London Design Festival is in full swing and one event not to miss out on is designjunction. It’s even bigger and better than last year. Spread over two venues in central London, including the former home of Central Saint Martins (there’s still paint splatters on the walls), you’ll find a mix of cutting-edge brands and newer labels, pop-ups and installations, live workshops and retail stores. My top tip? stop off for a Noble Espresso coffee and Danish pastries at Wrong for Hay or check out Lotta Agaton’s beautiful styling for String Furniture.
Down in the basement you’ll also find British brand Capsbury, who has collaborated with five designers – Daniel Schofield, Catherine Aitken, Ester Comunello, Suliman Innab and Alexander Mueller – for this year’s event. Established in 1999, Capsbury’s main aim is to change the perception of furniture produced in India. For the past 15 years, it has been an own-brand supplier to some of the biggest UK retailers, including John Lewis. But recently, Capsbury has been working with designer Alexander Mueller to relaunch as a design-led supplier of contemporary furniture and accessories made in India.
The five designers’ task for this collaboration was to create a collection of furniture and home accessories using specific local Indian materials. Alexander Mueller for example created the C-Tables, above, made of marble and inspired by ‘India’s rich art deco heritage, fusing European design and Indian craft’.
Buckinghamshire-based, Brazilian product and furniture designer Ester Comunello designed the Swirl coffee table below. An unconventional take on flat-pack furniture, the idea was ‘to celebrate the simplicity of the construction and bring some joy to the assembly process’. The table, made from Sheesham – a hardwood that is part of the rosewood family – is designed to fit into awkward, odd-shaped spaces and corners.
Daniel Schofield, winner in the accessories category of the Elle Decoration British Design Award 2015, meanwhile, has created the clean and simple Arch collection (above). The pieces are inspired by traditional Indian architecture and the recurring motif of the arch.
The curve of the mirror allows it to be hung on a wall, while the arch of the tables mean they can be lifted up and moved around a room. ‘The design represents Capsburys roots in India but also plays on my own reductive aesthetic,’ he says.
London-based Catherine Aitken designed the serving containers and bedside table, below, as well as a dresser. Inspired by the architecture and astronomical instruments of the Jaipur observatory in Rajasthan, the group of pieces share a contrast between light and shadow, solidity and transparency. They’re made of Mango wood, a native timber of India, that has been limed white to give it a softer finish.
Jordan-based architect and designer Suliman Innab created the Spino tables, in the group image at the top. A cone of painted steel rods fixed under an upper steel cup create a stable structure to hold carved solid hardwood acacia tops.
You can visit Capsbury at designjunction at The College on Southampton Row, WC1B 4AP until 27 September, at stand -L1/3
