stuff this side of the city...). But Mary's Living and Giving goes a step further by employing clever design to present their amazing stock to great effect. RCA interior design students Naomi Grieve and Flett Bertram used swathes of coloured fabric, plumbing pipes and filament bulbs to create a unique and inviting space, giving the shop a trendy boutiquey feel. It's unlike any other charity shop I've been to and it's well worth a visit if you find yourself on that end of the Central line...

Present & Correct

Present & Correct is a stationery shop selling a range of great original designs, delicious items from around the world and vintage finds too. Two designers have turned their long-standing obsession with school and office supplies into a constantly evolving store, beginning online in 2008 and last week celebrating their first birthday in their real life premises on Arlington Way here in London. Their website and shop are both full of SUCH TASTY STUFF and I would like to own pretty much all of it. You can browse and buy online but if you're in the area, their physical shop is well worth a visit for a look at their stock in the flesh, a chat about stationery lust and a go of their stationery gumball machine (slot in some pound coins and get a surprise treat - in my case it was colourdy gum dots. WIN!).

The Barbican

In the relatively short time that I've been in London, I've done what I can to explore and learn about this massive city. Though I've only scratched the surface, I'm certain I've found a place that will remain one of the city's highlights for me, no matter how long or short a time I live here. The Barbican in the City of London (London's financial and commercial centre, within ancient boundaries, is a city within a city) is an area with a long and complex history and is now the site of a brutalist complex of residential buildings, amenities and The Barbican Centre, a massive and wonderful arts venue. As a recent convert to brutalism and a long-standing fan of the arts, this place is heaven for me...

Irish Design Retailers

This article was first published in Architecture Ireland #272

One of the first columns I wrote for Architecture Ireland, two years ago, took a look at some of the new stores being opened up around Dublin by passionate (and intrepid) design enthusiasts. It was called Dublin Design Retailers and has become by far the most popular post on this blog. Since then they've been joined by other design shops and online ventures and I thought it was high time to take another look at those selling design in Ireland, selling Irish design online and everything in between.

Edinburgh Contemporary Crafts

On the recommendation of my friend Fiona I attended a day of workshops at Edinburgh Contemporary Crafts two weeks ago. Recently moved into a new building on Blair Street in the Old Town, Edinburgh Contemporary Crafts is an organisation providing space and facilities for artists and designers in Edinburgh while also running a series of workshops and courses in various printing techniques, bookbinding, ceramics and more. This particular day ECC was offering a menu of six different workshops over the course of a sunny Saturday and for a pretty reasonable price you could come along for the day, take part in four of those workshops, have all your materials provided and be filled with tea, coffee and food at regular intervals. About 30 of us participated for the day and it was a great opportunity to try new techniques, revisit old ones and make some cool stuff to take home.

MAKLab

MAKLab, based in The Lighthouse in Glasgow, is Scotland's first public digital fabrication studio, allowing low-cost access to otherwise quite costly equipment (along with the training and support to make the most of it) to designers, makers and inventors. Set up with a view to helping people turn ideas into objects and hopefully profit, MAKLab couldn't come at a better time. Since its founding in 2010 the UK has seen continued and significant levels of youth unemployment, but facilities such as MAKLab can help and encourage young people to make new products and develop new businesses. To this end, MAKLab was a finalist for Google's UK Global Impact Award and received £100,000 in prizemoney, which will go towards further developing MAKLab in Glasgow as well as possibly opening MAKLab facilities in other UK cities. Scroll through for more images of their facilities and visit their website to book equipment, events and more.

Life Story

Last Saturday was Record Store Day, and after visiting my nearest record store in Stockbridge I went for a wander in the Edinburgh neighbourhood known for its charity and vintage shops, boutiques and cafes. My second favourite find of the afternoon was a Phaidon book on modern architecture in the Shelter bookshop on Raeburn place - it's a massive and beautiful book and only cost me £8! But as great as that sounds, I stumbled upon something even better: Life Story on London Street. A design shop run by textile designer Fi Storey and designed by Adam Storey, Life Story is a bright and airy space containing a great range of clothes, accessories, stationery and homewares all clearly selected with a careful eye.

