Leading design store – twentytwentyone – has undergone a transformation in the form of a sizable new extension to its Islington premises. We have the first photo of the new space together with a tasty 15% discount on purchases instore from 1st-8th December 2011, exclusively for LDG readers.

TWENTYTWENTYONE SHOP

274-275 Upper Street, London N1 2UA (020 7288 1996)

YES, 15% discount! Simply present your copy of LONDON DESIGN GUIDE 2012-2013 at the till and you’ll be eligible for the discount (1st-8th December 2011 only). And fear not, if you don’t already own a copy, you can buy one on the spot at the store (£12)!

About the new extension at twentytwentyone:

The new site commands a dual aspect and creates a strong street-presence for the award winning retailer.

The design for the interior sees the party wall between 274 and 275 being removed to create a wide open-plan space. A new floor has been laid through both ground floor premises as a key feature to unify the new and existing units. A range of storage and display units have been designed by Michael Sodeau in birch-faced plywood to marry with the current till counter.

The occupancy of 275 Upper Street marks the final part of a property jigsaw for twentytwentyone. Two years ago the company took on the basement to their shop and that of 275. A demanding structural project followed to open up a network of walls and create a useable retail space that tripled the size of their original shop.

The completion of the puzzle creates a rational two story retail space in excess of 250 square metres.

It’s Christmas time and here LDG editor Max Fraser brings you his selection of gifts for the holiday season. As always, we would encourage you to buy well made items with lasting appeal to try to reduce the waste that comes with the merriment and excess. Enjoy!

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Every year in my family, someone buys a new Christmas tree decoration to add to a mish-mash of existing baubles and figurines, each one bringing back memories of a specific year. I find most baubles to be tacky and over-decorated, so I was delighted to discover this mouth-blown and hand engraved glass creation, which somehow encapsulates 2010: fragile and transparent.

Glass baubles by Judith Seng and Alex Valder. £41 from placesandspaces, Clapham (page 154 in LONDON DESIGN GUIDE)

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Candles help add to the atmosphere of Christmas day. These slender glass candlesticks will add an elegant glint to your dining table as you tuck into a feast. A stemware collection by the same designer is also available if you want the entire look.

Tilo range by Anna Torfs. Starting from £130 from Vessel, Notting Hill (page 33 in LDG)

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If, like some members of my family, you are prone to breaking glass then perhaps this etched brass candle holder might be a good option. The detailed pattern unleashes a mass of intricate shadows when lit. There is a similar pendant lampshade version also available.

Etch candle holder by Tom Dixon. £30 from Tom Dixon, Ladbroke Grove (page 32 in LDG)

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OK, back to glass. Well, chunky Quartz crystal actually. These glasses are part of a series designed by Max Lamb for historic crystal company J. & L. Lobmeyr. Lamb wanted to explore the optical effect of faceted crystal, creating a series of 23 cylindrical glasses cut with an increasing number of facets, from 3 to 34. The versions shown above were cut with 6 facets to create thick-walled crystal glassware.

Quartz Series by Max Lamb. £130 (small); £155 (medium); £188 (tall) from Projectory at Phillips de Pury & Company (Saatchi Gallery location)

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If you enjoy a dash of lemon juice with your smoked salmon, try out this futuristic-looking new citrus squeezer. This creation is produced by Alessi, the same company that makes the iconic Juicy Salif lemon squeezer by Philippe Starck (which doesn’t function very well!). Thankfully, and by Starck’s own admission, this one works extremely well!

mysqueeze citrus juicer by Roland Kreiter. £33, available exclusively online from mydeco.com or from Alessi, Mayfair (page 52 in LDG)

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Add some colour to the table with this selection of cheerful steel bowls (gloss on the inside, matt on the outside), originally designed in 1953 by Danish civil engineer, Herbert Krenchel. Excitingly, the iconic design has been reissued in 2010 by Danish brand Normann Copenhagen.

Selection of Krenit bowls by Herbert Krenchel. £12-97 (depending on size) from Skandium, Brompton & Marylebone (pages 20 & 42 in LDG). If you’re searching for a highly-collectible vintage original, visit Rocket Gallery, Shoreditch (page 135 in LDG)

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Of course, Christmas is the time to crack open just about anything that is wet and alcoholic. Here’s a bottle opener that will endure such heavy use, made from cast iron by skilled Japanese craftsmen.

