London Design Festival 2013: designers Laetitia de Allegri and Eva Feldkamp have created a collection of furniture and products including a magazine holder that resembles a toast rack (+ slideshow).
Laetitia de Allegri and Eva Feldkamp showed a selection of products designed individually, alongside three designs created in collaboration that were inspired by sailing.
"I sailed for the first time two years ago and I love everything about it," Laetitia de Allegri told Dezeen. "The closeness to nature, the design of the boats, the materials, techniques, everything is so simple and beautiful."
A beech tray features a linear arrangement of wooden slats joined using the process of caulking that traditionally creates a non-slip seal on boat decking.
Door handles sand cast from aluminium or gunmetal reference the curving form of propeller blades.
The duo's foldable stool can be hung on the wall to display the fabric that creates its seat when unfurled. The fabric is attached to a horizontal bar that holds it in tension when in use and weighs it down when hung up.
Laetitia de Allegri exhibited a range of side tables and stools with colourful bands of glazing based on the look of the frayed ends of rugs.
De Allegri also showed a magazine rack that supports magazines between three protruding vertical fins. The product is available in marble or colourful ceramic.
Eva Feldkamp showed a pair of ceramic carafes with forms that reference their contents. The taller, slimmer vessel is for water, while the rounder one is used for pouring milk.
Feldkamp's other product is a tape cutter comprising aluminium sections and a circular blade that can be stacked to create a tool for accurately cutting rolls of tape into strips of a desired width.
The designers presented their products as part of the Brompton Design District during the London Design Festival, which ended at the weekend.
Other products launched at the festival include a wall-hung mirror with a brass counterweight, furniture made from wood and colourful resin, and a collection of wicker lighting.
See all our London Design Festival 2013 coverage »
Here are some more details from the designers:
Issue No. 1 by De Allegri / Feldkamp
Drawing on the technical expertise developed throughout their studio work, the duo Laetitia de Allegri and Eva Feldkamp launch their debut exhibition, Issue No. 1, in a tribute to feminine sensibility at London Design Festival this September. Against a landscape of colours, a selection of independent projects – side tables, magazine racks, carafe and a tape cutter – are showcased alongside three feature collaborations: a series of door handles, a foldable stool and a tray, each inspired by the mood and feel of sailing.
The inspiration underpinning the collection is the free spirit of sailing. Through our projects, we explore its associated shapes, materials and techniques alongside its relationship to nature.
Door handle
The door handles capture the sensitivity experienced in the repetitive touching of an everyday object. All three handle types are sand cast, as is each shape – some from aluminium, some from gunmetal. This project revisits the domestication of a product that is technical in its design, yet involves the senses in its use, embodying the perfect balance between function and tactility
Foldable stool
This stool’s function is twofold. In its closed position, it can be hung on the wall to create a framework for the fabric that gently drops down lengthwise. The weight of a stitched inner tube creates a slight tension to display the material. When unfolded, the tube centers the fabric in between two simple frames joined at an axis, forming the seat.
Sparks by Laetitia de Allegri
SparkS is a collection of playful, ceramic side tables and stools, based on colour experiments in glazings. They were intended to be placed next to a sofa or bed, but are equally at home on terraces or in gardens. The superimposed colours were inspired by the frayed ends of rugs bundled together on display, fusing together to create a coincidental new world of colour.
Dimensions: 350 x 350 x 540mm (Tall round Table), 300 x 300 x 240mm (Small round Table)
Untitled Nº 01 by Laetitia de Allegri
Untitled Nº01, marble magazine rack, has been created for the exhibition No function – no Sense? for DEPOT BASEL in August 2012.
Dimensions: 310 x 400 x 210mm
Untitled Nº 02 by Laetitia de Allegri
Untitled Nº02, ceramic magazine rack.
Dimensions: 310 x 400 x 210mm
Carafe by Eva Feldkamp
Similar in form, these two carafes are distinguishable by the liquid each is made to hold. The fresher, slimmer carafe complements the flowing, refreshing and transparent quality of water, while the rounder, deeper bellied carafe evokes the rich, nourishing quality of milk.
Dimensions: 255 x 75 x 75mm 230 x 80 x 80mm
Tape cutter by Eva Feldkamp
Personal tool to customise the width of tape, composed of turned aluminium layers and circular knife. When the layers of turned aluminium are stacked to a certain height the tape can be cut precisely into a specific width. Pressure controls the number of layers, and with that, the length of the cut piece.
Dimensions: 65 x 55 x 55mm