The MAC, Belfast

At the end of November last year I went on my holidays to Belfast - a city I hadn't visited before, or at least not one I'd spent time in while old enough to remember much now. There was lots to see and do, but a highlight of the trip was easily a visit to The MAC - Metropolitan Arts Centre - designed by Hackett Hall McKnight Architects and opened about a year ago. Purpose-built in Belfast's Cathedral Quarter and wedged between a number of other buildings, you can get a number of different impressions of the building depending on what direction you approach it from, as it employs a number of different materials to create a collage of blocks and planes. It's the interior of the building that's really special, continuing the idea of a collage of shapes, materials and textures facing into a central foyer and circulation space.

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.

Oven Dishes by Ardmore Pottery

I first spotted these oven dishes, made by Mary Lincoln of Ardmore Pottery, over on I am of Ireland, an online Irish craft retailer. Amid its broad range of stock in a variety of materials, it was these dishes that really stood out. Beautifully simple, the dishes boast a perfectly circular shape, interrupted only by two small tabs for handling, glazed in a great shade of soft sea green. The dishes are designed and made along with a range of pottery by Lincoln at Ardmore Pottery and Gallery in Co. Waterford, where Lincoln runs her pottery studio along with a craft shop. You can buy them there as well as online through I am of Ireland. Also, you can see these and more items in the flesh at I am of Ireland's pop-up shop in Clashmore, Co. Waterford on 10 and 11 November.

Lisbon: Top 5 Top 5s

View from Elevador de Santa Justa

Here's a post I've been planning to do for a while, but I kept getting distracted by goings on in Dublin and putting more layers of clothes on... There are so many great things and places and sights in Lisbon that I want to tell people about so I thought I would compile a few Top 5s to give you a sense of what the city's like to spend time in. And then I'll calm down with the effusing about the place, I promise. Without further ado...

African Lookbook

Launched this summer, African Lookbook is a website and online store that explores and celebrates creativity across the vast continent of Africa. Founded by two Americans who have lived and worked there, African Lookbook compiles oral histories (interviews, to you and I) with African creatives and stocks a growing range of great products and projects in its store. Highlights so far include men's knitwear by Laduma Ngxokolo, pictured above and below, brightly patterned parasols by Gareth Crowdon (further below) and a wall-mounted piece by Michael Van Heerdan entitled 'The Building Blocks of Africa' (pictured at the bottom). There's a brightness and vibrancy about much of the stock on the website, and its great to see an initiative looking to share with the rest of the world the fantastic creative output of the African continent. Expect to be hitting the 'Add to Cart' button often :)

Largo do Intendente

A part of my neighbourhood I find myself often gravitating towards is Largo do Intendente. It's probably due at least in part to the tiles - the place is covered in all types of them and they're in great condition... It's also a nicely (and newly) redeveloped space that seems to have a lot of art and music events going on. I looked a little further into it and discovered that, as part of one of Lisbon's more socially problematic areas, the city council has recently pushed for a wide redevelopment of the area, with the Largo being one of the first major projects undertaken to reach that goal. The city's president is so committed to the idea that in 2011 he moved his office into a building on the square (he's based in behind the tiled building above). The square is home to a couple of cafes - some old, some new - along with a great art centre encompassing studio, exhibition and accomodation space for artists, called Largo Residências. Residências also seems to engage with the local community, just one initiative aiming to enliven and (re)connect the community along with the recent Festa do Intendente and Lisboa na Rua (Lisbon in the street).

Glam & Travis and Re-searcher

Portuguese artist duo Glam & Travis are currently exhibiting a series of intricate cardboard creatures in Re-searcher, a shop and gallery space in the Baixa neighboorhood of Lisbon. With impressive precision (and no doubt countless paper cuts) the duo have created a collection of brightly-coloured birds, bears and imaginative creatures with a great cartoony quality.

Here's The Heads Up #12

A special edition of Here's the Heads Up; here lie recommendations of design events in two cities. If I could have my cake and eat it too, I would, but unfortunately I'll have to give the Dublin events a miss this time round...

Cinema São Jorge

Designed by Fernando Silva and built in 1950, Cinema São Jorge has to be one of the coolest cinemas in Lisbon. Rather than show standard releases or follow the kind of programming we're used to both in multiplexes and art house cinemas, São Jorge plays host to a year-round wide-ranging schedule of boutique film and culture festivals, such as the recent first edition of SAL - Surf At Lisbon Film Fest. So far, I've been in São Jorge for a screening of 'Surfing & Sharks' as part of SAL, a music festival showcasing new Portuguese acts and more than one tasty pizza in the upstairs cafe whose balcony overlooks Avenida da Liberdade.