What to see: the best design events happening in London this August

Adventures in architecture, beachside nostalgia and a celebration of craftmanship – we highlight the best design events to visit this August. 
Will Scott
Barbara Chandler3 August 2018

Seaside Shelters

Until August 19, HENI Gallery, 6-10 Lexington Street, W1; (henipublishing.com)

TS ELIOT wrote possibly Britain's most celebrated modern poem, The Waste Land, sitting in a Margate beach shelter in 1921: "On Margate Sands, I can connect, Nothing with nothing."

So leave London (at least in your imagination) and explore the often-faded grandeur of the idiosyncratic shelters on British beaches and promenades.

Seaside shelter in Brighton is being exhibited at HENI gallery
Will Scott

They are captured in sweeping atmospheric images with big skies and far horizons by architectural photographer and filmmaker Will Scott, in a soothing hypnotic show to support a new book by art house Heni.

Here are "nostalgia pods," says art critic Edwin Heathcote in the preface — "wonderfully public places, perhaps the last architecture owned by us and open to all at any time of the day or the year." Styles range from Victorian and Art Deco to brutalist Bauhaus, and utilitarian post-war.

Celebration of Craftmanship and Design

August 18-27, Thirlestaine Long Gallery, Cheltenham College, Bath Road, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire (celebrationofcraftsmanship.com; 01983 532 365)

Jason Heap, himself a bespoke furniture maker from the Isle of Wight, took over this show (now in its 24th year) in 2009 from redoubtable local art activist Betty Norbury, who's retired to Ireland.

Here is a solid-wood reason for an awayday — 300 exhibits from around 70 makers, "the largest gathering of bespoke furniture designer-makers in the country," says Heap.

Bunk beds with storage by Daniel Lacey

Exhibits are charmingly diverse, from little boxes and bowls to Daniel Lacey's Bunk Beds with Storage, above right, in plain timber (marvel at the dovetails) and Laurent Peacock's Aesculus collector's cabinet (right).

Newer materials include plastics and various metals, and contemporary techniques embrace laser-cutting, CNC machines, and complicated moulds.

The show also includes art, ceramics and jewellery. It has its own barista who bakes daily. Nearby you can explore the neo-classical Montpellier district of Cheltenham, and dine at The Daffodil in the dramatic Art Deco opulence of this former cinema.

Artist Playground by Pullman

​Until August 28, Pullman London St Pancras, 100-110 Euston Rd, King's Cross, NW1 (pullmanhotels.com)

"My pattern really pulls you in," avers London artist/designer Adam Nathaniel Furman who first trained in architecture.

And so it does: a 17-metre strip, two metres wide, on the floor of this posh hotel— which Furman calls a "chromacolour catwalk".

Adam Nathaniel Furman

It's perspective on acid, a pulsating geometry which leads you through the foyer of this posh hotel. Indeed Furman has hijacked the whole lobby, hanging sculpture on the ceiling outlined with strips of LEDs, adding a huge screen with colourful animations.

Available to buy at the hotel are Furman's jazzy cosmetic bags, priced at £12, and a lively tote, £22.

Makemore Craft Festival

August 23-27; Victoria Park, Grove Road, Tower Hamlets, Tower Hamlets, London, E3 (makemore.art)

London is crazy for craft, and now the makers have their very own festival, the first of its kind.

It's fun, on-trend, simultaneously cool and hot and in Hackney — where else?

Learn the art of spoon carving at Makemore

This show, taking over the grounds of Vicky Park, has you at the sharp end, learning and honing your craft skills.

Pottery, poster-printing, cookery and woodcarving.

Don't miss Barnaby Carder, aka Barn the Spoon, a wood obsessive for 20 years who teaches the noble art of spoon carving.

Live music and immersive theatre includes cabaret, comedy, burlesque and puppetry from Frantic Assembly, Little Angel Theatre and Polka Theatre, enhanced by the lovely London choir, Some Voices.

Architecture Prototypes and Experiments

​August 3 to September 1, Aram Gallery, 110 Drury Lane, Covent Garden, WC2 (thearamgallery.org; 020 7557 7526)

Wherever you go in London now, there's building work. But how have today's architects shaped the towers and blocks of modern London?

Feilden Fowles Studio structural model

Despite formidable computer programs, they still make lots of models. More than 50 of them are in a fascinating new show in the airy gallery of Aram's huge design store in an old warehouse in Covent Garden.

Many models are 3D-printed, but others are in card and paper, wood, cast plaster and concrete, ceramic, foam and polystyrene, plasticine, fabric, metal, and crushed stone.

Architecture buffs will love this and it's a must-see for students.

Taking part in the 10th edition of the summer series are big London practices such as Adjaye Associates (Marylebone), dRMM (London Bridge), Piercy & Company (Camden); and emerging outfits such as PUP (Stoke Newington), 31/44 (Whitechapel), and Studio Weave (Hackney).

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