After Design Junction’s successful relocation to Kings Cross, we pick our five favourite trends from the contemporary design exhibition

Ham & High: Design Junction Trends, Haberdashery Light SculptureDesign Junction Trends, Haberdashery Light Sculpture (Image: Archant)

NATURAL BEAUTY

Designers took inspiration from the natural world and gave them an opulent twist. Far from gilding the lily, these organic forms re imagined in luxe materials gave a sensuous edge to furniture and furnishings.

Haberdashery, a favourite brand of deputy director of Design Junction Will Sorrell, creates bespoke pieces that are part sculpture, part lighting solutions. Their new Leaf Eddy installation is formed of individual bone china leaves handmade in Stoke-on-Trent. Each flourish of fauna is individually mounted and the finished shape lit by spotlights, creating a gentle interplay of light and shadow.

Ham & High: Design Junction Trends, Vita Tripod LampDesign Junction Trends, Vita Tripod Lamp (Image: Archant)

Vita Copenhagen’s ethos is to design simple and sincere lighting solutions, combining Danish style with a Scandinavian flair for the compact. Each of their intricate lights arrives flat packed and can be unfurled, such as this delicate lamp inspired by a conifer cone and realised in bright copper. Their eco conscious principles means their products tread lightly too.

The jewel toned Nizwa sideboard from Bethan Gray has a mermaid-like appeal. Made from maple wood, an ombre effect is created by hand with a stain shading technique before the application of a solid brass overlay. The award-winning Welsh designer combines a passion for natural materials with a focus on marrying traditional craftsmanship with cutting edge technologies.

METALLICS

Ham & High: Design Junction Trends, Nocturne Otis LampDesign Junction Trends, Nocturne Otis Lamp (Image: Archant)

Metallic elements have been a design stalwart for years, but this fresh batch of all things shiny and chrome had a sophisticated edge.

Hackney based designer Simon Day handcrafts all his lighting pieces for his brand, Nocturne Workshop, in his Haggerston studio. Attractively utilitarian, his Otis lamp features a spun aluminium shade defined by three profiled lines and provides a soft diffused light. The base comes in a classic oiled oak, but bespoke finishes such as marble and stone are also available.

Partners Philippe Cazer and Frédéric Winkler founded DCW out of a shared love for objects that are companions in our daily lives. They reissued Bernard-Albin’s GRAS lamp, with its ergonomic design that eschews the use if screws and welded joints, and updated it with this bright copper shade to give it a contemporary twist,

Ham & High: Design Junction Trends, DCW Editions LampDesign Junction Trends, DCW Editions Lamp (Image: Archant)

It’s not just lighting that was in on the metallic act. Tel Aviv-born Israeli designer Hagit Pincovici produced each of her pieces to order from her studio in Milan. Flamingo, from the Eclipse collection, is part sculpture part storage, with compartments arranged on a vertical pivot allowing the owner to secrete small objects in its brass frame.

LEGO

Ham & High: Design Junction Trends, Camille Walala x Floor Story RugDesign Junction Trends, Camille Walala x Floor Story Rug (Image: Archant)

There was a back to school atmosphere with plenty of primary colours and products designed to stack on top of each other like the iconic brightly coloured play bricks.

Occupying the space between craft and industrial production, French design editors Label Edition has reissued the 510 Chair. Practical, stackable and easily repairable, its use of steel tubing and complex soldered joints are as remarkable today as when it was created in 1947 by Gaston Cavaillon.

East London flooring experts FLOOR_STORY have collaborated with local artist Camille Walala to turn one of her ‘powerfully positive’ digital prints into a piece of textile art for your floor. The tetras-like ‘Buildings Come True’ is a fun graphic statement sure to embolden any room.

These adorable treasure boxes from Danish brand Korridor come in a sweet shop spectrum of colours and sizes. Designed by architect Henrik Ilfeldt the pyramidbox series is constructed from hand painted mdf with solid birch lids designed to slot on top of each other in any configuration, perfect for brightening up a desk or keeping your display shelves neat and stylish.

Ham & High: Design Junction Trends, Korridor Pyramid BoxesDesign Junction Trends, Korridor Pyramid Boxes (Image: Archant)

CUSTOMISE

Customisable shelving was a stand out trend at Design Junction, unsurprising in a city bursting at the seams with renters looking for storage solutions to fit unwieldy spaces. There were scores of brands bringing stylish solutions to suit every taste.

Ham & High: Design Junction Trends, String ShelfDesign Junction Trends, String Shelf (Image: Archant)

Focusing on redux rather than redesign (after all, if it isn’t broken why tamper with it?) is String, bringing back the classic wire designs of architect Nils Strinning. Developed in 1949 the system is fully customisable, collectable and available in a variety of finishes. New this year is the black stained ash wood option, and a slick magazine shelf.

The Scoreboard from We Do Wood is a ‘graphical coat hanger’ designed to be customised every which way you choose with a simple yet satisfying wooden peg system. Made from sustainable bamboo it comes in both vertical and horizontal configurations and the painted peg ends add a playful touch to a room.

Dotdotdot manufactures ingenious .Frame solutions that are just 40cm deep and, thanks to its perforated design, endlessly customisable with their range of shelves, pegs and accessories.

Ham & High: Design Junction Trends, We Do Wood ShelfDesign Junction Trends, We Do Wood Shelf (Image: Archant)

GEOMETRIC

Another trend that’s evolved in new and sophisticated ways, geometric shapes and sharp angles appeared in paired back and minimal forms.

Dubbed a ‘kinetic object’, the Silo wall clock from Beyond Object is practically an object d’art, available in gold, copper or silver with smoky Perspex markers. The angles of its minute and hour hands play on mathematical tangential relations, changing its shape through time.

Ham & High: Design Junction Trends, Beyond Object Silo ClockDesign Junction Trends, Beyond Object Silo Clock (Image: Archant)

Another mathematical miracle is this lamp from Foldability, the brainchild of Scottish designer Kyla McCallum. Informed by geometry and origami in equal measure, the Audrey pendant is handcrafted from squares of Italian parchment and painstakingly folded and joined together in their London Studio.

Ham & High: Design Junction Trends, Foldability Audrey PendantDesign Junction Trends, Foldability Audrey Pendant (Image: Archant)