london design festival ~ lighting loves

the reporting teams over at mocoloco and design boom brought back a ton of lighting lovelies from the london design festival week. and you know i'm a huge fan of lighting design, so i just had to share some of these!

{tom dixon's installation in front of the national gallery in trafalgar square ~ a huge chandelier made of his blow lights. he gave away 1,000 of these low energy blow lights as part of his campaign to change how we think about energy consumption}

{flower ball light, made from recycled plastic bottles, designed by heath nash ~ the brilliant south african designer who uses people's rubbish to make lovely furnishings}

{the anglepoise fifty lamps, designed by anthony dickens, are an innovative take on an old school table lamp ~ the injection-moulded polycarbonate design is a transparent shade with a lamp fitting. the back of the lamp is exposed, which floods the wall behind it with light and projects the color of the lamp forward through the plastic body}

{multicolored striped steel and aluminium table lamp by fredrik mattson: pxl. this would look great in so many settings! to add fun to an office, for a kid's bedside lamp, in an ecclectic sitting room. i'd love to find several happy homes for these}

{the dandilight by benjamin hubert is made of cast resin and aluminum. i've been working with cast resin on several project and i tell you it is an amazing prodcut! this lamp is available as a floor lamp or hanging pendant. i love dandelions anyway, so this was one of my insta-favorites}

shootfactory's london allure

i could spend all day gawking at the online eye candy on shootfactory's website. this will be the first of many posts with photos from the properties they represent. shootfactory's purpose is to represent other people's homes and apartments for renting in photo shoots, events, filming and the like. so they've filled their website with enticing images ~ and i am so grateful! unfortunately, there is very little information about the properties and designers, just a ton of wonderful photographs of the amazing spaces. i would love to know more about the designers, stagers, photographers, artists, etc who are involved in making these places the show pieces they are (so if you know, do tell). below is a property on their front page right now, located in lordship park in london. too sparse to be liveable for my taste, it's like a beautiful tableau waiting to be filled with gorgeous people, flowering plants, or vibrant art. enjoy some alluring furnishings, lighting, and architectural details.

60's-70's design superstar: david hicks

pop quiz:

was this london living room completed last month or 36 years ago?
look carefully: oversized geometric–pattern carpet, a boldly modern sofa covered in raw silk and flanked by empire lamps on quilted satin table cloths, and a lovely louis chair.

if you chose 1971,you're well on your way to being a design superstar too.

this was just one of innumerable spaces designed by david hicks (1929–1998), arguably one of modern history's most influential designers. his use of color, texture, and pattern were ground breaking 40 years ago and still resonate today. hicks’s dynamic mix of antique and modern pieces has a deceptively contemporary ring. he built the bridge connecting the formal classical styles of the past to the current modern style of today. designers including billy baldwin, mark hampton, vicente wolfe, jonathan adler, kelly wearstler, muriel brandolini and tom ford got their inspiration from him and have adopted his signature style.

whenever you look at a room with a harmonious mix of classical and contemporary pieces, you are seeing an echo of the david hicks style.

(here he is looking all james bond-ish with the majesty herself, in a room he designed with black high-gloss walls. chic and daring)

(gray carpet, coral upholstered louis & regency chairs, and the original white antler head that has become popular again amongst many decorators today)

(stainless steel walls with red-orange & black furnishings make this dining room very intimate & masculine)

(lime green and seafoam teal are brought together gorgeously in this sitting room)

(i love this neutral white & brown living room with the elegantly crafted pop of chartreuse)

(this study does not inspire procrastination. vibrant & eclectic decor with high-gloss red walls, solid & bright furnishings, small repeating-pattern carpet, and bright white accents. wow)

(here again his subtlety and sohpisticated detailing are captivating. i wonder what it would have been like t o work with him?)

all photos courtesy of david hicks archives. info gathered from designare & homespun vintage design .