Design that manifests change is making a big impact. The London Design Festival in 2016 included the Design Biennale at Somerset House, a showcase of conceptual design that looked at a utopian existence where design from across the globe actively engaged with the viewer and challenged convention and intriguing visual installations all strongly focused on aesthetic experiences offered unexpected and thought-provoking suggestions. My outtakes from the show were that if we can dream it, we can manifest it – this will continue to be a powerful trend in 2017, visioning new ways of being through design that engages visually and challenges.

Collage prints in bright clashing colours are hot news. Hand-cut shapes that become bold and beautiful patterns have a youthful energy and prints are much less serious and rely on evocative and naive making processes, which are random and wonderfully creative, as seen in the work of Sunny Todd and Sarah Fennell.

Actual experience is the showcase. At the recent 100% Design show in London, the fringe was more exciting than the show itself: Ace Hotel played host to a series of designers that were requested to create functional pieces to be used in the hotel. The installations were a collaboration with Modern Design Review and the title ‘Ready Made Go’ aptly described the activation. Visitors were taken on personalised tours of the spaces, which feature the collaborative, functional pieces that will be used in the hotel.

The ongoing trend of business collaborating with designer makers strengthens and is the norm that generates sustainable new.At 100% Design in London, Tent featured an incredible collaboration that was truly memorable. In the spring of 2016 eight graduate students from the Furniture Design program at Carl Malmsten Furniture Studies, Linköping University were commissioned to work with LED and pine in collaboration with ateljé Lyktan and Swedish Wood. The magnificent and innovative light fixtures resulting from this successful partnership are testimony to the potential of collaboration. Nando’s Heartfelt celebration of SA design is a wonderful local example. 

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Material Hot List

1. Ceramic: a natural material transformed by human creativity, ancient and contemporary.
2. Denim and leather.
3. Grass and cork.

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