Large bottle opener by Nobuho Miya. £13 from twentytwentyone, Islington (page 119 in LDG)

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A Christmas meal isn’t complete without the crack of some crackers. That said, most of them conceal a useless gift destined for landfill. Not so with these crackers from leading online stationery store, Present & Correct, which are made from graph paper in Devon and contain a few little treasures that you will likely want to keep!

Christmas crackers by Present & Correct. £10 from Present & Correct Pop-In Shop, Clerkenwell or from Present & Correct online shop.

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Over the Christmas period, it is more than likely you’ll get a surprise visit from friends or relatives. So, pull up one of these finely-crafted British-made stools which can double up as a wee side table/drinks perch when not being sat upon.

Stool One (oak) by Another Country. £145 from Another Country or The Temporium, Brompton (9-19th December 2010). Additionally, a limited-edition of 100 solid ash stools has been produced in collaboration with Monocle for £175.

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Of course, if anyone outstays their welcome, show them the door… and these simple coat hooks which they probably failed to notice on arrival!

Ceramic and cork knobs by Jasper Morrison. £9, £14, £21 for ceramic and £8, £10, £12 for cork from Jasper Morrison Shop (page 131 in LDG). Also can be used as handles on furniture. The shop is also open on Saturdays in December.

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During any Christmas down-time, while most people can be found reading a good novel, I’m guilty of using the time to scrub up on my design knowledge. Yeah, cool man. So here is a beast of a book delving into the nuts and bolts of the Eames Office, written and designed over 13 years by ex-employee Marilyn Neuhart and husband John. After this weighty accomplishment, we’ll finally be able to draw a line under the Eames legacy.

The Story of Eames Furniture by Marilyn & John Neuhart. £140 from The Lollipop Shoppe, Spitalfields or directly from the publisher, Gestalten. If you have a spare 16 minutes, be sure to watch this fantastic video about the book.

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Before you sit down to read, it’s important that you have a good light. Here’s a beauty – an architect lamp designed in 1921 by Bernard-Albin Gras and recently reissued. The construction of the lamp, hand made in France, is free from screws or welded joints. There are various versions available but this one is my favourite.

Lampe Gras 207 by Bernard-Albin Gras. £380 from SCP, Shoreditch and Westbourne Grove (pages 136 and 31 in LDG)

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For those of you with children, you probably have to tolerate heaps of ugly plastic toys in your home. Well, American designer David Weeks has designed a series of wooden animals that happily fall into the ‘kidult’ category. Beautifully hand made, each limb is fully flexible and simply held together with elastic. My favourite is Hanno the gorilla.

Hanno the Gorilla by David Weeks. £59 from Aram Store, Covent Garden (page 76 in LDG)

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And on to the New Year. I like to start each year with a fresh new notebook to jot down ideas and future plans. You never know when you will have a lightbulb moment, so it’s best to invest in a good looking book for any public appearances. Crucially, this one has unlined pages (that’s just how I like it), with a Japanese screen printed cover and red linen spine.

Large hand bound notebook. £26 from Darkroom, Bloomsbury. Other colours and sizes are available.

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Finally, a little note to jolt your conscience. A staggering amount of landfill waste is generated each year from excessive packaging as well as unwanted Christmas gifts. We would encourage you to carefully consider the person you are buying for (so that they receive what they actually want), avoid unnecessary packaging, and make a concerted effort to buy into quality items that will last. There, we said it.

Check out GOOD magazine’s ‘10 favourite innovations for reducing plastic consumer waste.’

MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

In case you didn’t make it to the infamous Milan Furniture Fair in April, fear not. Having trudged around the immense fair and countless city installations, leading design store twentytwentyone has handpicked the best products and is featuring them at their showroom in Islington.

HIGHLIGHTS OF MILAN, 19th-29th May 2010

TWENTYTWENTYONE showroom

18c River Street, London EC1R 1XN (020 7837 1900)

Highlights of Milan embraces a range of technologies, materials, forms and thought processes. Designs include a make-your-own chair by Enzo Mari, a knitted rug by Patricia Urquiola, a CNC-milled timber chair by Sam Hecht, a paper task light from Claesson Koivisto Rune and a new sofa family from Jasper Morrison.

