Modern Design Review

Modern Design Review covers the best of the product, people and theory at the effervescent tip of contemporary design. The publication offers a considered and curated insight into modern design: original and creative storytelling, plus plenty of contributions from talented photographers, writers and designers sets Modern Design Review apart. We choose to focus on ideas and themes that interest us, whether they are central or peripheral, and we are committed to exploring modern design with the creativity and curiosity that the discipline deserves.

For our second collaboration with Swedish design brand Hem, we introduced the Incredible House of Cards by Bertjan Pot. We asked Bertjan to consider the idea of a ‘decorative accessory’ for us and, like all the items in this growing collection of works, the emphasis has been on the creation of an expressive object that is characteristic of the designer’s ethos and way of working. The Incredible House of Cards is a modular sculpture with a simple assembly method. It is a purposefully playful object by Pot who reflected on the abstract and wholly personal nature of ornaments. The Incredible House of Cards is at once familiar; a riff on the traditional house built of playing cards, and unfamiliar; a graphic sculpture-cum-optical illusion. The Incredible House of Cards has been produced using Colorplan paper from Britain’s foremost paper-maker and merchant; G.F Smith. A signed limited edition of 100 sets, each with a unique colourway, was launched during London Design Festival and we produced a film by Roel Van Tour to explain the product.

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MDR Gallery sells and shows contemporary design by emerging designers. Our exhibitions and collections are an extension of the topics, works, and people that we cover in Modern Design Review magazine: MDR Gallery is another platform that allows us to present our thoughts, in three dimensions rather than two, on the exciting world of contemporary design.

MDR Gallery presents shows with a strong narrative, at home in London and at design fairs internationally. We commission new works and public installations as well as presenting selling exhibitions and we work with a constantly evolving roster of young international talent.

contact: mdrgallery@moderndesignreview.com

A Boundless World presented works by Attua Aparicio Torinos from a three month ceramic residency in Jingdezhen, China. Her time there was an intense period of learning; Jingdezhen has been a renowned centre of porcelain production for over 1700 years and today ancient techniques and innovative methods of manufacture are practiced side by side. The works that make up A Boundless World demonstrate the excitement felt by Attua during this time and are an important testament to a transformative period in this designer’s career. A series of 100 Plates makes up Expressive Proverbs; part experiment of a new technique and part joyful reflection on the culture of mass-production in Jingdezhen. Attua focused in particular on the process of glazing, seeking to explore an entirely new innovation of using borosilicate glass in replacement of traditional porcelain glaze. Attua took waste borosilicate glass from her London studio and locally-produced porcelain plates made in the city, each decorated with a Chinese proverb. These plates became her canvas as she layered her experimental glass glaze on top. The Minifundium vases and lights are covered in a melange of traditional and standard glazes with Attua’s new borosilicate glass glaze.

MDR Gallery first presented the group show Alu! At Collectible in Brussels, and again during London Craft Week 2019. The show gathers together works in aluminium by designers each using different techniques in its construct. Aluminium is the third most common element on earth (after oxygen and silicon) and used so extensively in the manufacture of everyday objects we hardly even register its abundance. As the demand for aluminium increases and its applications broaden, discussions about its manufacture and environmental impact are gathering momentum. Meanwhile, this most familiar and inconspicuous of metals is also finding its way into the workshops of emerging designers. Alu! gathers together some of this work and demonstrates the different techniques currently being employed in its transformation; from hammering and polishing to spinning and casting. We also produced an essay to accompany the show that explores the use of aluminum in contemporary and future design and industry.

Featuring works from: Sigve Knutson, studio vit, Radek Husak, Wendy Andreu & Bram Vanderbeke, Silo Studio.

Crowd Pleaser presents the work of a new generation of designers who are using ceramic as a medium for their own expression. Within the past few years there has been a rapid and dramatic shift in the perception of ceramic as a creative material and, subsequently, its place within contemporary design. Once the preserve of craftsmen and women, with value placed upon it relative to the level of skill and expertise with which it was processed, or alternatively; a useful everyday material for industrial mass-production, ceramic languished. But, today, makers are exploiting the potential of this most pliable material. At MDR Gallery we recognise that the fashion for inventive and extraordinary design-led studio ceramics has reached a crescendo. We chose to celebrate that and gather together a selection of some of the most experimental and extraordinary work in this area.

Featured work from: Victoria Andrew, Dimitri Bähler, Erika Emerén, Emily Stapleton Jefferis, Gitte Jungersen, Romain Kloeckner, Ian McIntyre, Studio Mieke Meijer, Studio Joachim-Morineau, Granby Workshop, Sara Söderberg, Floris Wubben.

The Vessels series by studio vit was launched at MDR Gallery and presented within an installation of further works by studio vit. Vessels is a new collection that comprises handmade table-top objects in crystal glass and bone china. The collection consists of three different drinking glasses and two carafes in crystal glass, and two cups and a jug in bone china. The crystal glass is as thin as possible, challenging what is possible to achieve with the material whilst the bone china is delicate, reminiscent of eggshell. The installation for MDR Gallery by studio vit included several new products including the spectacular Inox table.

