Last week Clerkenwell was heaving with visitors for the design week events.
The Farmiloe building was the first point of call as that's where you had to collect the wristband to enter the event but it's always a pleasure visiting this space because it always looks different.
Having exhibited here last September with Designersblock for London Design Festival I instantly felt very much at home. The one stand that immediately caught my attention was Johnson Tiles working with Material Lab.
Johnson Tiles based in Stoke on Trent take broken faulty fired ceramic waste from Stokes's ceramic manufactures and recycle it back down to create glazes for their own production.
Any one who is involved with ceramics I'm sure will be not only interested in this process but also excited to see that this large quantity of waste is no longer going to landfill as once fired ceramics can never biodegrade. This has been a concern of mine for a long time but it also means as a ceramic designer myself I can also utilise this service and send any waste created in my own studio up to Stoke.
For anyone interested all the information can be found on their website. www.johnson-tiles.com and Material Lab are based in London www.material-lab.co.uk
Running along side Clerkenwell Design Week was Chelsea flower show and the Chelsea Fringe Festival.
Just around the corner on Charterhouse Street is The Garden of Disorientation installed for the Chelsea Fringe and will continue until June 9th. www.chelseafringe.com
This space was an old meat packing warehouse and has been transformed into a relaxed space filled with Mint designed by Deborah Nagan. We arrived first thing in the morning so felt it was probably too early to try one of the Cuban Mojitos on offer there.
Over in Portobello Dock was the Dock Garden Festival where you are immediately confronted with a piece of work called The Floating Forest by Nippagesage where a series of a 1000 sliced tree trucks are floating in the canal. What I liked about this piece was it's positioning directly in front of the Dock shop so not only could you experience a different perspective on another level but from the outside the reflection in the glass made you question where this piece of work began and ended.
