Freyja Sewell at Clerkenwell Design Week

Freyja Sewell HUSH at CDW

One of the exciting artists exhibiting at Clerkenwell Design Week is Freyja Sewell. Her work has a strong theme of sustainability, and her HUSH pods creating a private space with-in a publicworld are particularly impressive.

Freyja Sewell HUSH at CDW

The amount of thought and practicality Frejya has put into the design of HUSH as an enclosed space providing a personal retreat is remarkable. She emphasises that modern society, technology and architecture offer great ways to connect on multiple levels but can leave little room for privacy in our everyday lives.

Freyja Sewell at CDW

Through HUSH she seeks to provide a way to balance the pressures of growing populations and overcrowding with the need for individual space.

“HUSH provides a personal retreat, a luxurious escape into a dark, hushed, natural space in the midst of a busy hotel, airport, office or library. HUSH provides a quiet space in an age of exponential population growth, where privacy and peaceful respite is an increasingly precious commodity.”

Freyja Sewell HUSH at Selfridges, London.

Frejya uses sustainably produced wool for the body of HUSH and recycled wool fibers for the internal padding, produced as a by-product of the British carpet industry.

Freyja Sewell HUSH at CDW

The HUSH pods are manufactured by Ness Furniture in Durham by skilled furniture craftsmen and women, helping to support and revitalise Britain’s ancient heritage of makers.

Look out for Freyja at Clerkenwell Design Week at House of Detention.

Around the World in 80 Chairs: Metal Pipe Chair, San Francisco CA

A chair made from old metal pipes and radiators in a shop in downtown San Francisco, California.

8 Chairs: Redefined by the Weather

Gallery Libby Sellers was launched in 2007 by the former senior curator of the London Design Museum, in order to offer a platform for the support and promotion of progressive and critical design in a gallery context.

Chair at Joshua Tree California

The current exhibition -’8 Chairs’ by London-based creative duo Clarke & Reilly is a poetic travelogue documenting the journey of these chairs through extreme weather conditions. The redefined forms were installed on the rooftop of a Peckham building to expose them to the icy winter before being transported to the scorching California desert. The consequences of such extremes, all documented through film and photography, are also displayed in the Gallery. On their return, each chair underwent their own final process, informed by their individual response to the whole experience.

Clarke & Reilly describe their style as ‘unashamedly romantic and tirelessly imaginative’, and are known for applying an original perspective to ‘lost’ pieces of furniture using a narrative, historical knowledge, craftsmanship and a rarified sense of colour to redefine the work.

’8 Chairs’ exemplifies this reverent attitude towards design as each of the historical chairs, selected to represent a specific character in the artists’ minds, has been reinvented, often using period and ancient fabrics.

Clarke and Reilly, otherwise known as David Grocott and Bridget Dwyer (born 1964 and 1967), have been collaborating as an artist duo since 2005. Bringing together their backgrounds in fashion (Dwyer) and antique furniture (Grocott), they create unique objects that convey their nostalgic, romantic, and slightly eccentric aesthetic.

Dwyer and Grocott currently live between London and Los Angeles and their works are in collections worldwide. The exhibition will run until the 26th of April.

Around the World in 80 Chairs: Circular Metal Bench, Grover Beach CA

Circular metal bench surrounding a young tree in Grover Beach, California.

Spring’s Salvaged Chairs at Retrouvius

Retrouvius specialises in reclamation of materials and design, they have a wide collection of salvaged furniture and lighting. Based in Harrow Road in London, they have undertaken numerous design projects in London and throughout the UK. Currently they have an eclectic selection of chairs, ranging from mid century and industrial to Victorian office furniture.

DANISH ARMCHAIR

TRIPOD DESK CHAIR

PAIR OF ERCOL ROCKING CHAIRS

VICTORIAN OFFICE CHAIR

TUBULAR FRAME CHAIR WITH BEECH SEAT

ITALIAN DASHING TWEED STRIPE

FURRY RED ITALIAN CHAIR

REGENCY DESK CHAIR

DANISH TEAK FRAMED CHAIR

The founders of Retrouvius, Adam and Maria believe in reusing and salvaging materials and preserving beautifully crafted objects wherever possible:

“At the heart of Retrouvius is the belief that good materials and well-made things are precious; whether quarried stone or a piece of expert joinery, these objects were hard won and have an intrinsic value that argues for them to be re-conditioned and intelligently re-used.”

For more information on these chairs and other items, visit their website.

Around the World in 80 Chairs: Collage Chair, Cartagena – Colombia

Collage chair in a restaurant in the beautiful old walled town of Cartagena on Colombia’s Caribbean coast.