London Design Festival is set to join the crazy golf craze as it and curator Sir Paul Smith launch a Kickstarter campaign to bring their Visionary Crazy Golf to Trafalgar Square.
If their bid to raise £120,000 is successful, the designer golf course will take over the London landmark from 16–22 September to coincide with the Festival itself.
Among the acclaimed and emerging designers and architects Smith called upon to participate in the Landmark Project are British artist Mark Wallinger, famed designer Tom Dixon and Japanese studio Atelier Bow-Wow, among others. The late Zaha Hadid also designed a golf course of her own – a sinuous course undulating across two levels and elegantly snaking between the Square's lions – which will be overseen by her practice in her memory.
'All of the designers I have invited to take part have been given free reign to be playful, original and have fun,' explains Smith. His own hole will transform the steps of the National Gallery into a riot of coloured stripes, with a turf-topped, neo-classical clubhouse echoing the museum behind.
Equally vivid will be Camille Walala's course, which will bear her trademark tribal pop prints. Other stand out designs include Ordinary Architecture's cross-section of a pigeon, designed to 'digest' golf balls; Atelier Bow-Wow's netted driving range; and Tom Dixon's funnel and pneumatic tube contraption.
As of today (25 April) members of the public are invited to pledge funds through Kickstarter, in turn receiving a 'reward' by one of the designers involved. (Smith, as curator and ambassador of the scheme, has created a line of limited edition accessories including socks and scarves.) And, of course, the opportunity to have a go on what is sure to be the most entertaining golf course of all time come September….
The Visionary Crazy Golf campaign site launches today, 25 April. Pictured: the late Zaha Hadid’s undulating course design
British designer Tom Dixon has conceived an elaborate funnel and pneumatic tube contraption
Ordinary Architecture’s cross-section of a pigeon, designed to ’digest’ golf balls
The key feature of Camille Walala’s course, will be her trademark tribal pop prints
Japanese studio Atelier Bow-Wow intend to go large, with a netted driving range
Mark Nixon’s Neon studio – the firm responsible for 2015’s mesmerising ’Shiver House’ – will doubtless be seeking to harness the fascinating bio-mimicry of their extant work
’All of the designers I have invited to take part have been given free reign to be playful, original and have fun,’ explains Smith, pictured here in Trafalgar Square
INFORMATION
The Visionary Crazy Golf campaign is LIVE on Kickstarter
-
Designer Marta de la Rica’s elegant Madrid studio is full of perfectly-pitched contradictionsThe studio, or ‘the laboratory’ as de la Rica and her team call it, plays with colour, texture and scale in eminently rewarding ways
-
‘Nothing just because it’s beautiful’: Performance artist Marina Abramović on turning her hand to furniture designMarina Abramović has no qualms about describing her segue into design as a ‘domestication’. But, argues the ‘grandmother of performance art’ as she unveils a collection of chairs, something doesn’t have to be provocative to be meaningful
-
A local’s guide to Los Angeles by defiant artist Fawn RogersOregon-born, LA-based artist Fawn Rogers gives us a personal tour of her adopted city as it hosts its sixth edition of Frieze
-
‘R for Repair’ at London Design Festival displays broken objects, re-formedIn the second half of a two-part exhibition and as part of London Design Festival 2022, ‘R for Repair’ at the V&A displays broken objects, re-formed
-
‘Finding quality through the act of making’: Pearson Lloyd celebrates 25 years of designPearson Lloyd’s show ‘Change Making’ reflects on past designs from its archives, showcasing the influences on and evolution of the studio, from furniture design to the NHS
-
Tom Dixon marks his studio's 20 years with a show of design experimentsMushroom, cork, steel coral and more: Tom Dixon showcases an overview of his design experiments as he celebrates his practice's 20 years
-
Porro unveils new London showroom at Coal OfficeLondon Design Festival 2022: industrial architecture meets pure geometries in the new Porro showroom, taking over a space within Tom Dixon’s Coal Office to showcase the brand’s systems and furniture
-
Vitra unveils new London home in the Tramshed, ShoreditchLondon Design Festival 2022: after a year-long renovation, Vitra opens the door to its new showroom in the heart of Shoreditch
-
Mudlarking beside the River Thames inspires The New Craftsmen’s makersLondon Design Festival 2022: The New Craftsmen’s new collection, ‘Claylarks’, features work from a group of creatives inspired by a River Thames mudlarking expedition
-
One tree, ten designers: SCP presents The One Tree Project at London Design FestivalLondon Design Festival 2022: SCP enlisted ten British designers to create furniture and objects from a felled ash tree from founder Sheridan Coakley's Hampshire garden
-
London Design Medals 2022London Design Medals 2022 are awarded to costume designer Sandy Powell, architect Indy Johar, researcher Joycelyn Longdon and photographer Sir Don McCullin
