I attended the 100% Design London show on Friday, and I’m really glad I made the effort to make it to their annual show. It was amazing, and I spent well over 6 hours happily getting lost in design.
My only issue at the moment is how I should regulate the hundreds of photos I took while I rambled around the exhibit and schmoozed with designers and their amazing products. Since I tend to over organize things, and since the products I saw hold so much information and deserve more attention than being amongst a slew of other photos, I’ll show them in categories and I will stop typing now since that is boring.
First up was the m. bench by Bondi, based in Argentina. At first glance, these ottomans were elegant, beautiful, and nothing out of the ordinary. But once I reached down to touch their soft silky-smooth grayness, I realized these beautiful pieces were cold, hard, heavy and made of concrete.
I couldn’t believe the level of detail on these pieces, which attributed to their false sense of softness. The minuscule pattern within the flock gives depth and captures light in the pattern so well, giving a silky smooth texture. I would have never thought it would be possible to achieve such detail with concrete. Thumbs up, Bondi.
I passed by the Gray Concrete stall a couple of times, without their product completely registering with me. They had two large chesterfield sofas parked in front of their stall, and it seemed that people were just taking advantage of the available seating. It wasn’t until later when in passing I touched the armrest and yet again, realized it that these traditional looking couches were in fact concrete cast.
As impossible as it sounds, these couches are very comfortable – considering they have no give or flexibility. Each person who sat on the couches would initially sit down rigidly; your first thought is that they would be uncomfortable. Slowly, each person would wiggle into a comfortable posture and proceed to manhandle the couches. It really couldn’t be avoided.
One of my favorite details of these concrete chesterfield sofa’s was the loose change lost behind the cushions {seen in photo above, right}. Such a tiny idea, which would only be found once you’ve been sitting for a good while. The icing on the cake.