VIEW Newsletter - May 2010

With the sun finally making an appearance and Chelsea Flower Show now in full swing, it can only mean one thing….the start of the summer! With that in mind, Victoria Redshaw and Shelley Pond from Scarlet Opus give us an insight into one of the summer’s key trends and how you can apply it to create inspirational outdoor spaces.

We also take a look at some fabulous companies who are lighting up inside spaces and who will showcase at Decorex later in the year as well as a personal invitation from CEDIA to it’s  conference - Designing Interiors With Technology where designers can keep informed about the benefits of including smart home technology in residential projects.

Enjoy the sunshine!

Until next time,

Editor

Future design trends
Illuminating Decorex
Free Home Technology Conference For Interior Designers

As the new ‘Sex and the City 2’ film release contains exciting desert and lively marketplace scenes filmed in Morocco (made to look like Abu Dhabi), we anticipate the exotic and glamorous Bedouin style of the girls will make its way from the world of Fashion to our homes.

Inspiration can also be found in the cultural melting pot that is Istanbul – European Capital of Culture 2010 – with it wonderful architecture, crafts and colours.

This trend is all about a sense of escapism and adding a touch of the exotic into your life!  It’s a fusion of old Moorish and Ottoman influences with a modern twist which results in an intensely stimulating style that also has a wonderful chill-out factor; a sophisticated yet informal look working with a warm colour palette of sandy terracotta shades and dark spices with intense blue accents and elements of bronze.

It’s a design style that’s just as relevant and effective outdoors as it is indoors, as proved by the Gold Medal winning Laurent Perrier Garden at Chelsea Flower Show this week.  The colour scheme of the gardens planting features warm copper tones, blues and sandy yellows.  Stone walling borders the garden whilst a pathway meanders between the coppery bark of the Betula, leading to a beautiful reflective space with a long still pond and elegant sculpted bronze pavilion.

To create an exotic bohemian look in your own garden or outdoor space use low-level seating and long cushions to give a relaxed 'Hookah' lounge vibe.  Encompass Furniture’s ‘Sunday’ garden sofa and table are perfect!

Part of their range also includes chic pouffe-style seating and a stylish bio-fuel fireplace called ‘Dots’ in a rich chocolate shade.

Clusters of ornate Turkish lamps, tiny copper-topped nesting tables, bronze-effect planters (like Capital Garden Products ‘Geo Vases’), Ikat patterned floor cushions, an outdoor rug (see the Outdoor Carpet range available from www.encompassco.com ) and traditional Moroccan patterned tiles will also help to set the right tone.

Finally, for the most striking of focal points check out David Harber’s glorious water features, sundials and sculptures.  His ‘Dark Planet’ sculpture makes a sophisticated statement especially as darkness falls and shafts of light emanate from the interior of the sphere through chinks in the pebbles.  Stunning!

By Victoria Redshaw & Shelley Pond at www.scarletopus.com
Victoria & Shelley will be presenting a trend seminar at Decorex on 26th Sept at 2.45pm

Illuminating Decorex this year will be a number of lighting companies including Craig Jenkins, CTO Lighting, Diffuse Lighting, Christopher Hyde and Illuminati. Having been involved in Decorex a few times, Craig Jenkins will use this year’s exhibition as a platform for his first line of lighting products. Having worked in various aspects of design and for different firms in a range of countries, Craig wanted to step away from the boundaries of style for whom he was working and be able to realise some of the ideas he had for himself. His artistic side has become more dominant ensuring an eclectic range of products including one-ff ‘art pieces’ and limited production runs using existing materials in new ways as well as producing new objects.

Craig will showcase his ‘Sfiga’ chandelier - a humorous tribute to the age-old Italian amulet; ‘Pop-Past’ - a classical form redux and most excitingly, a group of lights utilizing state-of-the-art light panel technology which are super thin, low energy consuming and virtually no heat.

Diffuse Lighting design and manufacture elegant lighting features using timeless porcelain. Working closely with architects, interior designers and private clients, they create sophisticated and graceful designs that emit a delicate and calming glow, adding a subtle ambience to prestigious interiors throughout the world. Lutyens, Terence Conran’s most recent London restaurant on Fleet Street, has been one of their latest high profile projects. Terence commented that their “stunning lights” were perfect for Lutyens, that “they cast a beautiful, calm and mellow light that welcomes guests into the space.”

Diffuse will use Decorex to showcase their multi tiered ‘Chandelier Overcome by Nature’ which is a natural translucent porcelain adorned with porcelain flowers, butterflies and foliage - matt and glazed with lustred detail. A new selection of lighting features will also be on display, based on levitating porcelain 'candles' illuminated by cutting edge high powered LED light sources.

Illuminati, who were awarded the UK Lighting Design of the Year 2010 award at interiors in Birmingham earlier this year for their elegant Swan range of chandeliers, will bring these highly unique designs to Decorex. The organic and sculptural design combines original concepts of glass blowing using modern science and technology to recreate the models from blown glass into steel metal. After an intricate process of joining the various steel parts, each arm and head is then precisely hand polished by our skilful craftsmen, allowing the final finishing stage of lacquering or plating to highlight the production quality and so allow the viewer a luxurious impression. These beautiful chandeliers are available in a range of colours, finishes and sizes including 'Ferrari Red' and 24k gold, from 12 lights to an impressive 54 lights!

CEDIA (the Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association – www.cedia.co.uk) has announced that this year’s Home Technology Event (www.hometechnologyevent.co.uk) will again host a special Decorex-sponsored conference for interior designers, entitled “Designing Interiors with Technology”.

Taking place at the ICC London ExCeL (www.excel-london.co.uk/icc) venue on the morning of Wednesday 16th June, the conference is a FREE half-day education event and forms part of a design-themed day at the show.

Designing Interiors With Technology is aimed at informing designers about the benefits of including smart home technology in residential projects. The conference will also feature a special session on how electronic systems can be used to save energy and help create a sustainable home interior. The programme will introduce CEDIA itself, the work of its members and will close with a special Q&A session where the audience can quiz a guest panel of experts, including the President Elect of the BIID, Diana Yakeley.

A buffet lunch will then be served after which designers will have the opportunity to take a guided tour of the show floor where they can meet and discuss technologies face-to-face with exhibitors.

Following the tour, delegates are welcome to visit the event’s Show Floor Seminar Theatre where designer Oliver Heath will be delivering a presentation on the topic Great Green Homes Need Great Green Technology (3 PM) and Lucy Martin from award-winning lighting designers, John Cullen Lighting will be speaking on New Regulations in Lighting (4 PM).

Designing Interiors With Technology is sponsored by Decorex, idFX, the BIID (British Institute of Interior Design) and Crestron (www.crestron.co.uk).

For more information and to pre-register for a place at the conference and for entrance into the show, visit - http://www.hometechnologyevent.co.uk. 

Click here to subscribe free to VIEW... The Monthly Interior Design Newsletter

Click here for previous VIEW Newsletters

Click here to view information on other UBM Interiors exhibitions and awards