Over 100 designers including Terence Conran, Tord Boontje, Tom Dixon and Michael Marriott will anonymously exhibit artworks drawn on a piece of A4 graph paper at Somerset House in London next week, before being sold in aid of a cancer charity.
Called Joy of Living, the project was initiated by London Design Guide author Max Fraser to raise money for Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres.
The artworks will be exhibited anonymously and sold at the same price with the author only revealed after each piece has been purchased.
Update 15/03/11: the designs are now available to buy here for £250 each.
Update 24/03/11: the designer of each pice has been revealed and there are still some left to buy.
See the full list of designers below. The exhibition will be open to the public at Somerset House from 15-21 March.
A jury will award a £1000 prize to the best design, plus a £500 prize decided by public vote.
See all the designs and vote for your favourite on the project website.
More about Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres on Dezeen »
More graphic design on Dezeen »
Here's some more information from the organisers:
JOY OF LIVING EXHIBITION AT SOMERSET HOUSE UNITES UK DESIGNERS IN SUPPORT OF MAGGIE’S CANCER CARING CENTRES
Joy of Living is a charity project that unites over 100 leading lights in the design community to galvanise support for Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres. Design author Max Fraser has set the challenge to a cross-section of new and established UK designers to create a desirable artwork that expresses the Joy of Living – all starting from a simple sheet of A4 graph paper.
The signed works will be exhibited and on sale in London’s inspiring space for art, culture and creative exchange, Somerset House, from 15 – 21 March.
The project aims to raise £50,000 for Maggie’s, a charity that helps people to build a life beyond cancer, helping to manage the impact of a diagnosis of cancer and to live with hope and determination.
Max Fraser explains, “After a very personal, emotional journey as I supported my mother through her 6-year battle with cancer, I vowed to contribute in some way to mankind’s fight against this disease.
Maggie’s recognises that building an atmosphere of calm and celebrating a good quality of life are immensely beneficial to patients, and I know that my mother would have benefited so positively from its services.
Charity founder Maggie Keswick Jencks once said, “Above all what matters is not to lose the joy of living in the fear of dying,” and this statement has inspired the design challenge and Joy of Living project.”
A stellar list of UK design talent including: Terence Conran, Tom Dixon, Barber Osgerby, Sebastian Bergne, John Pawson, Tomoko Azumi, Daniel Eatock, Fredrikson Stallard, Martino Gamper, Rob Ryan, Stuart Haygarth, Michael Marriott, Max Lamb, and Troika have already answered the call to action, and have each produced unique artworks that embody the Joy of Living theme.
The fluid brief allows for a maximum of expression and the use of graph paper is evocative of the beginning of the design process, and Max hopes that the choice of this simple medium will trigger a breadth of responses.
The graph paper can be used in any manner by the designer. Each designer will also supply a short text on the inspiration for their finished, signed piece.
Habitat has partnered with the project to frame each artwork for the March exhibition.
Because democratic values are at the core of Maggie’s philosophy, each artwork will be priced at £250, whether by a household name or a rising star. What’s more, the name of the designer will not be revealed until the piece is purchased, making sure that supporters buy a piece to which they have a true emotional response.
Max Fraser said, “The time and commitment that so many designers have already pledged to the Joy of Living project is truly amazing, and I hope that together, and with the further support of the design industry, we can raise our target funds to back the brilliant work that Maggie’s does around the country.”
“Maggie’s founder, Maggie Keswick Jencks, always stressed the importance of creating a welcoming, calm, yet uplifting environment in our centres,” said Laura Lee, Chief Executive of Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres. “We have engaged with leading architects to design our existing centres, and our mission is to build more across the UK with the generous support of projects like this. Good design is core to our beliefs so it makes perfect sense to partner with the design industry on a project of this kind.”
Joy of Living is a personal project by Max Fraser and is backed by his brand, london design guide, which is launching its very first award in conjunction with the project. £1000 will be awarded to the designer who best responds to the Joy of Living brief, as selected by a confirmed jury comprising Claire Catterall (Curator, Somerset House), Marcus Fairs (Editor, Dezeen), Max Fraser, Charles Jencks, (Co-founder of Maggie’s) and Lynda Relph-Knight (Editor, Design Week).