On show are designs from Naoto Fukasawa, Thomas Heatherwick, Barber Osgerby, Patricia Urquiola, Konstantin Grcic, Tom Dixon, Sam Hecht, Jasper Morrison, Michael Sodeau, David Chipperfield, Franz Volhard, Inge Sempe, Enzo Mari, Michael Young, Raw Edges, Todd Bracher, Claesson Koivisto Rune, Marina Baultier, Constance Guisset and PearsonLloyd.

The Milan Salone is the most important event in the design calendar acting as a key influence upon interiors in the year ahead. The exhibits comprise of both prototypes and designs that are ready for production, with orders being available for immediate dispatch.

Leading design store, twentytwentyone, has just undergone extension work to their original Upper Street shop in Islington – just in time for Christmas. Here are some pictures we took within hours of completion!

The new space spans the basement areas of their existing property and that of their neighbour, providing a further 100 square metres of display for their confident product pickings.

The new interior has been created by award-winning architects DRDH. The outcome is a simple and refined setting.

Illuminating the stairwell leading to the basement is a striking cluster of Torch Lights (designed by Sylvain Willenz for Established & Sons) – apparently the only one of its kind in the UK.

If you are unfamiliar with the shop already, here is the twentytwentyone shop review extracted from page 119 of LONDON DESIGN GUIDE and written prior to any knowledge of the new extension.

It’s December and the Christmas season is well and truly upon us. The annual dilemma as to what to buy our discerning friends and family is here, and to make life a bit easier, we have searched the stores featured in LONDON DESIGN GUIDE to bring our pick of the top 20 products from 20 great places.

Start as you mean to go on – kick off Christmas day with Champagne and sausages.

Above: Champagne Glasses by Ilse Crawford & Michael Anastassiades. £85 (sold in pairs) from Sigmar, Chelsea (page 19 in LONDON DESIGN GUIDE)

Of course, no day begins properly without a caffeine injection.

Above: Coffee & tea maker by Naoto Fukasawa. £149 from twentytwentyone, Islington (page 119 in LDG)

Right, breakfast over, its time to change out of your dressing gown and make an effort. Its Christmas day after all.

Above: Hinged Facet cufflinks in sterling silver by Hannah Martin. £335 from The Modern Gentry, Mayfair (until 5th December) or online from Hannah Martin London (page 84 in LDG)

And for you ladies, a beautiful ring should do the job.

Above: Grace Round silver ring with crystal by Jacqueline Rabun. £1500 from Jacqueline Rabun, Knightsbridge (page 15 in LDG)

Its not just how you look. What about how you smell?

Above: ‘Standard’ Comme des Garcons Artek perfume (100ml). £70 from Dover Street Market, Mayfair (page 54 in LDG)

Winter days can be rather gloomy so its important that you can see what you’re doing before plunging into that pile of pressies.

Above: Chimney Lights by Benjamin Hubert. £295 each from Viaduct, Clerkenwell (page 106 in LDG)

OK, if the kids don’t open some presents soon, they’re going to climb the walls. Perhaps that goes for the adults too? 

Above: Playshapes by millergoodman. £79 for a set of 74 wooden shapes from Aram, Covent Garden (page 76 in LDG)

Feeling peckish already? Time for a mid-morning snack served in style.

Above: hemDing platter by Andreas Fabian. £109 from Thorsten van Elten pop-up shop, Brompton (2-13 December) or online (page 72 in LDG)

Christmas is a time of celebration so do just that, and assemble and scatter illuminated balloons.

Above: Balloon Lamp by Kyouei. £25 from placesandspaces, Clapham (page 154 in LDG)

Argh, is that the time?! Must be time to start cooking the almighty roast…

Above: Red Wrist Watch by Uniform Wares. £85 from Uniform Wares online store (available from 4th December – its that new!)

OK, pots and pans to the ready…

Above: 20cm Casserole by Jasper Morrison. £38 from Jasper Morrison Shop, Shoreditch (page 131 in LDG). The other products in the image are also available from Jasper Morrison Shop.

So, who is going to set the table for lunch?

