09/08/2013

Summer 2013: London’s Hidden Treasures

London is absolutely brimming with artistic and architectural wonders, green spaces that lift the soul, vintage haunts and museums aplenty. But it’s the lesser known delights that truly astound. So, to get you through the English summer, we’ve found five fab London treasures worth checking out.

The Wallace Collection

Found within a stunning, time forgotten stately home in Central London, The Wallace Collection is famed for being a repository of l’ancien regime at its most opulent. Here you can amble through expansive rooms, delightfully furnished halls and ponder the Rembrandts, Watteaus, Titians and Fragonards that line the walls. An art and armour filled haven, the Wallace Collection is also a fab foodie find – it has a roofed, sun-bathed courtyard where you can indulge in petal adorned cocktails and salads that let you believe summer continues all year round. Tranquil, a tad self-indulgent and, for now, a London secret.

Petersham Nurseries

Leave the city behind (sort of) and make for the verdant haven that is Richmond, one of the most picturesque, history-rich pockets of the capital. Here you’ll find the quaintly delightful Petersham Nurseries, set in the actual Victorian nurseries of Petersham House. There is an attached Michelin starred restaurant, housed within a greenhouse and boasting a dirt floor. As soon as you tire of the food or magical floral setting you can simply make for the surrounding Thames-side water meadows. London at its most bucolic.

Regent’s Canal

Built by a creative with no experience of Canal’s (London architect extraordinaire John Nash) and the idea of a gentleman deported to Australia for embezzlement, the Regent’s Canal is nothing short of a design feat. 22km long – the entire system stretches from Little Venice to the Olympic Park (via the Thames) – the Canal leads walkers and cyclist past changing London landscapes, Regent’s Park, the newly re-developed King’s Cross, water-hugging restaurants, galleries, bustling basins and secretive spots touched by history. Wander here and encounter an untouched, unexpected London.

Camden Passage Antiques Market

Everyone knows the vintage wares of Portobello Road and the retro finds of Spitalfields. But what most are yet to discover is Camden Passage Antiques Market – London’s real antiques treasure trove. Found in the north London area commonly referred to as The Angel (oh, the whimsy), this narrow pedestrian passage is filled with oversized jewels, delicate earrings, floral headpieces, and locals keen to chat about their wares and the world. With an array of characterful restaurants and boutiques leading onto the passage itself, this is the ideal spot to dream (and shop) away a Saturday.

Kensal Green Cemetery

One of London’s earliest (and smartest) cemeteries, this out-of-the-way north west landmark is quite often empty, yet never unnerving. Containing over 250,000 bodies in a jumbled assortment of poetic gravestones and gallery-esque monuments, this crammed, uneven graveyard is the final resting spot of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Thackeray and Harold Pinter. To bask in the hidden rose garden in the summer sun or wander beneath chestnut trees on a winter afternoon is unexpectedly blissful.

So get out, get discovering and encounter the very best of lesser-known London.

Liz Schaffer – Images Kris Atomic, Stephanie Wolff, Garry Knight, Kotomi 
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19/07/2013

Copeland Book Market

Even though our beloved cities are turning into steam baths and there is nothing we would rather do than soak in some sun while listening to the ocean somewhere far far away, we might still be stuck working behind our desks and, thus, find ourselves in the need to fill our weekends with something jolly to do. Well, even if this phrase makes you even more angry for being still trapped on your working spot, there might be something nice for you to do. Well, at least if you’re in London.


Copeland Book Market is an art publishing fair, which inaugurated its third edition yesterday. For four days, a curated group of book publishers, ranging from the established editors producing high-end monographs to small independent groups making zines and low edition artist books, will present their work and projects. Additionally, the project has set itself the mission of presenting publishers and works that are usually under-represented in London, hosting an International Table with projects developed by publishers who were not able to attend the event. Hence, among the participants you can find established publishers like Book Works, Four Corner Books, Gottlund Verlag or Morel Books, standing next to small and fairly unknown publishers, in an eclectic mix of products and ideas.


The event is tipped of with a series of performances, lectures and talks, held in a café, especially designed for this year’s edition by Rob Chavasse and Tom Saunderson. Named Central Café, it will be situated at the heart of the market as a “site for recording invited conversations and sound pieces, introducing a live performative element and animating the ideas exchanged in a market environment”. Even though spending another weekend in the city might not be your dream, if you do manage to check out Copeland Book Market, you might actually find a nice book to read when you finally reach your summer destination.


