large hand painted church sign found at car boot sale

RUPERT BLANCHARD'S INCOMPLETE BOOK OF FORTY TUBULAR STEEL STACKING CHAIRS FROM HIS INCOMPLETE COLLECTION

Now available online from HATO press HERE or in person from Momoko's wonderful shop; Momosan Shop which is HERE
(should be on everyones reading list)

Reading List

I'm teaching on the MA Interiors course at the RCA for a bit. The current project is a retail interior design for a charity shop. Not having met any of the students before and being unsure of their skill set & knowledge I decided to bring in a small selection of my books relevant to the project and to my tastes. So many specific retail design books line my shelves, I tried to avoid them.

By the end of the day I had only referenced 3 of the 15 books, conversations and ideas were flowing and books weren't needed.

Fitted Furniture - Architect's Detail Library 4 / Iliffe / 1966

Flea markets in Europe / Chartwell / 1982 

Felixstowe at work / 1994

Colour and Architecture / Konrad Gatz & Gerhard Achterberg / Batsford / 1967

Victorian Good and Merchandise / Dover / 1997 

Our true intent is all for your delight / Boot / John Hinde - Martin Parr / 2002
(note to self - clean cover)

Exhibition Design / Arnold Rattenbury / Studio Vista - Van Nostrand Reinhold / 1971

Haberdashery / William Amsden / Practical Press / c.1920s30s

Cool Shops London / teNeues / 2005
...the only 'retail design beginners guide' type book in this selection as it gives students a good  quick idea  of independent retail spaces during the past 10-15years in london

English Shops and Shopping / Kathryn A. Morrison / 2003

Display Design & Presentation (magazine) / 1946-48

Welcome to Britain / Jan Williams & Chris Teasdale / headline / 2005

Memphis / Richard Horn / 1986
I try to fit a bit of Memphis onto every reading list

Rethink / Tom Dixon / Conran Octopus / 2000

Staircases / Eva Jiricna / Laurence King / 2001
...not a retail design book but the author Eva is also teaching on the course so i had hoped that she might sign it but i wasn't brave enough to ask her

Cheltenham Design Festival

I will be talking at the Cheltenham Design Festival this Friday as a part of 'Design for Living'. More details HERE

TFL Canteen Tea Trolley / Design Junction Milan 2013

the TEA sign on top spins around as the trolley is pushed along

I seem to get asked to build trollies fairly often, This one is for Transport For London (TFL) to use at Design Junction in Milan 2013 (EDIT).The customised vintage Tea Trolley will be serving tea for the duration of EDIT. Tea will be served in enamel mugs from Falcon Enamelware. The cups will be available to buy along with the tea as well as a number of other home and kitchenware items. The Tea Trolley is a taster for the May launch of the London Transport Mobile Canteen. 

 With reference to some of my earlier sideboard designs, I used salvaged sections from scrapped London Buses to clad the trolley and make a fitted drawer...

 Above: a vintage tea chest is used for additional storage and display space

Below: the simple TEA sign spins around like a flashing beacon when the trolley is pushed along

 Tea please

...if you like this trolley you might also like to see another trolley i made HERE

Below: Bus Cabinet

The Importance of Stuff

3 Nest-A-Bye British made tubular steel stacking chairs,
Made in the midlands under the Sebal (Stack-A-Bye) brand.
Little did i know that tubular chairs would become such a big part of my life.

The way we furnish our homes is said to reveal our personality, both real & aspirational but it can also subconsciously influence & inspire future generations, this was recently evident as i rediscovered three items while helping to tidy up my dads shed.

I am not a minimalist, I am not a hoarder. I have been conditioned by the environment that i grew up in but I would like to think that I can understand & appreciate what i consider to be both good & bad design.

I have no desire to live in a museum, objects and interiors should be functional yet beautiful, Trinkets should be kept to a minimum, Collections can be large but should be defined & constantly edited.

The items in my dads shed that I remember playing with as a child appear to have clear links to my design choices and the objects that i still play with today.

'Watch Makers Drawers' that used to be in my Grans kitchen,
no idea if they really were watch makers drawers but they were always
stuffed with string, paper, pencils and what-nots.

Enamel Sign, One of a few different signs in the garage,
representing Typography, Workshops, Materials.