The Design Museum‘s annual Designs of the Year Awards are back for the fifth year, celebrating the best in global designs from the past twelve months. Industry experts have nominated designs across seven categories: Architecture, Digital, Fashion, Furniture, Graphics, Product and Transport and the results are showcased at the museum.

DESIGNS OF THE YEAR, 8th February-15th July 2012

DESIGN MUSEUM

28 Shad Thames, London SE1 2YD (020 7940 8790)

The nominees cover a strong mix of designs including the Olympic Torch 2012 for London designed by Barber Osgerby, the Duchess of Cambridge’s Wedding Dress designed by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen and a wind-propelled Landmine Detonator which costs $40 to produce.

All of the nominations are on show at the Design Museum in the Designs of the Year exhibition. From this comprehensive list, a jury will select the seven category winners and an overall winner for the Design of the Year 2012.

The exhibition is curated by Ria Hawthorn. The winners will be announced on 24th April 2012.

Images – from top: Guangzhou Opera House by Zaha Hadid Architects (photo by Iwan Baan); 787 Dreamliner (photo by Ed Turner); Jawbone Jambox by fuseproject; Textile Field by Erwan and Ronan Bouroullec (textile by Kvadrat); Harbour Chair by Ed Carpenter for Very Good & Proper. 

The bad Christmas jumper is as much a seasonal staple as dry turkey and brussel sprouts. However Andrew Salomone and his hacked knitting machine are here to change all that at KK Outlet this December.

O COME ALL YE HACKERS, 2nd-22nd December 2011

KK OUTLET

42 Hoxton Square, London N1 6PB (020 7033 7680)

Salomone has developed an electronic hack, which means he can use a Brother KH930 knitting machine like a desktop printer to transform any design into a unique hand made Christmas jumper.

O Come All Ye Hackers comprises of a collection of alternative Christmas jumpers made by hand on Salomone’s hacked knitting machine. Designs have been supplied by Anthony Burrill, Siggi Eggertsson, Nous Vous, Genevieve Gaukler and a knitted version of the Slayer Christmas Lightorama.

If you want to see your own design transformed into a Christmas jumper, Salomone is working in the KK Outlet gallery for 10 days to create customised jumpers from open submission designs. Send your artwork to manchester@kkoutlet.com stating what European size you would like the final jumper to be.

The design spec due to the machine restrictions is as follows:

- Designs to be no more than 200 pixels wide and no more than 600 pixels long.

- Each design is restricted to two colors per row

- Designs to supplied in high res tiff format.

- All final designs will be converted into knitting patterns by Andrew Salomone.

Witness Salomone’s genius infinite regression Bill Cosby jumper here, as featured on Good Morning America.

It’s official! The new edition of LONDON DESIGN GUIDE 2012-2013 is now available, featuring totally new content and plenty of great features. Order your copy now for only £12 and we will dispatch it to you wherever you are in the world.

LONDON DESIGN GUIDE 2012-2013 gives a fresh insight into the city’s contemporary and vintage retailers, as well as design galleries, museums and bookshops. All 140 new and established hotspots are compiled and reviewed by design commentator Max Fraser.

Shops are categorised by neighbourhood and accompanied by detailed maps – plus walking tours written by local tastemakers including Sheridan Coakley, Tom Dixon and Kit Kemp – to help navigate the best that the city has to offer.

You’ll find restaurant, bar and cafe recommendations, selected as much for their design credentials as for the quality of food and service.

And we’ve commissioned 10 short essays by local experts including Naomi Cleaver, Hugh Pearman, Benjamin Hubert and Libby Sellers, each discussing an aspect of the industry, be it designing, producing, selling, communicating, collecting, even discarding design.

The 2012-2013 edition also introduces 4×4, a new 16-page supplement featuring the top furniture, lighting and accessories designs available in London design stores. The survey does your homework for you, evaluating the designs based on quality and longevity.

The 208-page LONDON DESIGN GUIDE is a snapshot of the design scene today, a celebration of creativity and a practical tool for Londoners and tourists alike. There’s no better incentive for exploring the wealth of design in the capital.

It’s “a must-read” according to the New York Times.