Rujana Rebernjak 
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26/04/2013

On the Northen Line

“It’s morning time on the Northern Line”. Sometimes a phrase in a song is enough to give you an idea of a place, of its look, even of its smell. If it’s true that every journey has its soundtrack, Jamie T’s “Alicia Quays” is the perfect song if you want to land on the silent chaos of London for six minutes, represented the best by the Tube as its most descriptive scenery. Jamie who? I’m talking about Jamie Treays, stage named Jamie T, one of the roughest diamonds that the underground London has given birth in the last decade: sort of a crazy, brilliant minstrel of London’s working class, especially the one of the East End zone, where people talk with cockney accent and the use of words like “chav” and “scally” is even more frequent than the use of common conjunctions and verbs.


50 stations, the most of them subterranean, 36 miles of rails and tunnels: Northern Line, otherwise known as the “Black”, for the color on the metro maps, transports 252 million people every year. Ex “Misery Line” – as it was named in the 80’s and the 90’s because of the awful conditions of the rails and stations – today, in spite of its name, is the most extended line of the Tube down south of Tamigi, and the line that reaches the most Southern station of the Tube, Morden. From here to the Northern border, High Barnet, the Black slashes an entire city underground, stopping even on the famous (in good as in bad) stops of Camden Town and King’s Cross. Works starting on 2015, the line will be extended until Battersee, in South West London.


Northern Line tells stories about the lives of workers and businessmen, of the aged and the young, of happiness and solitude. While Jamie T sings about it (dedicating a whole song by the same name), journalist William Leith writes about it in his book “A Northern Line Minute” like following: “People never tell you to have a pleasant journey in the underground, just as people will say ‘enjoy your meal’, but never ‘enjoy your cigarette’ if you’re a smoker”. And this instead, is a slightly poetic article, dedicated to the escalators of Angel stop, along the Black. These stories confirm that even, maybe above all, in a dark, subterranean and lonely place (in spite of the thousands of people who use it everyday), one can find out urban poetry from human souls. Just there, where people stare at the ground without talking to anyone and, maybe more often than they’d care to admit, they find themselves thinking “What am I in my own dear eyes?” (Jamie T, Alicia Quays)

Antonio Leggieri – Photos Daniel J. Wolpert & Paul Downey 
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15/03/2013

Parking in London

Parking in London

It’s that time of year when we in the Northern Hemisphere consider braving the outside world again. Even if the weather isn’t quite warm enough for frolicking just yet, it is dreams of the happy summer months ahead that keep us going through the last miserable cold days. In the interest of encouraging your sunny fantasies, we’ve put together a list of delightful London parks that we know you’ll be dying to get into by April (and, lets face it, with the right preparations, you could enjoy these parks right now. After all, the Scottish say, ‘there’s not such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing’).

1) Regent’s Park
Located in central London, Regent’s Park has many reasons to recommend it: a boating lake, the elegantly sculpted Queen Mary’s Gardens, the London zoo and even an open-air theatre in the summer months. Its location, its (relatively) small size and the gorgeous flowers on view in the gardens, make Regent’s Park an ideal spot for a workday coffee or lunch break; it is your own personal idyll in the middle of the bustling city.

2) Hampstead Heath
The rolling hills, ponds and large trees that hide the surrounding houses, all combine to make Hampstead Heath feel like a tiny bit of wild English countryside growing free in the city. Dogs gambol happily across the fields, their owners fast on their heels. The wonderful view from Parliament Hill over the rest of London makes the city feel a million miles away. Hampstead Heath is the perfect place for a summer Pimm’s and cricket party.


3) Greenwich Park
Located as it is next to the Cutty Sark museum, the National Maritime Museum and the University of Greenwich, visiting Greenwich Park is like stepping back in time to grand Regency era England. Greenwich Park’s main avenue boasts an impressive view across the Thames to the financial district. The oldest of London’s parks, Greenwich is also home to the Royal Observatory and the Meridian Line. A must-see park for naval and historical enthusiasts.

4) Richmond Park
If you’re feeling cramped and all you want is space, space, space, then Richmond Park is the place to be. The largest enclosed area in London, this is a park to forget yourself in amongst the roaming deer, the ancient trees and lovely wetlands. If you’re a fan of cycling, the cycle paths will be a treat and for those of you without your own set of wheels, there are bicycles for hire at the park entrance. A park for explorers and adventurers stuck in the metropolis.


