Liverpool Design Show 2011 - Review
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On Sunday (9th October) I visited the 2011 Liverpool Design Show at the amazing St George’s Hall in Liverpool (obviously). The Design Show is the signature event of the larger Liverpool Design Festival which ran from the 6th to 9th October this year and is a celebration of contemporary design on Merseyside with a programme of events including exhibitions, open studios, displays, workshops and talks.
The Design Show features 80 designers showcasing a wide variety of unique products. As well as the opportunity to buy directly from these talented designers there were catwalk shows to watch, talks from designers/agencies to listen and partake in, and hands-on workshops to enjoy.
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My first point of call (rather dashed as I was unable to find out which of the many entrances to the hall they were using) was the ‘Make Jewellery’ with Tatty Devine workshop. I was really looking forward to this as it had been advertised as “Meet Harriet and Rosie and work with them to make your very own stunning jewellery.”
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However, although the ladies were lovely, I was rather disappointed to find out that the ‘stunning jewellery’ was in fact a rosette made from a branded tape measure! The workshop therefore cost me £4.50 to make something that although is cute, I could make in my sleep and for pence! Not at all what I was expecting, as they are known for their acrylic jewellery, but hey, they do have a book to sell, which non-surprisingly includes the rosette tutorial.
Next I had a wander round the amazing main hall, where all the stalls were and the variety of products on display was spectacular. There was a wide variety of gorgeous (but way out of my price range) furniture from the Northern Contemporary Furniture Makers – a group of designer-makers all based in the north ofEngland, who aim to promote the excellence of high quality contemporary wooden furniture.
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I enjoyed chatting to a number of the designer-makers of the stunning & unique jewellery on display and learnt about Elaine Jenkins’ techniques for her new butterfly collection called ‘new wings’, Emma Farnworth explained her process for creating her Constellation series of printed then press-formed aluminium jewellery. Judith Brown was sitting at her stall stitching some of the intricate designs with fine wire to create a piece for her Vintage Noir collection, which as a sewer I love as it includes vintage haberdashery such as hooks, eyes and press studs, as well as looking stunning in it’s own right!
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Next was time for the catwalk show, featuring a number of designers exhibiting at the show and organised by local womanswear designer Kirsty Doyle. The fashions and accessories on display were striking but the show was confusing as the models walked out with no announcements of which garments or accessories were by which designer, so if you’d wanted to purchase something you’d seen in the show then you had to go round looking at each stall to figure it out yourself!
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I did spot a stunning bridal coat from Justine Horrocksand chatted to her afterwards – her range of contemporary outwear for bridal, evening and occasionwear is eye-catching in it’s simplicity yet striking design. I also noticed a cute geometric patterned dress & tunic from
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TADesign on the catwalk and afterwards went over to chat to the designer & textile artist Tomoko Alderson who runs her own fashion brand – Mrs Alderson England. Her “Feathers in your hat” collection includes original woollen
and digital print textiles. As she was selling some of her fabric samples as well as the products I decided to bring home 2 of the panels as I reckon they’ll make lovely bags for myself. I also bought some fab buttons with tape measure prints from Amanda Mercer’s collection of buttons, jewellery & decorative pieces inspired by vintage past times and nostalgia, each individual piece being designed by herself and handcrafted from Porcelain.
I then finished off the afternoon by attending a talk by local internet marketing agency Ph.Creative titled ‘ The Good, the Bad And the Best’. This lively discussion raised the point that good online design is more of a science than an art, discussing the merits of reactive design and making websites suitable for the smartphone market.
Overall I had a good day at the Liverpool Design Show, but as pointed out here, I found the overall organisation to be somewhat lacking and it had less of a design festival feel and instead felt more like a high-end craft fair! For which an on-door entry price of £5 was expensive.
My Goodies:
Written & photography by Beth Edmondson
The organisors of the show have responded to the issues raised in Beth's review here.
