Russell Whitehead and Jordan Cluroe of 2LG Studio have curated You Can Sit With Us, a London Design Competition present that supplied “a seat on the desk” to a various mixture of rising designers.
The 2LG Studio founders invited 13 designers from a mixture of nationalities, races, genders and backgrounds to be part of the exhibition, which was on present at London Design Truthful.
The exhibition took the type of a eating room, that includes an extended desk surrounded by chairs that have been every designed by a special participant.
Whitehead and Cluroe got here up with the idea primarily based on their very own experiences of attempting to interrupt into the design business and being made to really feel like outsiders.
“After we launched our follow practically 10 years in the past, there was an interior circle that felt very out of attain to us,” Whitehead advised Dezeen.
“We have been so bruised by the business and felt blocked by sure doorways that have been firmly closed to us,” he continued.
“As an alternative of chasing acceptance the place it wasn’t forthcoming, we determined to just accept the love that was coming our approach and put our vitality there.”
The goal of You Can Sit With Us, he stated, was to offer a platform to a brand new technology of designers who could also be having related experiences.
The exhibition’s title is a reference to the 2004 film Imply Women.
“We wished this to be a secure house that actively welcomed new views,” Whitehead defined.
Among the many most eye-catching designs within the present is a lounge seat with upholstery made out of coach insoles by Helen Kirkum, a footwear designer who sometimes crafts her designs from recycled sneakers.
Norwegian designer Anna Maria Øfstedal Eng has contributed a CNC-cut model of a home made ash chair she first made through the pandemic in a brand new black lacquer end.
A backrest with a sweater slung over it’s a part of the carved wooden type of a design by California-based Sam Klemick, who had a profession in trend earlier than she moved into furnishings.
Rotterdam-based Benjamin Motoc created a bit that playfully combines a sketch with a primary 3D design, whereas Paris-based sculptor Bence Magyarlaki has produced a characteristically squidgy kind.
Different chairs have been designed by Amechi Mandi, Divine Southgate Smith, Wilkinson & Rivera, Internet Warner, Sizzling Wire Extensions, Byard Works, Pulp Sculptuur and Blake C Joshua.
The contributors have been chosen throughout design, artwork and trend as a result of Whitehead and Cluroe “did not need to implement boundaries in that approach”.
Their chairs have been organized round a desk produced by Smile Plastics utilizing recycled plastic bottles and outdated tinsel, which created a glittering impact.
The exhibition was an essential undertaking for 2LG, and for Whitehead specifically, who battled psychological well being struggles following the pandemic.
The designer stated the undertaking allowed him to discover how “coronary heart and emotion” may be part of design.
“Plenty of therapeutic has taken place within the lead-up to this present,” he stated.
The undertaking included a collaboration with textile model Granite + Smoke, who produced vibrant blankets emblazoned with the exhibition’s title message.
Whitehead and Cluroe additionally labored with homeware model Sheyn on a sequence of suggestive 3D-printed vases.
“The gathering we designed collectively is a celebration of our queerness, one thing we’ve not embraced totally in our product design output, but it surely felt extra essential than ever to place that on the market proper now,” added Whitehead.
You Can Sit With Us was on present at London Design Truthful from 21 to 24 September as a part of London Design Competition. See Dezeen Occasions Information for extra structure and design occasions around the globe.
