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Design News
October 2004

London Design Festival 04
by Human Beans

Sweet Dream Security Fence - Matthias Aron Megyer

After trawling the second London Design Festival, we can't tell what's good anymore. So instead, we bring you a collection of the weird and the wonderful. Hey, you can't make this stuff up.

Fragile and Anxious

Designs for Fragile Personalities in Anxious Times, by Michael Anastassiades, Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby.

Dunne and Raby teamed up with Michael Anastassiades to produce a collection of prescription products which seems straight out of a president's cupboard. Challenging design to face up to the fact that we're all paranoid—rather than deny it—their cuddly mushroom clouds are a modern fear management enabling those of us with a phobia of world destruction to literally embrace our fears. Whilst the clouds take the curative approach, their awkward parquet hidding boxes, just big enough for a person, can only help to increase paranoia.
http://dunneandraby.co.uk

Sheep, Handle and Clay

Sheep stomach lighting, by Julia Lohmann
Julia Lohmann has taken the pursuit of new materials to an absurd extreme with her lighting made from—you guessed it—sheep stomachs. You just can't stop those young designers from innovating.
http://www.julialohmann.co.uk

Push Push door handle, by Jung-Hyan Han
We found this pragmatic innovation at designers block—a humble door handle. Push the knob to unlock the door and enter the room. Once pushed to the other side, the knob is latched—locking the door from the inside. Beautiful.
http://www.designjh.com

Claystation
This year Claystation returned to designersblock in a new 'I am an architect' flavour. Players were each given a chunk of plasticine to make their mark on the London skyline. Pictures were taken every 30 seconds over the three days to make a mamoth stop motion animation. http://www.claystation.org

Shirts

Laser cut shirts, by Vexed Generation
Also at designersblock, Vexed Generation showed off the latest in their line of cutting edge streetware. These soon -to-be-available shirts are laser-cut.
http://www.vexed.co.uk/

Guns and Masks

Gun remote, by Onkar Singh Kular
Strike a pose with this remote for the small screen sniper inside us all.
http://www.kularsoflondon.com

Polution mask, by Samira Boon
Dutch designer Samira Boon's pollution masks really are masks to hide behind. They turn the wearer into a lion, a baboon, a pig... bringing the animal back into the city.

Teddies

How much can a Teddy bear?, by Leonhard Pfeifer
Furniture and domestic accessories carefully sculpted from vacuum suffocated Teddies. Leonard leave those bears alone! You are the winner of our annual ugly mug award—congratulations.
http://www.leonhardpfeifer.com

Human Beans live work and sometimes meet deadlines from their home base of London.