The ever-popular Ace Hotel in Shoreditch – the trendiest place to be seen with your laptop and a flat white in hand – is the hub location for this year’s Shoreditch Design Triangle, part of the London Design Festival. For the next week it is holding an exhibition called Super Stimuli, which presents a series of installations throughout the public areas of the ground floor, from the chilled lobby, through to the restaurant Hoi Polloi and the lush, fragrant That Flower Shop. The four London-based designers whose work is on show were invited by magazine Modern Design Review, launched in April during the famous Milan Salone del Mobile.
Bethan Laura Wood, (above and below) for example, was inspired by floral temple displays, alterpieces and harvest festivals for her set of slip-cast ceramics and hand-drawn vases. Step down to Hoi Polloi and you are greeted by a riot of colours, wild flowers and ceramics, some made by herself, and others by friends Max Lambs, Martino Gamper and Silo Studio. She has also rethought the familiar foliage display that greets visitors at the entrance of the Ace Hotel by positioning colourful but cheap plastic vessels collected from the local shops of Whitechapel. (images above: Angus Mill)
A few extra photos of That Flower Shop, because it is just so pretty. 
Martino Gamper (above and below) has created a modern take on the traditional bentwood cafe chair called Recto Verso. Dotted around the Ace Hotel cafe, they are discreet and handsome, but tough and sturdy. ‘It says a bit about my fascination with the bentwood chair and a bit about my frustration with the furniture industry that I wanted to manufacture a chair myself. It is strong and easy to use; it stacks,’ he says. (Image above Angus Mill)
Fabien Cappello (above) was asked to contemplate ‘comfort’ and ‘softness’ for the hotel’s lobby. The result is an extremely inviting installation: a big, comfy pile of beanbags that replace the previous ‘hard’ furniture (which people were very politely avoiding sitting on, but I’m sure that will change as people get weary with the festival..!) utilise a variety of fabrics, from Kvadrat to Marimekko.
Michael Marriott (above and below) was inspired by an image of St Jerome in his study by Renaissance artist Antonello da Messina for a functional space that could accommodate storage for magazines and seating for visitors. On show is a new version of his classic Croquet shelves, a new Sled cabinet and a metal trestle table and wooden bench. (Images above courtesy Michael Marriott)
All images my own unless otherwise specified