Above: Tonale tableware range by David Chipperfield. Prices from £13 from Alessi, Mayfair (page 52 of LDG)

After a long boozy lunch, it is time for a snooze on the sofa wrapped in warm blankets.

Above: Nos Da cushions, throws, and blankets. £60, £160, and £275 from SCP, Shoreditch and Notting Hill (pages 31 & 136 in LDG)

Wake up sleepy head!

Above: Braun Alarm Clock AB5 by Dietrich Lubs. £29.95 from Design Museum Shop, Bermondsey (page 150 in LDG). Be warned – these clocks are out of production and have been sourced from a savvy collector in Japan, so they are strictly limited!

If you’re not the snoozing type, have a read of your latest cultural tome.

Above: Anish Kapoor, published by Phaidon. £59.95 from Phaidon Store, Mayfair (from 6-7pm on 11th December, Anish Kapoor will be signing books in the store. To secure a place in the queue, pre-order your copy with a 20% discount)

Time for some Christmas cake already?

Above: Pedastal (grey) by Harri Koskinen for iittala. £329 (limited edition) from Skandium, Brompton and Marylebone (pages 20 & 42 in LDG)

Of course, you can’t have cake without a cup of tea, right?

Above: Adonde stoneware teapot. £79 from Mar Mar Co, Brick Lane (page 134 in LDG)

OK, revived, its time for some more presents. 

Above: Wallet by Porte Monnaie, made from paper-like flash-spun high density polyethylene. £69 from Darkroom, Lamb’s Conduit Street (new store opening 8th December)

Wow, a knockout sculptural centrepiece if ever I saw one.

Above: Yellow Loop by Merete Rasmussen. £780 from Contemporary Applied Arts, Fitzrovia (page 89 in LDG)

At the risk of being really boring, I’m off to bed…

Above: French tin candle box with drawer of refills. £19 from Few and Far, Brompton (page 14 in LDG)

So that’s the end of our pick of 20 great Christmas presents from 20 great places. Explore over 100 more fantastic design destinations that are featured in LONDON DESIGN GUIDE 2010 – buy your copy for Christmas! Only £10 directly from this website.

We’ll leave you with a nerdy statistic: each year Britons spend on average £435 on Christmas presents, but now researchers have calculated £36 of that will not be appreciated. Last year, eBay saw two million unwanted Christmas gifts listed, but a huge number are discarded and end up in landfill. 

It is predicted that Londoners will be given £86 million of unwanted gifts this Christmas. Don’t be one of them. Buy well, buy quality… don’t buy crap.

Source: Western Union via Evening Standard

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

British furniture brand Very Good & Proper has recently launched the Canteen Utility Chair, just prior to it being installed in the newly opened Canteen restaurant in Canary Wharf – the fourth Canteen venue to open in London.

Very Good & Proper was founded by Canteen co-owner, Patrick Clayton-Malone, as a production business to turn specially-commissioned furniture for his restaurants into commercially available products for everyone. Of course, this idea is entirely fitting – Canteen is an exercise in democratic dining devoid of any snobbery or elitism.

The Canteen Table was the first design in the collection, created by design duo Klauser and Carpenter for the restaurant’s Baker Street location. The table comprises cast aluminium legs that can be fixed to any tabletop without the need for bracing supports. Additional to this was the introduction of the Canteen Hook & Knob. 

Despite being new designs, each of the pieces in the collection possess a familiarity of form. They don’t shout from the rooftops. In their own words, VG&P was “established to produce considered, practical, relevant and reasonably priced products, originated by emerging and recognised design talent with longevity in mind.”

At LDG, we adhere closely to their message that products should be made to last. The VG&P sub-line fits perfectly – MEASURE TWICE, CUT ONCE.

Check out all of these designs in the new Canteen restaurant in Canary Wharf and tuck into really tasty British food while you’re there. Otherwise, visit their other locations in Spitalfield Market, Royal Festival Hall, or Baker Street.

Should you wish to buy any of these designs, you can get them from leading design retailer twentytwentyone. See pages 106 & 119 in LDG for more info about their stores in Islington and Clerkenwell.

Also, keep an eye out for the contribution of Max Fraser (LDG editor) in the forthcoming Canteen cookbook (due for release in Spring 2010) where he writes in more detail about the design of their restaurants and the VG&P collection.