Eleven designers including Tomás Alonso, Philippe Malouin and Study O Portable took the fictional character of a lady called Vera as their muse and presented the results in a west London basement during the London Design Festival.

Above: Veralyn Fragrance by Emmanuel Philip

Called Vera, Chapter One, the project was curated by Kirsty Minns and Érika Muller (KM and ÉM) and asked each participant to respond to one photograph of Vera, taken from a set discovered at a junk shop in the seaside town of Brighton.

The eclectic presentation included shoes with Corian heels, bottles of scent inspired by a visit to the sea and wallpaper depicting Vera's dreams.

Above: Conch Shells by Loris & Livia

See all our stories about the London Design Festival here.

Photography is by Benedict Morgan.

Above: Play It Louder by Study O Portable

Here are some more details from KM and ÉM:

Vera, Chapter One is a multi-disciplinary exhibition orchestrated by KM and ÉM as the first part of an on-going project evolving around a fictional character.

Above: Play It Louder by Study O Portable

The first chapter has been exclusively launched during the London Design Festival in September 2011.

Exploring a literacy approach to design, this exhibition showcases an eclectic body of work, including product design, illustration, graphics and olfactive design, by some emerging international talent.

Above: Collection C by Eelko Moorer

Vera is a fictional character based on a series of photographs from a girl’s family found a few years ago in a second hand shop in Brighton.

A group of artists & designers have been commissioned to respond to one image from the series in order to create the first chapter of Vera’s fictive and collaborative biography.

Above: 1:4 by Philippe Malouin

Vera’s material and sensorial world is brought into reality through this speculative body of work.

The exhibition room becomes her intimate space into which the visitor is invited to discover an original series of suppositional artefacts.

Above: Vera's Dream by Arlette Ess

The works featured in this publication are the different responses from the commissioned artists and designers to a brief they were given in July 2010.

This brief is presented below to give you a deeper understanding of the thinking and working process behind this project.

Above: Strap Lamp by Camille Blin

‘There are thirty one photos of Vera in total, ten of them will be released for this first chapter. You are offered to choose one picture from the series to work from.

This image is the beginning of your narration. The work you will produce is a direct continuity of this photo and it will be one of the stories contributing to Vera’s fictional and collaborative biography.

Above: Vera's Vase by José Levy

You are free to respond to this image as you wish. Your answer might be realistic or fantasied, dramatic or comical, profound or superficial, emotional or practical – the tone is yours.

Your story can be rooted in the photo’s temporality but could also be anticipating or succeeding it.

Above: Secret Alphabet by Roma Levin

You can pick any detail from the image to build your own story – a character, a printed pattern, an object, a colour range, or any element which seems relevant to you.

What we think should be vital in the approach of your work is to keep Vera at the heart of the narration.

Above: Her Scarf by Malika Favre

We might sound mystical when saying this, but we believe that the work should almost be incarnating Vera rather than interpreting her.

Above: Aintree by Tomás Alonso

That it isn’t about telling what we think about her rather than making her come true.

Above: Aintree by Tomás Alonso

We wish you the best for this adventure. We hope that Vera will inspire you. She is now your muse.’ KM & ÉM

The post Vera, Chapter One by KM and ÉM appeared first on Dezeen.

Milan 2010: London design studio Study O Portable presented a set of giant bangles resembling pineapples in Milan earlier this month.

Called Ananas, the bangles are decorated with a criss-cross pattern by rolling them between two specially-made knurling tools, which can also be worn as bangles.

The collection was presented at Foodmarketo, a collaboration between Apartamento magazine and Designmarketo in Milan earlier this month.

See earlier stories about Foodmarketo:

Glueline by Oscar Diaz
Alpha Blast by Marco Dessi

See all our stories about Milan 2010 in our special category.

Here's some more information from the designers:

Ananas.

Ananas is a project that concerns the relationship between a tool of production and the resulting object, as well as a fascination for huge American roadside sculptures such the giant donuts and dinosaurs.

2 bangles with hand crafted, oversized knurling tools patterns are responsible for the production of the third and subsequent bangles. They are pressed onto the next bangle to make an impression that resembles a stylised pattern of a blown up pineapple. Both the tools and the output can be worn as bangles.

Ananas was commissioned for FoodMarketo, a joint venture by Apartamento Magazine and DesignMarketo which took place at Kaleidoscope Project Space during Milan Design Week 2010.

See also:

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Baum by Study OPortable	Crystal Candy by Jaime Hayon	More stories on Milan 2010

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Milan 2010: London design studio Study O Portable presented a set of bangles made of layers of ceramic resin in Milan earlier this month.

Called Baum, the bangles are made by layering coloured ceramic resin onto a rotating spit, creating a tube which is then sliced and polished.

Each batch of bangles has different colour combinations and diameters.

The collection was presented at Foodmarketo, a collaboration between Apartamento magazine and Designmarketo in Milan earlier this month.

See earlier stories about Foodmarketo:

Glueline by Oscar Diaz
Alpha Blast by Marco Dessi

See all our stories about Milan 2010 in our special category.

Here's some more information from the designers:

Baum is a stack of bangles made by layering coloured ceramic resin onto a rotating spit. The process, that takes hours of labour to complete, resembles the way Baumkuchen (the German Tree Cake) is made and creates a tree like structure.

The trunk made from the process is then cut into slices and polished to become bangles. All the trunks are unique in colour and size, and each bangle has a different thickness. The bangles are cross sections of the trunk that expose the intricate pattern of growth developed during the making.

This is a part of an ongoing experiment in defining the function of an object with a void. With Baum, the object function is defined by the size of the core. Baum was commissioned for FoodMarketo, a joint venture by Apartamento Magazine and DesignMarketo which took place at Kaleidoscope Project Space during Milan Design Week 2010.

Study O Portable is a designing practice for accessories and other portable objects, founded by Bernadette Deddens and Tetsuo Mukai in London in 2009.

See also:

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The post Baum by Study O Portable appeared first on Dezeen.