Cool Hunting

100% Design, the London design fest's main event, usually focuses on the slick and often boring end of the market, but this year these three lamps stood out from the crowd for their beautifully simple organic forms.
Diffuse. Their minimal forms with beautiful textures and floral details (pictured above left and right) are elegantly understated additions to any room.
FOC (or Freedom Of Creation) is a Finnish/Dutch design team who use a specialized Laser Sintering process—a machine that builds up a computer-drawn form in layers—enabling infinitely complex natural forms (pictured above right and left).
Kiwi designer Jeremy Cole made a splash in 2005 with the debut of his sensuous "Aloe" collection, which he's expanding this year with the introduction of his "Blossom Noir" lamp (pictured above center). Handmade from porcelain, Jeremy's Aloe lamps are inspired by the Agave plant, "a tropical cactus with distinctive fleshy-leaved flowers that lend themselves perfectly to sculptural lighting."
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Melding the frivolity of balloon animals with the function of illuminating your personal space, these Blown Ups are quite the eccentric offering from Thelermont Hupton of London. Each piece is crafted with silver finished steel and are made from blown glass that combines the traditional handicraft of a glassworker with the every-day-magic of electric light that we often take for granted. They can be ordered...
Ango: Ebony Sky Angus Hutcheson's Bankok-based studio produces beautifully minimal lighting designs inspired by natural forms. (Pictured at right.) We loved this arching lamp which uses silk cocoons for the shade and stainless steel for the base structure. Anna McConnell: Non-Standard Lamp There was quite a bit of anthropomorphic design going on at the festival including these characterful articulated lamps that we adored by...
100% Futures at 100% Design The young cutting edge talent section of the largest and most commercial show in town. Look out for "Lighten Up," [re]design's showcase of 64 sustainable lighting designs. 18-21 September, Earls Court Urbantine Project at Tent London This competition for young, up and coming architects is one of the star features of the East End show. Check out the winning...
Named "Beat" for their hand-beaten production method, Tom Dixon's series of lamps and vessels is quickly becoming an iconic part of his oeuvre. After years of working in relative obscurity, Dixon is now something like England's national poster child of design. From his massive light giveaways during London's design week to limited edition copper-clad chairs and private member's club interiors, the designer seems to...
Among the newest, hottest creations in town at the London Design Festival this year, we happily noted that others were taking time to celebrate an old classic—albeit in new ways of course. Anglepoise, a lamp that's required little tweaking in the over 70 years it's been in production, is one of the brands that's found ways to playfully reinterpret their classic design as of...
The lights at 100% Design this year were big, beautiful, complex and dramatic. The overriding theme was the reinvention of the chandelier as a format to explore the interaction between form, texture and light on a large scale. Here are three of our favorites. Central St. Martins graduate Winnie Lui wowed the crowds with "White," her amazing chandelier of collected objects. Trained as a...
