why we should all Love London...

Those of you who catch up with my antics via twitter may have noticed a little and excited tweet about a small design competition the studio won last week.

And, as promised, here is what it was all about...

Love London. Even thought it sounds like a bad t-shirt logo for tourists, Love London is actually reputed to be the largest singular green festival in the world - this year running from 8th - 28th June 2009 - filled to the brim with various walks, talks, workshops and events across the capital.

One of these events was the Eco Design Fair, held at a couple of venues over a couple of weekends, and it was at one of these venues that we trolled up to on Friday, to deliver our winning competition entry.

Run with the recycling company Regenersis, the competition asked for designers to rethink how a mobile phone could be reused, and to create an item suitable for the domestic market using a box of old handsets.

After much thought and dismantling, re-assembling and arranging, I stacked the handsets together on my desk, and noticed how appealing the singular blocks of form and colour were - different shades, shapes, sizes.

I then visited my favourite charity shop, Emmaus Brighton and Hove, and noticed an old oak chair with no seat and a few battle scars sitting outside the main warehouse. A conversation and a couple of quid later, and the chair was back at the studio.

So - how to combine the two, and minimise the eco impact of the construction as well? Glue was out, threaded bar was in, and within a few hours, the two disparate elements were combined into 'The conversation chair'.

And it was with this chair that we trained, tubed and walked across what seemed to be the width of the capital to the Truman Brewery for the Eco Design Fair Recycling Party (and if I had a pound for every odd comment or bizarre look we had, I would be very rich indeed).

Chair deposited, we walked around the fair where the wonderful exhibitors included De-Lata (bags made from can ring pulls), Green Giving (eco fabric wrapping) and Sublime (international ethical lifestyle magazine) and quenched our thirst with tasty organic cider and beer from a fabulous converted routemaster bus in one of the myriad of squares in the whacking great 11 acre site the Truman Brewery sprawls over.

The party was great, the company wonderful, the fashion show fabulous and the exhibitors inspiring - a grand way to spend a muggy central city evening.