Sunbury Workshop
Sunbury Workshop
London E2 7LF
London Design Week
The Boundary Estate, Peabody's splendid 19th Century solution to the hovels and hideouts, sits inside the old historic 'Jago' of Bethnal Green - an historic place of fearsome reputation, of abject poverty and loathsome crimes of 19th Century London. A place you didn't enter. unless absolutely necessary. A century later the area is home to smart 'designer' shops and restaurants, and bubbles with young well heeled and talented people full of boundless energy - it's the place to be.
The Estate, still a little tatty around the edges, is the home to a new community of artist/designers who have established themselves in Sunbury workshops, a row of two story brick buildings located at the edge of the estate The group is mainly product designers and include recent Design graduates from the Royal College of Art.
So "London Design Week" gave a great opportunity for this savvy group of designers to promote their works. It was also an opportunity for RCA Society members to look at new young design ideas as well as to meet up with recent graduates from the College
Sunbury Workshop's 'open studios', takes place during working hours between 18 - 26 September. Of course it is not always possible to see some of the installations or products fully working so the 'private' view on the 21st Septeber gave us an opportunity to see works in progress - in particular the (de)construction of a Rover Car and its gradual transformation into a steam driven 'ecomobile' hand painted by two extraordinarly skillful illustrators..... Other works on show were by:
Nelly Ben Hayoun - who explores alternative realities and possible futures that new technologies and science may hold. You may have experienced a flight in her Soyuz chair or installation at 'Love Box' in Victoria Park. As a result of working with seismologists and vulcan experts her eratic explosive 'Other Volcano' added tension to the opening evening. (Graduated RCA Design Interactions 2009)
Olivia Decaris - is fascinated by the physical experience of the human body in the contemporary world. Her squeezy cow udder dispensers churning casting machine certainly enhanced the experience of drinking milk. (Graduated RCA Design Products in 2009)
Hina Thibaud - "I create my Mini Theatre" - a colouring suitcase kit for children, grouping together all the necessary accessories for drawing. The inside layout of the suitcase translates into a landscape. Each item represents a part of the city: the fence is made of pencils, the windows of the buildings are small stamps... The child can participate to the layout of the suitcase by adding his drawing on the background. The idea is to enable the child to bring with him his world, rebuilt through utilitarian items, to feel more comfortable in a place he doesn’t know. By customizing the suitcase thanks to his drawings it becomes a personal belonging. (Graduated RCA Design Products 2009)
Alex Hulme is a London based designer who combines the conceptual and industrial sides of product design. From musical cups to nifty carved pencils and things to hang your hat upon. (Graduated RCA Design Products 2007)
Good Wives and Warriors is the creative partnership between Becky Bolton and Louise Chappell (both graduates of Glasgow School of Art). Their immaculate intricate drawings are in the process of covering the engineless EcoRover ready for it's test run on Friday.
Felix de Pass says he is determined to design finely considered, innovative and timeless pieces that are 'people centred'. His elegant weather friendly bench was a welcome component after a couple of hours on yer feet. (Graduated RCA Design Products 2009)
Valentin Vodev’s develops products in the areas of transportation, furniture and lighting design. His Pixstudio’s design lab’, (founded 2004) experiments in different solutions, materials and processes. (Graduated RCA Design Products 2009)
Giles Miller is a London-based designer specialising in furniture, interior and material surface design. He showed his award-winning decorative cardboard works which he supplies to some very impressive customers.
Cathrine Kramer, who is part of the workshop group was not showing work at the event - but members may recall her 'icecream van' installation during the Degree Shows 2009 and may have had a taste of her 'spacy "out of this world" ice cream'.
For the Sunbury Workshops event - The Workers: Ross Cairns, Thomas Lanza collaborated with Nicholas Myers to build a 'surface penetration and imaging machine'.... hoover around and perceive what is happening just beneath the concrete surface. Bomber Harris would love this one!
web link: http://sunbury-workshops.org/