Publisher: Spotlight Press

Editor: Max Fraser

Book designer: Richard Ardagh Studio

Cover designer: Peter Crawley 

Show RCA, Royal College of Art‘s annual postgraduate exhibition, returns this year to showcase the next generation of artists, designers, writers and thinkers simultaneously for the first time since the 2007 Great Exhibition. Show RCA 2011 features a culmination of the studio work and research of 431 graduating art and design students in a range of disciplines.

SHOW RCA 2011, 24th June-3rd July 2011

ROYAL COLLEGE OF ART

Kensington Gore, London SW7 2EU

Catherine Aitken – Textiles. Top: Louis Thompson – Ceramics & Glass

Jack Smith – Design Products

Makiko Nakamura – Ceramics & Glass with Marina Dragomirova – Design Products

Pia Wustenberg – Design Products

Sarah Wiberley – Ceramics & Glass

Jewellery designer Hannah Martin has teamed up with tech-design genius Moritz Waldemeyer on a breathtaking installation at Dover Street Market, involving lasers, sensors, sound effects and augmented reality.

THE MAN WHO KNOWS EVERYTHING

18th-30th March 2011

DOVER STREET MARKET

17-18 Dover Street, London W1S 4LT (020 7518 0680)

To launch her latest jewellery collection, called The Man Who Knows Everything, Martin opted to collaborate with Waldemeyer to create an imposing display for a single ring, which doubles as security for the precious gems within.

Waldemeyer came up with the idea of an interactive obelisk to house Martin’s newest iconic ring. Sitting at three metres, produced in black Dupont Corian and surrounded by sound-making-laser-strings, the imposing structure takes jewellery displays to a new level.

Break the laser beams and the sound effects change, reminding you not to get too close!

If you’re compelled to try on the ring in question (Euphoria of Lights: The Comte’s Pyramid Ring), you can do so in cyberspace using a new app that has been specially developed by augmented reality experts, Holition. All you need is your computer, a printer and a web cam. Here’s a video showing how it works.

Some of the pieces in Hannah Martin’s new collection are shown below.

Above: Euphoria of Lights: The Comte’s Pyramid Ring (red gold with channel-set rubies, tourmaline and orange sapphires)

Above: Shaman’s Triangle Pave Cufflinks (red gold with rubies, tourmaline and orange sapphires)

Above: Shaman’s Triangle Simple Signet (yellow gold)

Above: Shaman’s Triangle Bangle (silver)

Above: Shaman’s Triangle Pendant (silver)

All pieces are available in gold and silver.

Installation images by Mark Cocksedge. Product images courtesy of Hannah Martin Ltd.

The Temporium is a new pop-up store that makes use of empty shop spaces, providing online retailers and small independent brands with a temporary high street presence. The first one is just in time for Christmas…

THE TEMPORIUM, 9th-19th December 2010

221 Brompton Road, London SW3 2EJ (07887 502 457)

Conceived as a temporary emporium (get it?!), expect to find watches, glassware, ceramics, lighting, furniture, books, jewellery and home wares from a variety of design-led brands.

Located in the prestigious shopping district between Knightsbridge and South Kensington (Brompton to be precise), this store undoubtedly provides an alternative and more down-to-earth shopping experience to the predictable offerings of many of its neighbours.

Participating designers and brands include Dezeen Watch Store, Studio Toogood, Cristian Zuzunaga, Another Country, People Will Always Need Plates, Undergrowth Design, Lee Broom, Foundry Lighting…

… and Theo, Shan Valla, Plumen, Fiona Paxton, Tracey Neuls, Gestalten, Philippe Malouin, Charlene Mullen, Bocci, Jacqueline Rabun, Miranda Watkins, RVW, Paperself, and Jason Bruges. Gasp…

Oh yes, and signed copies of LONDON DESIGN GUIDE are also being sold there.

The Temporium is likely to pop-up again in different locations throughout the year. It is organised as a collaboration between Alice Breed, Marcus Fairs and Deborah Spencer.

Images, from top: 14 Series light by Bocci; 200 Series watch by Uniform Wares; Haijk cups by RVW; Martini set by Miranda Watkins; ‘Bin’ bags by Studio Toogood; Giant Flow scarf by Cristian Zuzunaga; Day bed by Another Country.

Design store Places and Spaces is curating ‘The Workshop’ exhibition during The London Design Festival, taking place at a show space within the workshop of the highly acclaimed architects Studio Egret West in Clerkenwell.

