Ordinary icons? Stories of modern design

What started as a Boiler House Project in the basement of the V and A, organized by Design Museum founders Stephen Bayley and Terence Conran in the mid 1980s, was originally conceived as a pioneering ‘pop up’ museum.  But London’s Design Museum has ended up storing several thousand items, which will become a permanent display when the Design Museum’s new Kensington premises open in 2015. The entire top floor will be dedicated to icons of 20^th century design in a free-entry exhibition.  Meantime, from tomorrow, a snapshot of the permanent collection that will be on show can be seen at the current Shad Thames location. 150 items from the Design Museum’s collection feature in the exhibition: Extraordinary Stories About Ordinary Things.

We mentioned the trend towards ‘immortalization through fashion’ in a previous Curious Trends post - and, for lovers of fashion, this show includes a sample of some of the 400 pieces donated by Design Museum trustee, Jill Ritblat. Her generous gift contains items by many of the world’s leading designers, including Karl Lagerfeld, Issey Miyake, Ungaro, Belville Sassoon and Vivienne Westwood, spanning a period from the 1970s to the end of the 1990s.

The exhibiton showcases an eclectic mix of artefacts, but the fashion pieces on loan for this show - including a Victor Edelstein satin brocade dress and a Jet Set of St Moritz ski suit - are fairly middle of the road in terms of style.

These aren’t necessarily the sort of designs that would have inspired or transformed the habits of a generation, unlike the original iMac, the red telephone box and the Bic biro, which are also featured.

At a press briefing, Design Museum Director, Deyan Sudjic, was at pains to point out that fashion isn’t just frivolous – it’s functional, and a contributing part of the economy too.  “Design is not the same as art,” he also said. So where does art stop and design begin… or vice versa. And what exactly is ‘design art’? I’m curious to know.

Are you?

PS  Why not add to your own fashion collection with this curiously classic designer vintage Belville Sassoon dress from ShopCurious...

Curiously poptastic!

Pop! Design Culture Fashion at London’s Fashion and Textiles Museum is still showing (until 27^th October).  Fashionholics are advised not to miss this exhibition featuring 300 items from the 1950s through to the 1970s.  Showcasing the impact of music, art and celebrity on fashion from rock ‘n’ roll to punk, there are vintage album covers, retro posters, popular consumer goods and, of course, stylish clothes and unique accessories from the likes of Mary Quant and Vivienne Westwood. 

Some of ShopCurious’s favourites are the 1960s Mondrian style vinyl coat (above) and Harry Gordon’s disposable paper Eye Dress, below. 

I’m curious to know why wearing paper dresses never caught on - even in warm countries…

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Goodbye to the Games...

  

I feel rather sad that the London 2012 Olympics are almost over – not least because the traffic in town will start to return to normal. It seems to have been remarkably light for the duration of the games, at least in the west of the capital.

But if you haven’t quite had your fill of sport this year, ShopCurious recommends another exhibition at The Design Museum:

Designed to Win runs until 18th November and is all about speed, power and performance. You’ll see everything from Formula 1 cars to designer training shoes, starting blocks, racing bikes and paralympic kit – including wheelchairs and running blades.

 

 

I won’t be too sad to say goodbye to these curious fellows - though I’m not sure who’s scarier in this photograph...

Are you?


PS If you're well and truly Olympicked out, why not join in our debate on monogamy and marriage over at The Dabbler.

Digital experiments with crystal

An exciting new exhibition opens in London tomorrow, focusing on the changing nature of our relationship with objects over time. ShopCurious takes a tour of Digital Crystal: Swarovski at the Design Museum in our latest Curious Trends post. Meantime, here are a few taster images of some of the designers with their exhibits, photographed by David Levene for Swarovski.

Pandora by Fredrikson Stallard

Blur by Philippe Malouin

Holo Center Table by Marcus Tremonto

The Monument by Hilda Helstrom

Osmosis Interactive Arena by Arik Levy

By the way, there’s a lot more to see at the Design Museum.  It’s all good - and definitely worth a visit.

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Medal-worthy or mundane?

There’s nothing curious about Stella McCartney, except that her newly opened store in London’s Fulham Road is curiously large – especially at a time when so many of the older established shops in the area (think Betty Jackson) have closed down.

Of course, McCartney has a famous father, whose voice seems to have gone off the boil at bit – though I suppose Hey Jude does have an Olympic chorus at the end... With all her unnatural advantages, I was trying exceptionally hard to not like the Olympic designer du jour - until I heard her in interview, earlier this year, at the Vogue Festival.

What a lovely lady – so down to earth and supremely sensible sounding.

Anyway, ShopCurious would like to hear your views on her designs. Personally, I find them magnificently mundane. But perhaps you think they’re medal-worthy?

Do you?

London's most conspicuously cool landmark?

