London Design Festival 2014 - Thank You

Images by Marina Castagna and Sapphire Goss

The Saturday Market Project want to thank all of our LDF collaborators for sharing their curiosity, skill and incredible knowledge of materials so generously.

We'd also like to thank everyone who came down to the space in the Shoreditch Design Triangle to join us in the making, material experimentation, masterclasses, demonstrations and workshops. It was the fact that so many people came willing to give things a go that made the programme come to life. Special thanks to everyone who made their own straw and high-vis yarn Himmeli to add to the GATHER installation.

Here's what happened...

Bare Conductive kicked things off with a drop-in demonstration of their Electric Paint and Touch Board where visitors got the chance to make their own illuminating badges.

Jamie, Ryan, Nick, Cliff and Eric from Ernest Wright & Son demonstrated their fascinating scissor-making skills, letting us all see this timeless skill in action.

On Tuesday, our space played host to The Saturday Market Project Opening Party, where London Borough of Jam provided food, London Fields Brewery provided drinks, and Rob Shields provided music.

Yoav Reches, Lead Designer at Formlabs, gave a fascinating masterclass on Wednesday exploring the possible uses of the Form 1+ 3D printer.

Barn the Spoon gave a demonstration of his prolific woodworking skills by showing us how he carves wooden spoons and spatulas.

Visitors got the chance to make their own drawing pencils at Ariane Prin's Pencil Making Workshop. Using recycled local materials, participants got their hands dirty making, moulding and clamping their pencil dough.

On Thursday, Lydia and Will from Nib London hosted a Notebook-Making Workshop. Visitors screen-printed their own book cover and were then taught how to stitch it together with high-quality drawing paper to make a notebook.

Marine Duroselle led a Modular Typography Workshop where participants used simple, colourful shapes to create their own alphabet, learning the basic principles of typography along the way.

Kano demonstrated their brand-new computer building kit which lets everyone construct, deconstruct and rebuild a complete functional computer.

Katherine Pogson led a Leather Moulding Masterclass on Friday. Exploring the different properties of russet leather and techniques of surface decoration, Katherine's class produced beautiful leather and walnut desk tidys.

Rowena Murray used cocktails and different combinations of drinks to explore the varying qualities and characteristics of precious stones at her Gem Formation Explained Talk.

At the Blackwork Embroidery Masterclass, Becky Hogg led participants through the careful stitching of their own Blackwork moth designs, which were then made into pocket squares or small mounted pictures.

Using both fine and found materials collected throughout the week, Jasleen Kaur's Poetry Bodging Workshop saw everyone get hands-on in inventing fun and bizarre problem-solving devices.

Fixperts explored the social and psychological power of fixing at their discussion and workshop. Using Sugru, a staple and other simple materials, participants made needle threaders perfectly designed for the partially sighted.

Anna Francis led a walking tour and workshop through hidden sites of urban nature, identifying and recording the secret codes and uses of urban flowers along the way.

Jasleen Kaur returned later that day to cook a Balti feast for everyone. The meal was accompanied by a screening of Jasleen's film about the daily process of cooking Langar in the kitchens of Polloksheilds Sikh Temple, Glasgow.

On Sunday, Georgi Manassiev led a Waxed Paper Kite Workshop.

Participants learnt about electronics and soldering while making their own set of bespoke speakers at Technology Will Save Us' Speaker Making Workshop.

Zoe Laughlin from the Institute of Making explored the aesthetic and scientific properties of materials at her Science of Sound Talk.

Yemi Awosile finished off the fantastic week with her Speaker Housing Material Experiments where visitors investigated the ways sound and materials influence each other.

Thanks again to everyone involved in our LDF programme this year. We look forward to seeing you all again soon...