‘THE WORKSHOP’, 21st September-10th October 2010

STUDIO EGRET WEST

40 Compton Street, London EC1V 0AP

At the show there are companies, designers and makers from around the globe. Companies exhibiting within the main space are Droog (who are launching their new pieces for the first time during the show), Merry, Smarin, Judith Seng, Roll and Hill, Mint, Moustache, ABR, Mater, and Spell.

The exhibition is taking place at the workshop but it’s also within the outdoor courtyard and lobby area of the building, with street access off Compton Street.

From pieces that are being shown for the first time in Britain to those that are represented in new creative ways, Spring Projects presents ‘B-side’, an exhibition of work by fashion designer Hussein Chalayan.

‘B-SIDE’ BY HUSSEIN CHALAYAN, 17th September-23rd October 2010

SPRING PROJECTS

10 Spring Place, Spring House, London NW5 3BH (020 7428 7159)

B-side showcases Chalayan’s exploration into the body, movement, and voyeurism and points out his fascination to form and process. While Hussein Chalayan is known first and foremost as a radical fashion designer, in B-side he is seen as a sculptor, film-maker and animator.

The exhibition consist of three projects, which are Micro Geography: A Cross Section; Anaesthetics; and Inertia. Though they are all independent works, together they create solid a coherent articulation of Chalayan’s key themes.

Shown for the first time in the UK, Micro Geography: A Cross Section was made as a commission for Dutch art and fashion patron Han Nefkens. The project is an exercise in voyeurism and abstraction, the single installation becomes a complex, kaleidoscopic world.

Music has always been an important part of Chalayan’s fashion shows. Working as a film maker allows him to animate his own designs and work with sound, movement and narrative. He describes Anaesthetics as a “film sketchbook”.

Named after Chalayan’s Spring Summer 2009 collection, Inertia displays the moulds which were a part of this collection.

SHOWstudio, the online fashion broadcasting company, has established a gallery-cum-shop featuring artifacts from renowned designers and photographers – items that were originally unveiled in iconic fashion shoots and catwalks.

SHOWstudio Shop

1-9 Bruton Place, London W1J 6LT (020 7399 4299)

The space is curated by Nick Knight, the photographer and director of the original SHOWstudio website. The ever-changing exhibits are all items that were captured on camera by contemporary photographers whose imagery stands alongside the objects.

In addition, a live studio set up enables spectators to see the process behind the creation of fashion imagery online. A number of renowned designers are filmed via a webcam whilst creating unique pieces known as ‘SHOWstudio Originals’. These pieces are sold with the existing artifacts and prints. Information on particular events can be found on their website.

Images are taken from the exhibition titled Inside/Out, shown in summer 2010.

This summer KesselsKramer’s London office, KK Outlet, is welcoming the famous Parisian store colette to their Hoxton Square space. For the first time colette are venturing onto UK soil and bringing with them specially selected products, books, music and art work.

SHOPSWAP, 2nd July-28th August 2010

KK OUTLET

42 Hoxton Square, London N1 6PB (020 7033 7680)

colette is taking over KK Outlet in a style of its own, and KK Outlet is returning the gesture in Paris.

Alongside exclusive colette endorsed products, books and music, KK Outlet is hosting two high profile exhibitions from renowned graffiti writer Monsieur Andre (above) and illustrator Darcel (below). Both artists are showing the best picks from their recent colette shows, including new works and specially created pieces.

In return, KK Outlet is taking over colette (28th June-31st July), installing a unique showcase of products, books, and artwork which best reflects the multi-faceted nature of the company and its output.

colette is a famous destination store – it stocks the hardest to find and coolest products, gadgets, trainers, books, music and fashion. colette regularly collaborate with the likes of BAPE, Chloe Sevigny, Lou Reed, Terry Richardson and Lomography.

KesselsKramer is an independent communications agency located in Amsterdam and London, and has created communication for clients such as Vitra, citizenM, J&B whisky and Diesel. KesselsKramer’s output can encompass many disciplines – from a documentary about the world’s two lowest-ranked football teams (The Other Final) to a book about the worst hotel in the world (Hans Brinker Budget Hotel). KesselsKramer is also a publishing house, producing many titles, often featuring images from the private collections of agency founder, Erik Kessels.