The beauty of the Space Frames system by Studio Mieke Meijer is that it is modular. After the successful festive installation of Space Frames drew to a close we, and Studio Mieke Meijer, were invited to reconfigure the Space Frames into a new installation that would continue to bring light and function to Coal Drops Yard for a further period. The second iteration of the Space Frames saw the lights transform into illuminated seating installations which were placed around the public spaces, inviting places to pause and creating vistas across the development.

Thanks to: Company_Place

The Space Frames installation is a dynamic work commissioned from MDR Gallery by Company Place for the festive period at Coal Drops Yard and Granary Square in London. These giant sculptural lights by Eindhoven-based design studio Studio Mieke Meijer responded to the surrounding architecture; tracing the arches and mimicking the graphic outlines of Coal Drops Yard’s industrial Victorian structure. The lights were intended to act as landmarks, drawing visitors towards and beneath them, visible across the landscape of Coal Drops Yard and beyond. Just as the reopened Coal Drops Yard is a celebration of industrial engineering, so the Space Frames are similarly inspired by the timeless beauty of rigorous and functional industrial architecture. This very large-scale public installation was an incredibly successful addition to Coal Drops Yard and has set a precedent for further ambitious design projects there.

Thanks to: Company_Place

Schema explored the application of architectural rationality to systems of design manufacture. The works exhibited as part of Schema are the products of invented systems of making, all inspired by architectural construction or archetypal forms. The work of Eindhoven-based Studio Mieke Meijer is at the centre of the Schema exhibition: The Space Frames, a series of large sculptural lights, embody this mathematical and rational system of making where modular sections come together to build graphic and architectural forms. Principles of engineering are also articulated in Studio Mieke Meijers Formworks, the Pyramids collection by Paris and Ghent-based designers Wendy Andreu and Bram Vanderbeke, Changeable (Without Change) by Ward Wijnant and the Tunnel collection by OS & OOS. Vessels by studio vit, Beam by Silo Studio and Collected Works by Minimalux completed the show.

MDR Gallery presented the Man and Machine show during the premier Collectible design fair in Brussels. We brought together the work of three designers; Anton Alvarez, Thomas Ballouhey and James Shaw. Each designer had developed an original process involving a unique machine. These machines are themselves significant design projects; tools for creative production that offer a controlled output whilst also allowing the designers to work in a small scale, craft-like way: Alvarez’s Extruder is purpose-built to squeeze large quantities of clay through specially made dies. Ways of Altering by Thomas Ballouhey uses an adapted industrial sand blaster that coats constructions made from found materials whilst James Shaw invented and made a Plastic Extruding Gun which allows him to work by hand, an unusual approach for plastic manufacturing.

Featuring an extensive contemplation on the qualities of clay, including homage to Bernard Leach by Max Lamb and a look at Industrial Ceramics by Marius Hansen. A focus on the intimacy of cutlery design, exclusive access to Piet Oudolf’s private garden and a readers gift from the king of design fun, Bertjan Pot.

Publishing December 2019

Incl. UK postage £14.00 GBP Incl. EU postage £17.00 GBP Incl. postage to rest of world £19.00 GBP

Issue 2 pushed our buttons with on/off design, celebrated ‘soft’ with a section on textile and featured an original story by Ronan Bouroullec on comfort. We rejoiced at the work of Andrea Branzi and matched Wonmin Park’s hazy colour theory.

Incl. UK postage £14.00 GBP Incl. EU postage £17.00 GBP Incl. postage to rest of world £19.00 GBP

The inaugural issue of Modern Design Review shone a light on the wonderful work of YrjöKukkapuro. We placed Martino Gamper’s work inside Mackintosh’s Glasgow School of Art for an Arts and Crafts showdown and invited Daniel Rybakken to tell us the story of his dedication to light. See our film from the magical Sogetsu school Ikebana on Nowness.

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This 110 page book presents the Expressive Proverbs collection of 100 plates by designer Attua Aparicio Torinos. Each unique plate shown in 1:1 scale, making this catalogue a genuine representation of this impressive and exhaustive ceramic collection. With introduction by Laura Houseley.

Incl. UK postage £60.00 GBP Incl. EU postage £65.00 GBP Incl. postage to rest of world £70.00 GBP

Vessels is a new collection from studio vit that comprises handmade tabletop objects in crystal glass and bone china. Each piece is unique, varying slightly in shape and thickness. The collection consists of three glasses and two carafes in crystal glass, two cups and a jug in bone china. The crystal glass is as thin as possible, challenging what is possible to achieve with the material whilst the bone china is delicate, reminiscent of eggshell. The Vessels are purposefully light and fine, emphasising a closeness to the liquid which heightens the experience of drinking. Prices: £36 for a set of two white or red glasses, carafe £36 and £40. Tea cup £34, coffee cup £28, milk jug £38.

Please email us to purchase.

The Beam products by Silo Studio are being sold exclusively by Modern Design Review. These clever objects are made from off-the-shelf industrial I Beam which is put through a minimum of processes (cut, drilled, tumbled) to make either a soap dish or a candlestick holder. The candleholders come in three sizes. Prices: Soap dish £35, single candlestick £25, large single candlestick £35, large double candlestick £40.

Please email us to purchase.

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Editor-in-Chief: Laura Houseley
Art Direction and Design: Graphic Thought Facility