Jennifer Williams 

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18/01/2013

A Three-step Hidden London

A Three-step Hidden London

It’s not breaking news, we know, but how could one resist the temptation of speaking, with a pinch of pride of one’s discovering skills, of the hidden places of one of the most interesting cities in the world? Like no place else, London goes along with this game. Its amazing racial and cultural melting pot makes it a perfect home for local street markets, pubs, lovely small parks and essay cinemas that just a few lucky tourists visit. Just walking around Whitechapel, Lower Thames and Oxford St we found out three absolutely delicious places.


London is one of the most vintage-full cities of the world. We could give you many addresses to visit for your vintage treasure hunt, but instead we have chosen Hanbury Hall Market because, although it’s central (at 22 Brick Lane), you’ll find it cradled in the midst of small alleys that hide it from the hectic city life, especially if you arrive from Whitechapel. The market has been set up inside an old church; now, in place of candelabras and worshipers, you can find cloth hangers and hipsters looking for vintage dresses. Within, between flannel shirts and faded jeans, you’ll find a lovely café corner with patty-cakes, tea and coffee.


Have you ever heard about the small park of St. Dunstan in the East? You’ll reach it in a half-hour walk from Brick Lane. If you use the tube, step off on Monument; after exiting the station, find Lower Thames St, that will lead you straight to the park. When entering, it will be like finding yourself in the secret gardens that inspire the urban fantasy writers and movie directors. Between the ruins of the church, the beauty destroyed by the bombings of the II World War, it seems like being far away from the city.


To finish our tour we couldn’t but add a pub. Bourne & Hollingsworth, 28 Rathbone Place, in the artistic neighborhood of Fitzrovia, is so tiny you could miss it if you blink while walking past. It’s a quirky basement bar with a beautiful shabby-chic styling and mouth-watering cocktails. Some of them come in chintzy tea cups with cucumber sandwiches on the side. Londoners love it, do you?


Antonio Leggieri – Images Tag Christof

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01/06/2012

Guest Interview n° 41: Tamsin Cook

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Guest Interview n° 41: Tamsin Cook

Design consultant Tamsin Cook was born on a farm in the UK and now lives in Belgium. Other than rummaging through quirky little markets and antique shops in Brussels and Antwerp, her daily routine consists of traveling and scouting for fresh trends in cities such as Paris, London and Amsterdam.

You currently work as Senior Design Consultant, would you care to develop that for us?
I have always worked in-house for companies until last year. Now I am starting out on a freelance basis. This includes designing and trend researching for different customers, it can be on a short or long term contract, depending on the needs of the client.

What is your background in fashion?
Well, I grew up on a farm in Devon, UK. I was always into making my own clothes, styling friends and my brothers. I have a big love for denim and workwear, I believe this came from my roots when growing up. I still like to check out my dad’s work jeans for finishing ideas actually! I studied a BA (Hons) in Fashion at the Surrey Institute of Art and Design just outside of London.

Your job includes scouting for new up-coming trends, how does one go about that, lots of travelling?
It’s an on-going process. Travel is a big part; this can be to city visits around the world to shop, visit stores, exhibitions and photograph people on the street. Visits to trade fairs where the newest developments in fabrics, yarns and prints are exhibited are important. Plus every day research, magazines, blogs, music, festivals, catwalks, art and exhibitions…

Brussels and Antwerp have quirky little flea markets and antique shops; I love to rummage through these on a Sundays. It’s great being so close to a lot of amazing cities as well, I can easily take the train to Paris, Amsterdam or London for the day for some fresh inspiration and people watching.

Is there a special source that often tends to provide trends, for example youth/street culture?
For sure youth, street culture and music are huge influences on fashion. Again, it depends on who you are working for. At Lee, where I worked for 7 years, a large part of the research was vintage denim and finding inspiration from great second hand pieces. I think so many people influence the fashion industry, from the film industry and artists to musicians, bloggers and photographers, the list is endless. The key is to keep your eyes open and not to get stuck with the same sources. I try to find new blogs or emerging artists/music every day. There are endless micro-trends emerging all the time.

How is the trend spotting applied in practice, have you recently for example found something in a vintage shop that later on turned into a design idea for one of the brands you work for?
At Lee when I was working on the kid’s collection, I found some great vintage pieces, like cute little dresses or blouses, we translated these into the collections. I always think you get a better result if you mix eras and ideas. Vintage buttons, trims, vintage denim, all these are huge sources of inspiration for the collections I have worked on. Second hand items are such treasures.

