Building on its noteworthy debut last year, Clerkenwell Design Week returned on Tuesday, armed with its ever-widening reach of new designer line-ups and venues in the mix. Spanning from 24 - 26 May, the three-day festival, with its exclusive new launches from Clerkenwell-based showrooms as well as new furniture last seen at the recent Salone Del Mobile in April, acts as a well-placed preview opportunity for visitors who didn't make it to Milan.
Granted, there isn't the same level of surprise that Salone del Mobile's never-before-seen launches garner every year, but the festival's dedicated celebration of craft and abundance of fringe installations, events, debates, open studios and parties - a nod the area's impressive concentration of furniture showrooms and design studios - is indicative of the strength and pull of the local design community which no other area in London comes close to matching.
Marking this year's installation line-up, fashion designer Lulu Guinness played on the idea of the studding motif of her current accessories collection and translated this into a giant 'Pin Art Machine'. The life-size structure allows visitors to press themselves against the pins to create instant impressions of their bodies. Across the road in St John Square North, The Emotion Maker, a futuristic inflatable structure by experimental composer Marco Barotti and Berlin-based architecture group Plastique Fantastique, manipulates sound to evoke the feeling of a classical concert within its shell.
En-route to the new House of Detention venue, we spotted the London Fieldworks 'Spontaneous City' project - an experimental cluster of sculptural habitats designed to give shelter, nesting and feeding spaces for birds in urban green spaces.
Aside from the main design action in St John Street's Farmiloe Building is the festival's introduction of a new venue, never before seen by the public, which used to be a subterranean Victorian prison. Aptly named The House of Detention, the unusual layout of space - complete with existing prison cells - has crucially allowed lesser known design companies to get in on the action too.
.... which is back for the second year, setting up home again in the Farmiloe Building on St John Street
For three days, designers and design companies such as Moooi, Nigel Coates, Ligne Roset, Material Lab and Pinch have taken up residency in this Victorian warehouse
The courtyard space, spruced up and ready for its second year as a café space
Apart from the main warehouse, an adjoining space also showcases work from the likes of Lee Broom, Ella Doran and Pli
Lee Broom's 'Parq Life' - a collection of parquetry-inspired furniture and lighting for young design brand Deadgood
Clockwise from left: Love Chair, Wire Light, Capsule Sofa, all by Ziglam & Brook; Anodised Table by Max Lamb, all for Deadgood
Pennyfields café table and chair by Alex Whitney for Pli Design
HM 63 by Nigel Coates for Hitch Mylius
Battista lamp for Slamp by Nigel Coates
Bolon's new 'Artisan' textile flooring collection
Joining forces with graphic artist Emily Forgot, Camira's 'Hey Day!' installation is a retro nod to the British seaside made from a layered composition of fabric, and featuring a swinging pendulum leg
Poly Light by Scene
Moody for Andreu World
Miami Sofa and Seville Table by Katerina Zachariades for Morgan
An overview of bathroom and home accessories from Ex.t
Birdie shelves by Hiroshi Kawano for Ex.t
Bon Bon limited edition for Japan bathroom cabinets by Hiroshi Kawano for Ex.t...
... which each have hidden storage space within
Osprey table and bench and Waldo/45 table and bench by James Burleigh
Range 23
Left to right: Wingback, Lucan Armchair and Alwyn Compact Sofa by James UK
Gothic Chairs by Studio Job for Moooi
Over at Ligne Roset's stand, we had a little rest on the Ploum Sofa by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec
New products from Pinch Design include the Willo Table and Imo Bar Stool, pictured here in the foreground
Tip Ton by Barber Osgerby for Vitra
Crane by Benjamin Hubert for Örsjö
Baklava Small by Claesson Koivisto Rune for Örsjö
Katakana Desk and Occasional Chair by Dare Studio
Wire Group 5 by Dare Studio
The piece that stole the show at last year's design week - 'Random sample 2010' by Nina Saunders and Camira
A few strides away from the Farmiloe building under the arched Clerkenwell Gate walkway, stands the 'Pin Art Machine' by fashion designer Lulu Guinness
The giant structure essentially allows visitors to press themselves against the pins to create instant impressions of their bodies
The life-size variant of the popular Pin Art toy, the installation ties in with the studding motif of Guiness's current collection
Across the road in St John Square North, composer Marco Barotti adds the final touches to The Emotion Maker - the result of a collaboration by Barotti and Berlin-based architecture group Plastique Fantastique. The giant inflatable structure manipulates sound to evoke the feeling of a classical concert within its shell
En-route to the new House of Detention venue, we spotted the London Fieldworks 'Spontaneous City' project - an experimental cluster of sculptural habitats designed to give shelter, nesting and feeding spaces for birds in urban green spaces
A new venue addition to Clerkenwell Design Week, this imposing building contains the recently unveiled House of Detention space
Formerly a subterranean Victorian prison...
... the unusual layout of space - complete with prison cells still intact - has allowed up-and-coming design companies like Vitamin, pictured here, to display their wares virtually from 'behind bars'
Needle Table Lamps by Vitamin
Designer Lizzie Mary Cullen's installation, which invites visitors to be part of the artwork process
Crooked Stools by Ana Tevsic
Nottingham laces from the Grand Damask and Indochine collections by Timorous Beasties...
... which have been replicated on concrete to minute detail by Shoreditch-based moulding specialists Graphic Relief
Chest of Drawers by Bark
Clockwise from left: Dining Table, Sideboard, Chest of Drawers, Coffee Table, Lounge Chair, all by Bark
Artist Sarah Wiestner's perspective-altering mirror and light staircase installation, a surprise last-minute addition to Clerkenwell Design Week, worked well with the existing structure of the building
Maquillage Dressing Table by National School of Furniture student Christiana Ionescu
Wellington Chair by Devon-based Young & Norgate
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