If you’ve been following us over on our twitter, you’ll know that we’ve recently made our annual pilgrimage to Clerkenwell Design Week. For three days a year, some of the most talented furniture manufacturers, designers and fabric makers open their doors to showcase their latest wares. Giving us the chance to hunker down on hundreds of comfortable chairs, CDW festival also gives us the opportunity to learn about the nitty gritty of functional design in all manor of spaces. Here are some of our highlights from the last three days.
Allermuir launches their new showroom
Situated on Fox and Knot street, we were very excited to see Allermuir taking part in CDW this year. Showcasing deconstructed Axyl meeting chairs and their signature soft seating range, Allermuirs’ cutting edge craftsmanship really stood out against the crowd. One third of family owned furniture manufacturers ‘The Senator Group’, this is Allermuirs’ first Clerkenwell Design Week, having recently moved from Euston. From humble beginnings in 1976 with founder Colin Mustoe, their new cutting edge showroom marks an incredible achievement in the companies history.
Everything about their new spaces oozes charm from their (generous) gin and tonics to celebrate their grande opening, to the exceptional resources that they have available for interior designers and furniture consultants such as ourselves. Amongst our favourite pieces on the day were brightly upholstered Conic chairs, deconstructed Axyl meeting chairs, Axyl dining table and contemporary Mozaik modular seating.
Space that works with Connection Furniture
The Connection furniture showroom breaks the mould of your classic Clerkenwell based showroom. Every year they board up their windows in the weeks prior to CDW in order to re-vamp their existing showroom and create forward thinking spaces for the year ahead. Working closely with trend forecasters Scarlet Opus this year didn’t disappoint with their striking ‘Platforms breakout’ taking centre stage in their Great Sutton Street space. Perfect for co-working in comfort, this centrepiece certainly reflected their motto ‘space that works’.
Connections’ downstairs space showcase their new pieces such as ‘Hygge rocking chair’, ‘Tubes stools and poser height tables’ and one of our all time favourite meeting booths ‘Tryst’ expertly space planned to make little nooks for concentration, collaboration or creativity. Illuminated with neon signage, their redesigned showroom is not to be missed if you are passing through Clerkenwell.
The Camira from #FarmtoFabric life cycle
Leading contract fabric manufacturers camira took us back to their Yorkshire roots by introducing us to some real life sheep! Their ‘From farm to fabric and everything in-between’ campaign tells us the story of one of our favourite woolen Fabrics ‘Blazer’, starting with the sheeps fibrous wool through to the finished product. Once we had torn ourselves away from the lambs, we had a chance to use a hand loom, giving us a new found appreciation for every inch of fabric we have our pieces upholstered in.
Specialising in contract, education and healthcare fabrics, we choose to specify the majority of our pieces in Camira fabrics thanks to it’s durability. You can have a look at our previous fabric trend forecast here.
Pop down to our showroom in Brewhouse Yard for @CDWfestival and find out about our #farmtofabric story – become an expert maker on our hand loom and don’t forget to say hello to the sheep! #cdw2018 pic.twitter.com/JUDhOggfS2
— Camira Fabrics (@camira) May 23, 2018
Travelling Gin with Naughtone
Ok so maybe a delicious cocktail from the Travelling Gin Co wasn’t the only highlight of our tour of British manufacturers Naughtone – here we also found one of the most comfortable chairs we have ever swiveled in with their new Fiji armchair. As you might have gathered we’ve sat on quite a lot of chairs and this is one we found difficult to remove ourselves from. Maybe its the luxurious velvet upholstery or the fact its just downright cool, but Naughtone have managed to suppress our appetite for a piece that could happily fit in at home or the workplace. Other pieces that caught our eye (and our office shopping list) were the ‘Trace tables’, beautiful ‘Hatch sofas’ and of course the Iconic ‘Knot tables’.
If you are considering an overhaul of your space, speak to us about a tour of our manufacturers. To see more of our favourites from Clerkenwell Design Week take a look at the coverage over on our Twitter @LYWorkspace.