If you pick up a trend in, let’s say, an Asian country, is that one later applied to the Asian market, or do you experiment between the different continents?
That’s an interesting point! In a way it is a big melting pot. Everyone is taking ideas and inspiration from each other. Japan and Asia influences European style and vice versa. But that is great, and that is where you can really make some individual fusions and looks. A lot of Japanese brands have the most amazingly beautiful collections but would not necessarily be commercial to mass market here in Europe, but if tweaked, adapted and personalised you can create some interesting trends.

How do you look at the future of your business, and your own, any dreams waiting to be fulfilled?
People are much more confident and savvy in creating their own style and much more aware of trends than previously with all the social networking and online media available today. The fashion industry is going to have to get smarter, the consumer needs surprising and seducing in new ways. There has been the trend of pop up stores and now home shopping and styling parties are starting to be hip…What’s next, I think the consumer will decide!

For my own future, I like having the freedom of working freelance, I wouldn’t say no to work for a brand again though. I sometimes miss the daily interaction with people and the connection you make with a brand. Right now I have nearly completed my web page for my blog Rue des Bleus. It’ll be my platform for things which inspire me and also where I plan to build on some styling ideas. I’m intrigued by people and their look/style, so I’m hoping to scout some models which I can style for my blog.

Petsy von Köhler – Image courtesy of Tamsin Cook & The Vintage Showroom

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21/07/2011

Protein / Animate Everything

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Protein / Animate Everything

Animated GIFs spread like wildfire in the early days of the net. As we away on the blazing fast 56K modem speeds of the day, the junky little motion clips – each containing a series of frames running in running in a continuous loop – stood in for our inability to download real video. They were in every creepy religious chain email your aunt sent, on Myspace pages, and they even dotted the e-porn landscape like devious 1990s kinetoscopes. Then high-speed internet hit, and they mostly faded into the sunset – save their obnoxious flashing banner ad cousins – replaced by high quality images and real video.

But it turns out they have a longer shelf life than just their technical simplicity. They’re somewhere between films and photos, and as such offer a typological bridge between the two. Over the past several years, especially with the advent of Tumblr, designers and all sorts of other people one the web have brought them back, someitmes to pretty spectacular effect. And several artists are even working in the medium (can I really call it that?).

Opening tonight, the endlessly clever UK creative firm Protein has curated the first exhibition of some of the most notable work being done in the format. The time seems right, after all. Artists include Parra, Jiro Bevis, Mimi Leung, Nous Vous Collective, DDF, Will Robson Scott, Tyrone Le Bon, as well as several others.

Opening tonight, 21 July at Protein’s gallery space on 18 Hewett street in Shoreditch, London, just off Curtain Road. Vernissage starts at 7pm, and the show will run until the 15th of August.

Tag Christof – Animated .GIF courtesy Protein

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07/07/2011

Kenneth Grange / Design Museum London

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Kenneth Grange / Design Museum London

Anyone even remotely interested in design knows Jasper Morrison. Tom Dixon. Zaha Hadid. Philippe Starck. But as talented as they all are, they are celebrities before they are designers. Rockstars. That’s why everyone knows them – not because they’ve managed to transform the world. (Check out Design Observer’s fantastic article “The Poverty of Starchitecture” for some interesting perspective.) Kenneth Grange, on the other hand, has worked for decades in relative obscurity yet has probably impacted lives more profoundly than any other designer of his generation (especially if you find yourself in Grange’s home country of the UK).

It’s easy to take for granted that everything in our built environment was designed. Everything from the Jonathan Ives-designed computer you’re probably reading this on down to more institutional things such as the sturdy benches lining your local park. Those things, like the park bench, which hide in plain sight are arguably the most important designed objects that make up our built environment. Endlessly more than the conceptual, witty, exquisite “design” trinkets we all-too-often think of as design, these things actually have shaped our lives.

This month, Design Museum London is at long last opening an exhibition on Grange and his long career’s work. And while he doesn’t necessarily have a signature style, his chunky, function-above-all ethic shines through in all of his enduring work. He was the designer of Kodak’s seminal Instamatic cameras, the iconic London Taxi, the Intercity 125 train, and several household appliances like irons and mixers that every British household once (and sometimes still) uses, as well as postboxes, park benches (!), computer monitors and others. He even designed the UK’s first parking metres (which must be why he never reached star status…). Oh yeah, and he co-founded the Holy Grail of design firms, Pentagram.

Opening July 20th at Design Museum London, and running through October 30th. Not to be missed!

Tag Christof – Images courtesy Sprungseven & Olivier Goupil

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