Our roundup from Clerkenwell Design Week

At the end of May, mydeco.com attended Clerkenwell Design Week, a must-visit event for any lover of interior design. Featuring over 60 showrooms, as well as a host of talks, gatherings and demonstrations, there was almost too much to fit into one visit! In case you didn’t make it, we thought we’d round up our favourite trends and pieces from the show for you. Nick, our Product Curation intern, takes you through some of the products on show with a nod to some key upcoming trends.

Clerkenwell Design Week

As always, exhibitions like this serve as a celebration of contemporary craft – it was encouraging to see so many British designed or manufactured pieces leading the way in this area. For me Another Country, Matilda, Young & Norgate, Bark Furniture and Jo Davies were the notable exhibitors, with really strong and well curated product ranges.

Young & Norgate chair

Bark furniture sofa

Along with the level of craftsmanship on show there was a real focus on natural materials. This could be seen in the ranges from Another Country, with all pieces beautifully finished in oak:

Another Country

The solid marble topped ‘Carve’ tables by Bethan Gray for Gray and Turner were also beautifully made.

Bethan Gray 'Carve' table

Natural materials should be a key upcoming trend, evoking luxury and nostalgia – but remaining neutral and minimal allowing a real spectrum of use. A great example of beautiful craftsmanship from natural materials were the turned oak stools shown by Whetstone oak.

Whetstone oak turned stool

The use of these natural materials also informed the colour palette, either being used to highlight or accent material choices. The work on show from Matilda is a good example of this, the ‘Spun’ table and stools with turned steel powder coated seats available in paler pastels or popping primaries.

Matilda's spun table and stools

There was also a visible trend emerging for new shapes – as a confirmed minimalist I love geometric and faceted design so was quick to notice a move away from a harder geometric or angular objects toward a friendlier, curvier approach. The rounded or curved edges and construction offers a tactile, almost friendliness to the products.

Curved stools by Room 9, Matilda and Another Country

So to sum up…we have craft, materials, colour and curves and a whole range of great products and furniture which exemplify these qualities perfectly. One other thing which did stand out for me in particular was the abundance of a certain type of product. I’ll discuss this more in my next post titled ‘Rise of the statement stool’.

If you’d like to see more, take a look at the tumblr I made on the fly with some extra images and links.

For more of my design and trend musings take a look at my blog.