Mr. Bazaar Explores TENT At London Design Festival

For anyone who loves design and interior accessories, TENT London is akin to an Aladdin's cave of stylish and inspiring designs. This year's expanded show proved to be no different, so let's dive in with my favourite finds, shall we? First up is ercol who were showing a recreation of their 203 Windsor armchair. Originally designed in the 1950s by ercol’s founder, Lucian Ercolani, it's a new addition to the their ercol Originals range, which features the company's favourite pieces from their back-catalogue. The upholstery fabric used was designed and hand-printed by Tamasyn Gambell and you can see more of her work further down this post.

The AB Desk was designed by Michael Armstrong as a nod to the traditional school desk but with an added bit's and bob's trough and tray, both made from hand cast concrete - I love how an iPad perfectly fits the tray... a school desk for the 21st century!

Katie Mawson's 100% Lambswool knitted felted cushions are strikingly simple in their design and beautifully soft to touch. I think I'd like to pair the yellow and grey designs together on my sofa at home.

Zoe Murphy's stand launched her new furniture and textiles range, Brilliant Print. I love how Zoe combines recycled furniture and bright colours to create updated, intriguing and unique designs. I chatted for Zoe about the process she went through in creating her new collection and she explained how she has placed a real emphasis on sustainable, ethical design. As a result the collection uses recycled timbers, fairtrade and organic cottons, and 'low impact' inks and paints. Bravo, Zoe!

Roussel was founded in 2010 by brothers Anthony and Benjamin Roussel and all their designs are British made. Whilst the brand's debut collection includes seating and tables, it was their lighting offering that caught my eye, especially the surprise colour interiors of the Marie-Lousie pendant.

Petra Green founded Room39 to try and bring more ‘democratic’ design to the market that would appeal to men and women alike, regardless of age. I'm a big fan of her colourful, graphic pieces like the  Marmo/Granit cushion shown here.

Regular readers will know how much I admire the work of Mini Moderns. In fact, Keith, one half of the creative duo behind the brand, said to me during the show that I had almost grown up alongside the brand, which is sort of true! They've just launched their environmentally responsible paint range (Mr. Bazaar would like a room in every colour, please) as well as a range of 100% handwoven Indian Dhurries in their Backgammon and Zag designs.

Having featured Tamasyn Gambell's work on Bright.Bazaar before, it was a pleasure to meet the designer in person. The Bauhaus-meets-Modernist fabric designs looked stunning on the group of lampshades that hung on her stand.

It's always good to find a product that makes you smile when at a show and in this case it was the Coat Eggs hooks. Designed by Daniel Schofield, the product is meant to be used to hang coats without leaving a dent in the material - clever, right? Also, I love the packaging!

The Owls of the British Isles wallpaper by Abigail Edwards was a big hit when I blogged about it last year. Well, I'm predicting that her new Brambleweb design is going to be equally as popular; there is a sense of timeless beauty to the design that I like.

To round out my review of TENT London I thought I would share my snaps from Sian Elin's (she's just up there next to Mr. B!) debut homeware collection because it was like being at a colour candy store! Sian and I discussed her inspirations for the first collection and she explained that it reflects the Islamic and Moorish architecture she saw on her travels through Israel, India and the Mediterranean. For me the marriage of colour and pattern in her Tress pillow is spot on! Tell me, friends, which of the designs I've shown appeal to you?
// Photography by Will Taylor, exhibitors & Boscolo