Phew! It’s been quite a week!
When thinking about what part of the london design festival to blog about, i decided that the main shows have been reviewed by many of my fellow bloggers. I always enjoy the small exhibitions best but this year only managed to go and visit two of my favourites. Today i am going to introduce you to one of them and on monday i will blog about the second one.
Let me introduce you to DesignMarketo.
“DesignMarketo is a platform promoting up-and-coming designers and diffusing their small and limited productions. We commission product, organise exhibitions, workshops and events where you can pop by and see the real thing presented in a relaxed and friendly environment. DesignMarketo slowly developed in an organic way and expanded its network of friends to a larger audience of people interested in design, food, social interaction, experimenting and having a good time. Welcome to the family.”
I first met jerome at the london design festival in 2010.
FoodMarketo was a joint project by apartamento magazine and DesignMarketo. Both ventures were interested in the design sphere and decided to collaborate for an exclusive event at the london design festival 2010.
Entitled: coffee and friends, FoodMarketo was a pop-up café and shop offering coffee related products and workshops. FoodMarketo featured objects specifically commissioned together with products from the previous FoodMarketo milan (at the salone del mobile, 2010).
I fell completely for their ingenius thinking, quirky mannerism and fun products they were selling. One such product you will see here below. This came as a set of six glasses, where the stems of three of the glasses have been dipped in a white resin. I cherish them and love the mix and match effect!
Bar alto 2011 was the first instalment of a new series of events organised by DesignMarketo. As a direct reference to milan’s famous bar basso (visited by many designers during the salone del mobile), DesignMarketo will offer its london public a variety of specially selected brews and cocktails, including the famous negroni. For bar alto 2011, they invited maurizio stochetto, owner of bar basso in milan, to come over and teach them how to prepare negronis… negroni is basically 1/3 of campari, 1/3 of martini and 1/3 of gin—it’s a variant of the americano, invented by the count of negroni who wanted something a little stronger!
For that event they commissioned hand-picked designers to come up with a twist on the the famous duralex picardie glasses. See the limited edition versions here.
For this london design festival, bar alto 2012 was back for another event. DesignMarketo teamed up with torsten neeland to present a joint exhibition. Torsten’s latest tableware (including a serving tray and a thermos) was shown together with the growing bar alto collection of specially commissioned glasses.
Always keen to support jerome and also obtain limited editions here is my very own purchase. I think you’ll agree, it looks like it was made just for me!
I didn’t take any photos of torsten neelands stand because i had to rush to an appointment but can show you the products i bought. Just a little background here. German retailer MAGAZIN offers a well curated selection of furniture and everyday goods – but also develops and produces its own outstanding products in collaboration with various independent designers. Labeled as M-products, they aim to be thought through designs in between high-priced editions and mass-produced collections. M-products are exclusively available through MAGAZIN.
Thorsten neeland exhibited a thermos flask, as well as a bottle to carry water and a night table carafe. I’ve been looking for both a bottle to carry water in when in transit and a night table carafe for ages. Trust the germans to come up with brilliance. I’ve never come across a night table carafe with a lid. Ingenius! See for yourselves.
Here’s the bottle to carry water around….
Well, i hope you’ve enjoyed some of this and liked some of the products i showed you. As we always say, good design is key and can change the world for the better.
What was your favourite part of the london design festival? For those of you not in london, maybe you read some reviews you enjoyed and would like to share. See you monday.
