Designersblock have curated seven window installations by designers KithKin, Postlerferguson (above), Matthew Plummer-Fernandez and others at Selfridges department store in London.
The installations, on the store's Duke Street frontage, will be in place until October 23rd. above: Postlerferguson
above: Charlie Davidson
above: Jim Rokos & Toby Summerskill
Photographs are by Andrew Meredith.
The following is from Designersblock:
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Selfridges Windows
Designersblock have produced 7 windows for Selfridges flagship store at 400 Oxford Street. The seven installations are timed to coincide with the London Design Festival, London Fashion Week and Frieze Art Fair. The windows will be on Duke Street until October 23rd.
1. Postlerferguson (above)
1:1 Concorde Jet Engine in the window as a 3d"science book" explosion graphic "Turbine" Project.
Selfridges has been involved with bringing technology to the public since its inception when the first plane to cross the Channel was displayed in the store. PostlerFerguson aims to continue this approach by developing a 3 dimesional reproduction of the legendary “Olympus Rolls Royce Concorde Jet Engine” incorporating a spectacular display of engineering and science communication.
ABOUT THE OLYMPUS
http://www.curtisswright.com/ The Olympus is a high-powered axial-flow turbojet aircraft engine, originally developed and produced by Bristol Aero Engines (hence the name from Greek mythology, a long time tradition of the company), later passed to Bristol Siddeley, and finally to Rolls-Royce. The engine is still in production for industrial and naval power. Curtiss-Wright in the USA built a licensed version as the J67.
ABOUT POSTLERFERGUSON
www.postlerferguson.com
PostlerFerguson is a London-based product, graphic and interaction design firm. Founded by Ian Ferguson and Martin Postler after their graduation from the RCA, they explore issues of technology, culture and economics through design strategies based on thorough research.
2. KithKin (above)
For the 'Reveal' window KithKin have divided up the space into six sections . Every week a new section will be revealed. The countdown to the next reveal is shown on a scrolling LED. The whole window will be revealed for the last week of the scheme.
3. WEmake (above)
WEmake are rescuing discarded lamps and shades, rewiring and refiting with low energy bulbs before lovingly preserving them in a shrink wrapped jacket. The process magically reinterprets the aestetic and give the light a second life that leaves the original fully functional to be revived at will.
A sea of dead discarded lamp parts on the floor, overlaid with the words LOVINGLY PRESERVED on the window, with Beryl and Friends rising ‘reborn’ from the pile. Screens embedded in the sea of dead lamp components will show videos of the making/transformation process. Each lamp will have its name next to it on the back wall in ‘Beryl’ handwriting indicating the individuality and personality of the pieces.
4. Secret Wars (above)
Secret Wars is a battle between artists, like fight club with pens.
Competitions take place all over the world. For their window the path of the marker pen runs riot over the walls, floor and props. Rather than just leave an ink trail the lines are made up of drawings from some of Secret Wars finest artists.
5. Jim Rokos & Toby Summerskill (above)
Designer Jim Rokos & Photographer Toby Summerskill have collaborated to produce a multi faceted mirrored kaleidoscope. The sculpture is made of mirrors covered by a brand new radiant light film from 3M which changes colour as you walk by the window.
6. Matthew Plummer-Fernandez (above)
Beautiful shop windows are essential to shops for their survival. They are designed to attract customers into the shop where a symbiotic
exchange takes place between the shop and its customers. Thee same can be said for flowers, they are the ‘shop windows’ of plants designed
by nature to draw bees and insects towards them. Without them plant species would not survive. In a fiercely competive world, plants fight
for attention creating the most attractive polysensorial experiences, employing colours, textures, fragrance, form and function that has raised natural design to its highest standards.
Selfridges will be the dominant species in the garden of Oxford St where it’s new window will take shape by adopting the design knowhow and luring techniques of nature. Its geometric circular form derives from a mathematical study of Phyllotaxis; the arrangement of florets in a spiral pattern. Its gentle motion reminds us that this window is a living organism. It’s centered focal point will interact with passers-by, surreptitiously seducing them. Apifera is the Latin name given to flowers that attract bees, the busiest
‘shoppers’ of the natural world.
Apifera
Matthew Plummer-Fernandez
The organism will be made from many lightweight segments that will be attached to a canvas. Behind the canvas a sequence of fans will turn on/off to create a ripple motion that starts from the centre and moves outwards.
7. Charlie Davidson (above)
Charlie Davidson is a lighting and product designer. He has made two chandeliers to rotate around two mannequins. The back wall is covered in tiny fragments of a photograph of the window.
below: Secret Wars
