Verena Hennig x ByALEX and Design Junction 2016
The London Design Festival is often the most exciting time of the year for us. The city is transformed into an explosion of events and shows dedicated to the arts. This year we collaborated with the German product and graphic designer Verena Hennig on the VIP and Press room at Design Junction. Verena designed the space, which featured her ‘Roll’ collection – a playful, innovative design consisting of rotatable poles that allow you to literally roll from left to right. The experience is unexpected and totally addictive, whilst gently massaging your bottom and lower back. The walls were illustrated by German artist Michael Vestner, who created oversized drawings of hands titled ‘The Process’. Verena’s futuristic chairs, stools and benches were accompanied by A Stools and a long bank of Kingshaw Tables.
Architects, interior designers and the press were invited for special talks and presentations throughout the four day show. It was great to see four Kingshaw Tables working hard and the white surfaces cleaned up nicely at the end of each day, after coffee cup rings from numerous guests.
The graphic and bold furniture from Verena and myself led to a perfect collaboration – special thanks to October Communications for making the introduction! We had lots of fun ‘rolling’ around the VIP room and it was great to be part of Design Junction again – the new venue was fantastic as it encouraged visitors to spend time around the beautiful Central St Martin’s campus at King’s Cross. This year Design Junction became a festival of it’s own, rather than the trade show it had been known as. We made some great new friends including Assembly Room and Decode, who helped out at the last moment in providing lights for the VIP room. The star of the show has to be Bethan Gray and her new collection using luxury materials including Mother of Pearl – yes you better believe it – and the incredible technique of inlaying / overlaying solid brass into table tops and a credenza.