A further £500 award will be given to the designer of the most popular artwork, as chosen by a public vote.
All artworks will be available to view online at www.londondesignguide.com/joyofliving from 1st March 2011. Donations can be made online at www.justgiving.com/joyofliving
Joy of Living will be exhibited in the Great Arch lobby at Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 1LA from 15 – 21 March 2011 and will be open to the public from 10am – 6pm daily.
Confirmed Designers include:
- Michael Anastassiades
- Richard Ardagh
- Shin Azumi
- Tomoko Azumi
- Barber Osgerby
- Johanna Basford
- Sebastian Bergne
- Marc Boase
- Tord Boontje
- Jason Bruges
- Ed Carpenter
- Naomi Cleaver
- Paul Cocksedge
- Committee
- Terence Conran
- Peter Crawley
- Darkroom
- Anthony Dickens
- Tom Dixon
- Ella Doran
- Alan Dye
- Daniel Eatock
- Michael Eden
- Robin Farquhar
- Paul Finn
- Annabel Fraser
- Fredrikson Stallard
- Martino Gamper
- Thore Garbers
- Neil Gillespie
- Alistair Hall
- Jon Harrison
- Simon Hasan
- Stuart Haygarth
- Jaime Hayon & Nienke Klunder
- Sam Hecht
- Simon Heijdens
- Mark Holmes
- Benjamin Hubert
- Sam Jacob
- Jam Design
- Sam Johnson
- André Klauser
- Max Lamb
- Amos Marchant
- Peter Marigold
- Michael Marriott
- Hannah Martin
- Beau Mcclellan
- Giles Miller
- Helen Amy Murray
- Gareth Neal
- Brodie Neill
- New Future Graphic
- Nous Vous
- John Pawson
- Luke Pearson
- Simon Pengelly
- Laura Perryman
- Monica Piatkowski
- Russell Pinch
- Steve Price
- Raw Edges
- Rob Ryan
- Ismini Samanidou & Gary Allson
- Michael Sodeau
- Rodrigo Solorzano
- Cathy Spooner
- Andrew Stafford
- Richard Sweeney
- Alexander Taylor
- Timorous Beasties
- Nina Tolstrup
- Troika
- Twocreate
- Viable London
- Moritz Waldemeyer
- Peter Wall
- William Warren
- Chris Wilkinson
- Donna Wilson
- Wokmedia
- Michael Wolfson
- Voon Wong & Benson Saw
- Terence Woodgate
- Richard Woods
- Sebastian Wrong
- Helen Yardley
- Dan Ziglam
Maggie’s
Maggie’s is a charity which empowers people to live with, through, and beyond cancer through a network of unique cancer caring centres across the UK, designed by superstar architects such as Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry and Richard Rogers. Maggie’s is a young and extremely dynamic organisation: founded in 1996 the charity was conceived by Maggie Keswick Jencks who, along with her husband, renowned landscape architect Charles Jencks, identified the need for a space where people affected by cancer could be empowered to help themselves with the many non-medical challenges associated with the disease. There are now seven Maggie’s centres based near major cancer hospitals throughout the UK, and plans for more if enough money can be raised. Design is an integral part of what makes Maggie’s Centres unique. Maggie’s creates uplifting spaces that are resolutely non-institutional. Like Lubetkin, who designed the ground-breaking Finsbury Health Centre in London in 1938, Maggie’s believes that “Nothing is too good for ordinary people”; that beautiful surroundings should not be the preserve of the privileged. The detailed brief they provide to architects is centred on the needs of the people who visit the centres, but it also allows broad creative scope and artistic interpretation. Through this, Maggie’s has succeeded in creating a network of centres that are exquisitely idiosyncratic in their design but utterly consistent in the community of care they create for people affected by cancer.
See also:
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| Maggie’s Centre Cheltenham by MJP Architects |
Maggie’s Centre Gartnavel by OMA |
Maggie’s Centre London by Rogers Stirk Harbour |
