Nature Science

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CURIOSITIES NOW

Curiosity Cloud, by mischer’traxler for Champagne Perrier-Jouët by Ed Reeve. Courtesy of The London Design Festival.

by Ed Reeve. Courtesy of The London Design Festival. Curiosity Cloud, by mischer’traxler for Champagne Perrier-Jouët.

The London Design Festival 2015 was loaded with beautiful curiosities, many with scientific or nature-based themes. We’ve curated a collection of our top 10 favorites for you below.

1. CURIOSITY CLOUD

The Curiosity Cloud, an interactive installation suspended in the Victoria & Albert Museum during the London Design Festival 2015 was a wonder.

Designed by Austrian design duo mischer’traxler, it was formed from 250 mouth-blown glass globes made by the Viennese glass company Lobmeyr. Each globe contains a single hand-fabricated insect, made of hand embroidered printed foil.

Inspired by the Art Nouveau movement, and sponsored by boutique champagne house Perrier-Jouët, the project is part of Small Discoveries, an ongoing collaboration which celebrates human interaction with the natural world.

The Cloud, and the insects within it, seem calm from a distance, but as visitors enter the darkened room and approach the installation, the insects seem to come to life, fluttering and trilling and colliding with their glass enclosures.

2. MY GRANDFATHER’S TREE

An ancient tree will live forever, thanks to artist Max Lamb.

My Grandfather’s Tree, an installation at the Somerset House during LDF, is comprised of objects fashioned from pieces of the giant ash tree that graced Lamb’s grandfather’s farm.

The tree had begun to decline and endanger the house, so it was felled, cut into 130 logs, then minimally processed and fashioned into stools, tables and chairs. The tree’s 187 annual growth rings are clearly visible in each piece.

3. BAROQUE SKULL

There’s beauty in the mundane, the lost, the broken, and the discarded. Avant-garde designer Catriona Faulkner is fascinated by it all. She transforms it through fine hand stitching, goldwork, beading, and assemblage, turning them into dramatic, embellished wearable pieces and curiosities.

The pieces are extravagant -- super-embellished, influenced by a mix of references. Check out her Baroque Skull, exhibited at LDF’s Designed|Crafted 2015 show.

4. LOHNER’S SILENT PASSIONS

Lohnerwerke was the first hybrid vehicle, developed in 1900 by Porsche and Lohner, a company that built horse coaches for emperors. It has been reimagined in an au courant start-up, with new technology, for a more beautiful riding experience. It debuted 2 new 2-wheeler designs at the LDF 2015.

The silent Lohner Stroler, designed by Clarissa Prunbauer, is the first two-seater e-bike. The Lohner LEA, designed by Valentin Vodev, is a powerful electric scooter that rolls vs rushes you down the street, quietly and effortlessly.

5. DESIGNING WITH NATURE

Designing with Nature, a striking 3D printed installation, by Exploration Architecture, showcased a selection of fascinating projects and prototypes from the studio’s research on sustainable, nature-inspired designs at the Interface Showroom.

Exploration Architecture is a leading practice working in the field of biomimicry, founded by Michael Pawlyn.

The LDF exhibition included a variety of specimens – some of which have influenced Exploration's designs, including shells, lizards, coccolithophores – tiny phytoplankton that live in large groups in the ocean’s upper layers, taxidermy beetles, and other insects.

6. ZOTEM

Zotem, a massive sparkling installation, by London-based Norwegian designer Kim Thomé in collaboration with Swarovski, stood guard at the grand entrance of the Victoria & Albert Museum to greet LDF attendees.

‘Zotem’ is a portmanteau of ‘totem’ and ‘zoetrope’ – a 19th century animation device that pre-dates film. While the effect looks digital, Zotem is entirely analog.

This 18-metre-tall double-sided monolith, embedded with more than 600 custom-made over-sized Swarovski crystals, reached up to the museum’s sixth floor. Inside its black matte aluminum frame, vividly printed mesh forms a continuous loop, moving up one side and down the other, creating an ever-changing pattern of colored light and shadow reflected on surrounding surfaces.

7. OGHAM WALL

Modern-ancient monoliths, stood, like fins, at the Victoria & Albert Museum’s Tapestry Gallery, to form an installation, titled Ogham Wall, designed by Stirling Prize-nominee Grafton Architects and concrete experts Graphic Relief.

The Wall includes, 23 rough concrete fins, patterned with tree bark patterns and the Ogham alphabet, which dates back to the 4th century, which radiate off a central anchor.

The Ogham Wall was commissioned by the London Design Festival and Irish Design 2015.

8. A BULLET FROM A SHOOTING STAR

The future hangs in the balance.

British sculptor Alex Chinneck's landmark project, A Bullet from A Shooting Star, seemed to be reminding us of this notion. The giant 35 meter-high pylon towered, askew, over the Greenwich Peninsula during LDF. It is made from 450 pieces of steel, with 900 engineered connection points, all weighing 15 tons.

Chinneck delights in elevating everyday objects to the level of monuments, reframing them as extraordinary. His site-specific installation sits at the center of world time, the Greenwich Meridian. It serves as a torch, lighting the way towards the future of a new residential district for London.

During the day, the work casts an intricate maze of dynamic shadows across the surrounding roads and footpaths, engaging visitors walking beneath.

9. LIVING IN A MATERIAL WORLD

Biology as designer. Biology as artist. Biology as maker. It’s a future that’s happening now.

Matter is a new research studio and consultancy exploring the relationship between materials, ideas and processes. Their ‘Biological Atelier’ is an initiative that seeks to explore how bio-materials and tools will affect design and manufacturing. Their exhibition at LDF, titled Living in a Material World, was as fascinating as it was stunning.

Textile skills, such as embroidery, and new luxury materials can now be fashioned from cells.

How would you feel about an ethically grown ivory bracelet, for example?

One of our favorite pieces on exhibition was conceived by textile designer Amy Congdon who explores the crossovers between design and science. She is a Senior Design Researcher at Biocouture, a bio creative consultancy.

10. SUSTAINRCA SHOW & AWARDS

The annual SustainRCA Show & Awards , held during the London Design Festival, showcased work created by students at the Royal College of Art, focused on solving social and environmental issues through design and art.

This year’s theme, New Narratives, recognized the need for new political and economic paradigms.

Innovation Design Engineering graduate Edward Hill won in the Solutions for Society Award for his software system, Skytree, which simplifies the planning process behind urban biodiversity corridors.

Sculpture graduate William Darrell won the Moving Minds Award for his film Aurora Flower. Design Products graduate Yu-Lin Chen won the Inspired Product Award for WE CHARGE, an outdoor charging system for electric scooters. Architecture graduate Clementine Blakemore won the Visionary Processes Award for collaborative architecture in Project Lacey Green.

Read more about Beautiful Design, as it relates to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact, including The Best Eclectic Finds at the 2015 London Design Festival.

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