Our 6 favourite showrooms at Clerkenwell Design Week
With Clerkenwell Design Week 2018 now over, we take a look back at some of our favourite showrooms that opened their doors to the public during the Festival.
Integral to the success of Clerkenwell Design Week, around 150 local resident design showrooms opened their doors to excited visitors over the course of this year’s Festival. Within each showroom, visitors could expect to find a range of talks, workshops and product launches, with almost every participating company providing their own stimulating programme of events.
With Clerkenwell Design Week 2018 now behind us, we have decided to take a fond look back and share what 6 of our favourite showrooms got up do during the Festival:
Boss Design
One of the busiest showrooms at Clerkenwell Design Week 2018, Boss Design saw a constant flow of visitors to their newly refurbished space in the heart of London’s design district. Taking pride of place in the showroom was Boss Design’s ATOM furniture collection - a revolutionary concept, ATOM was created by award-winning furniture designer Simon Pengelly.
One of the most versatile furniture collections on the market today, ATOM is comprised of a family of products, including modularised seating, tables, desks and screens. During Clerkenwell Design Week, visitors were able to peruse the ATOM collection in a variety of different forms, as Boss Design used their showroom to display ATOM’s flexibility as a holistic furniture solution.
With over 50 years of experience in designing and manufacturing innovative commercial furniture, it’s no wonder that Boss Design is a market leader – and also explains why their London showroom was a hub of activity during Clerkenwell Design Week.
Another reason for the British furniture company’s successful Festival was the unveiling of their new personal workspace solution: Mango. Showcased at the Boss Design showroom in a range of vibrant colours, Mango is ideal for use in a variety of environments and has been created with headspace in mind.
Designed in-house for workplaces were access to quiet, private spaces is essential, Mango is the next innovative collection from Boss Design that promises to fit seamlessly into public areas . Judging by visitor’s reaction to the Mango pieces within the showroom, it seems they will have no trouble doing that.
Arper
Image: Andy Stagg
Not only welcoming in the public during this year’s Clerkenwell Design Week, Arper also opened their showroom doors to bloggers and design influencers from around the world. Over the course of the Festival, the international furniture design company welcomed bloggers into their showroom, giving them their own dedicated space named the Arper Bloggers Lounge.
2018 marks the third year that Arper have partnered with the Festival to host the digital hub, and it’s no surprise why; with a packed programme of events, including an incredibly popular and well-received opening party on Tuesday 22nd of May, Arper offered bloggers a range of inspiring insights and exciting networking opportunities over the course of Clerkenwell Design Week.
Image: Andy Stagg
Those who visited the Arper showroom during the Festival also had the opportunity to discover the new collections for 2018 – which were presented to the UK market for the first time during Clerkenwell Design Week after their successful launch at Milan Design Week last month. The latest collection, KIIK, took centre stage during the Festival, being displayed in front of Arper’s street-facing, floor-to-ceiling windows.
Created by Ichiro Iwasaki, KIIK is a modular range that creates endless possibilities for interpretation. Made up of seating, tables, ottomans and consoles, KIIK can be used to create anything from a coffee-break space to a waiting room, or a meeting room to a lounge. The elements of the collection can be combined in various ways, which allows for the different interpretations and lets each designer use the collection as they please.
Bisley
The opening of British storage specialist Bisley’s new showroom took place during this year’s Clerkenwell Design Week - and the Festival also marked the launch of Bisley’s touring exhibition in conjunction with Dirty Furniture, Bisley 2018 Matter of Fact.
The new showroom on Dallington Street brings Bisley into the heart of the UK’s design community. Best known for their innovative storage solutions, the large new showroom means that Bisley can demonstrate the full extent of their portfolio and provide inspiration for workplace design. The showroom design was created by Jeanie Goddard, Bisley’s Showroom and Interior Designer, to show how a workspace can be defined by using storage in different ways.
At the back of Bisley’s new showroom, visitors could also find Bisley 2018 Matter of Fact, an exhibition curated by design magazine Dirty Furniture. The collaborative exhibition features objects chosen by internationally renowned designers and thinkers, who were asked to put forward an object that they think encapsulates 2018. The results are interesting and varied, including a “Repeal” jumper, 200 extinct beetles, and physical representations of the terrifying “Python” code, with every object being displayed in a cabinets specially designed by Bisley.
It seems Clerkenwell Design Week 2018 was a successful, busy week for Bisley, with their new showroom representing the next step for the storage specialists. Though the storage specialists have found their new Clerkenwell home, those wishing to visit Bisley 2018 Matter of Fact should visit the Dallington Street showroom soon; the exhibition is set to tour in France, Ireland, the USA and UAE over the next year.