It’s come a long way since its original conception around 12 years ago, but today The Shard will be officially opened to the public.An extraordinary feat of engineering has taken place to create the mega-monolith - just take a look at the photo gallery of the construction project at Wikipedia (see link above). During the course of the building works, I’ve also taken quite a few photographs from various angles and locations, several of which can be seen here:

Despite what the advertisement hoarding next to the Shard says, there’s no longer any need to travel to America - at least not to see the towering, shimmering glass of colossal high rise buildings.What’s more - the Shard is so conspicuous, it’s difficult to escape from, wherever you are in London...

With penthouses on offer at around £50 million apiece, the residential accomodation on offer is a tad pricey, but if you’re looking for something tall, with a bit of English provenance, how about these curiously collectable twisted wood antique candlesticks from ShopCurious? I’m not sure how well they'd suit a contemporary apartment in The Shard, but if you love old fashioned British style and subtle lighting (as opposed to laser light displays), these may be just what you’re looking for.

 

Are you?

Starry summer style...

Well, at least we can’t say we haven’t had a summer. There was one blisteringly hot day last week in London, which coincided with me being stuck inside the Royal Albert Hall. Not that I’m complaining, as I was there for a George Benson concert.

It was actually quite cool before the audience arrived – but 5000 people or so later and it was quite a different matter. George was on amazing form – with his sultry-smooth voice and dexterous guitar skills. He’s no spring chicken, but his performance was incredibly energetic for any age.

Afterwards, I got to meet some of the band members, including sensational drummer, Oscar Seaton.

It was a great honour to meet George Benson too – in fact I was totally captivated by his beautiful eyes…

When, in my stunned state, I walked out onto Kensington Gore, the Albert Memorial rose up in front of me like an apparition.

 And then Dustin Hoffman appeared out of the blue, looking like he’d just flown in on the red eye. It was curiously surreal to see him, let alone hear him say, “Look, I can’t stand around all night while you fiddle about trying to work out your camera.”

 

Anyway, if you’d like to add some starry summer style to your life, how about one of these copper, quartz and crystal cluster rings from ShopCurious?

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Arty, edgy and in demand...

Does anyone else have a soft spot for old gasometers? These photographs were taken in Hackney. You can read more about Empress Coaches, shown here (and featured in the film Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy), at Spitalfields Life.






















I didn’t see any coaches, but I did spot this curiously arty ice cream van parked in a street nearby.





















Oh, and apparently, there’s a planning application to build an 18 storey block on this site… eek!


Another potential victim of developers is a little known shrine called Cross Bones, located in the shadow of The Shard. Read more about this in ShopCurious's post at The Dabbler.

And just across the road from the memorial this lovely, though rather neglected, old building (below) sits next to Borough Market. The sign says ‘goods inwards’ – which in a few years time will no doubt have been replaced by ‘luxury goods outwards’.












London is a constantly evolving curiosity. I hope it's changing for the better.

Do you?

Hunting for curious eggs?

Have you been searching for eggs on London’s Faberge Big Egg Hunt? I wasn’t especially looking out for them, but on stumbling upon my first egg, I excitedly entered the keyword into my mobile phone, as requested. I promptly received a congratulatory message - which kindly informed me “This text cost £3”. Anyway, I’m sure it’s all for a good cause…












What with the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics this year, many of the eggs seem to be London or British inspired – though I was wondering if the butterfly themed number outside Scott's (restaurant) might be a Scotch egg?





The highest concentration of eggs seems to be in Mayfair, where those wishing to disport their wealth generosity must have had the battery hens on overtime. I think I read somewhere that the eggs are being sold off at a charity auction today. According to the website, Marc Quinn’s miminalist-looking contoured egg (see below left) has the highest bid so far.










Oh, and in Selfridges, there’s an interactive egg, which you can help decorate with your picture, by visiting Facebook.


























Meantime, at ShopCurious, we’ve our own curiosity egg in the form of a vintage porcelain hatching turtle. This quirky little fellow is curiously collectable - so perfect for an egg collector, or someone hunting for unusual Easter gifts...

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Snowbirds in London

London is a curious place after snowfall. A deathly stillness descends upon the city, as the usual sounds of cars and planes all but disappear.

ShopCurious ventured out before most people were out of bed, to track down curiosities of the cold snap. A few early birds were up to catch the fresh snow and make the first snowman.

No one had yet spotted a solitary traffic cone – the perfect prop for a curiously creative snow sculpture. See if you can find it in the pic below:


The recreation ground, that on Sunday mornings would normally be full of bleary-eyed dads who've been packed off with the kids, was eerily deserted.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the park, fearless fitness-obsessives risked hypothermia to participate in an early morning military-style bootcamp.

And the park benches would have been covered in virgin snow, except that birds had walked over them...


















In fact, I even spotted a new variety of snowbird, complete with dinky wings and a cute little tail (see left).

Talking of snowbirds, I think I got my timing wrong – I should have stayed in sunny Florida. Oh, and check out this strangely snowy video clip of the 1969 song, Snowbird, by Canadian singer, Anne Murray:

Will you?