A brief look at the highlights:

I had the pleasure of attending London Design Week in March. It is a bi-annual expo held at Design Centre Chelsea Harbour. They welcome designers, architects, and tastemakers alike to come and explore over 120 showrooms, housing over 600 high end brands. Here are a few brands that I found captivating:

Cole & Sons Wallpapers

Cole & Son’s new Ardmore Collection, created in collaboration with Ardmore Ceramic Art, celebrates African traditions and culture. It features exotic flora and majestic fauna: from rare birds to big cats, elephants, rhinos and monkeys; as well as the beautiful patterns of Zulu beadwork and woven basket-ware.

GP & J Baker

GP & J Baker’s collaboration with Historic Royal Palaces is quite opulent. The Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace and Kensington Palace, has provided an abundance of inspiration for this very collection. Elements of their breathtaking architecture, landscape and interiors have been assembled to produce stunning designs.

Mull Berry Home

At Mulberry Home (a brand that is also a part of the GP & J Baker group) launched the “Bohemian Travels” as a sequel to the “Bohemian Romance”. Bohemian Travels is a tribute to the discerning traveller/collector; this collection brings together exciting, inspirational designs, exotic textures and palette of radiant contrasting colours. This collection is fantastic for adding topographical detail to a study or used on a chair or as a cloakroom blind. It gives a ‘nod’ to the practice undertaken by gentlemen and scholars of the Georgian period to take the Grand Tour.

Zoffany

Zoffany creates modern and innovative designs that offer an artistic and sophisticated aesthetic for both contemporary and classic interiors. The Elswick Paisley print which takes inspiration from antique paisley rugs and would be stunning on any feature wall.

Chase Erwin

Chase Erwin continues the art of story telling through it’s evocative luxury textiles. Chase Erwin compliments the contemporary whilst also letting the beauty of our natural world show through. Their handmade “Beau” cushion collection is both artistic and elegant; they used the edge of the fabric roll, to create the fringe detail that frames a strip of their Mohair velvet running from top to bottom as the center detail.

London Design Week was a good chance for me to experience the opulence of current luxury design trends. The contrast to the Southern African design shows of SARCDA, Decorex and 100% Design was striking. Change is good but for now I head back to the land of natural earthy materials and colour, beaten under the harsh African sun.

Written by Amy Fletcher