Dezeen Magazine

Darkroom patterns furniture and accessories with Superstudio's "anti-design" grids

London Design Festival 2014: design boutique Darkroom looked to grid patterns used in the 1960s and 70s by radical Italian architecture firm Superstudio to inform its latest collection of products and in-store installations (+ slideshow).

Darkroom for London Design Festival 2014

A neon window display by set designer Anna Lomax and a chromatographic series of paintings by artist Marcus James greet visitors to Darkroom's central London shop.

Tiler Table at Darkroom for London Design Festival 2014
Tiler table

The installations were created to complement the store's new Off The Grid range of products and accessories based on work by Superstudio – a radical architecture studio that championed the motifs in the 1960s and 1970s.

Tiler Table at Darkroom for London Design Festival 2014
Tiler table

"As huge admirers of Superstudio, we've set ourselves the challenge of interrogating their theory that a grid can be deemed 'anti-design' – by designing a complete collection based on grids," said Darkroom's founders.

Tiler Table at Darkroom for London Design Festival 2014
Tiler table

The collection includes a series of tables, covered in over 3,000 Italian glass tiles.

Planters at Darkroom for London Design Festival 2014
Hicks planters

The mosaics create a grid over the surfaces of each piece, but are used in different colour patterns to create variation across the range.

Grid plate at Darkroom for London Design Festival 2014
Off The Grid plate

Cubes with faces hand-painted in primary colours and edged in black have open tops to be used as plant pots.

Grid plate at Darkroom for London Design Festival 2014
Off The Grid plate

A set of plates is also painted by hand, decorated with a simple pattern of intersecting perpendicular lines laid over coloured shapes.

Grid Plate at Darkroom for London Design Festival 2014
Off The Grid plate

New knitted, quilted, woven and printed textiles were designed by Darkroom, London studio Shepherd England and Dutch designers Febrik to fit in with the theme.

Manhole cushions at Darkroom for London Design Festival 2014
Off The Grid cushion

Geometric jewellery by London designer Henriette Lofstrom accompanies the larger furniture pieces and fashion accessories.

Manhole cushions at Darkroom for London Design Festival 2014
Off The Grid cushion

"We've questioned what even constitutes a grid by taking it into three-dimensional formats," said the Darkroom team.

Manhole cushions at Darkroom for London Design Festival 2014
Off The Grid cushions

"This has allowed us to explore the effects of materials and textures on the rigidity of gridded patterns, creating fluidity and charming imperfections across a collection of decorative and functional pieces."

Henriette Loffstrom at Darkroom for London Design Festival 2014
Diamond Element cufflinks by Henriette Loffstrom

Darkroom is located at 52 Lamb's Conduit Street, London, WC1N 3LL. The collection was launched during this year's London Design Festival, which took place across the British capital last week.

Henriette Loffstrom cufflinks at Darkroom for London Design Festival 2014
Meteorite studs by Henriette Loffstrom

Photography is by Jess Bonham.