If you want to get a good idea of the latest thinking on kitchens and bathrooms, the annual New Designers exhibition that takes place in London each July is a good place to start, suggests Grahame Morrison
I have seen the future and it is both very exciting and possibly a little scary too. The future – or at least the seeds of it – was on display at this year’s New Designers 2014 that took place at the Business Design Centre in London.
Products for the kitchen in particular featured strongly this year, and while the emphasis was probably more Joseph & Joseph than Fisher & Paykel, the new product suggestions included a well thought out alternative to an energy-guzzling tumble dryer and an extremely clever update to today’s loo that saves both space and water.
We would be short-sighted in the extreme if we ignore what these talented new designers are telling us. Many worked from the premise that interiors are going to get smaller, that the humble table in particular will have to play several roles in the homes of tomorrow to justify the space they take up, that flat pack construction will become even more important for a range of products and that saving water and energy will become mainstream.
While several of the examples here may be short of the features that are going to turn them from a student’s course work into full-on production, to concentrate on what they may lack is I think to miss the main point.
What these new designers are saying is that new solutions are what’s needed, rather than new clothes on old thinking.
- Nüma is a heatless, energy-efficient indoor clothes dryer designed by Daniel Brooks. A low energy fan at the top pushes air through the column and arms while an ioniser in the base keeps the laundry smelling fresh
- Jack Taylor-Ribbons’ Larderbox achieves a number of aims. It encourages people to use fresh food and helps to restore a connection with the food itself. It uses a combination of traditional techniques to lengthen the edible life of the food – especially useful in developing countries with limited resources
- iota by Gareth Humphreys and Elliott Whiteley saves space in the bathroom by up to a third when it is folded up. It reduces water consumption as a flush of 2.5 litres is sufficient to thoroughly clean the bowl
- Space-saving kitchens in themselves are not new, but the feature that makes Kanak Jaitli’s Modular Kitchen stand out is the clever way she provided the maximum amount of working surface
- The Ease Trestle by Kit Shadbolt is a work of genius. The trestle is designed to put the table top at two heights; breakfast bar for casual dining or food prep and formal table height for more formal dining
- The key to Douglas Pulman’s Braces Furniture Range is the bracket mechanism he designed. His aim was to produce a system that did not use hinges or screws as these both require expensive engineering to make them