By Eleanor R (Year 13) and Shivani P (Year 11)

On Wednesday 22nd of September, the DT department took its Year 11 and sixth form students on a trip as part of the London Design Festival. We began the trip at the Design Museum, and explored the permanent design exhibition and an installation by the American Hardwood Council, where a series of designers created furniture exclusively sourced  from American hardwood trees. One item which captured the Year 11s’ attention was a chair that was completely made from cardboard, with the cardboard having been cut and compressed to make an eco-friendly biodegradable chair which was surprisingly comfortable. Another chair which caught the eye was a spinning chair which you might find in a playground, as you sat inside it, then it rotated all the way around, but also tilted up and down at the same time. It was great fun to try it out. 

We then headed to the Brompton Design District and visited three separate locations; firstly the Preston Fitzgerald Gallery, which was exhibiting 3D-printed clay sculptures by famous ceramic artists. The technique is considerably more sustainable than sculpting from the conventional plastics used by the majority of 3D printers. We enjoyed the variety of objects and sculptures on display, including works by Michele Shields, Fred Gwatkin and Jonathan Keep. We then visited the Royal College of Arts (RCA) to see an exhibition of new and emerging designers, whose work focussed on concepts and designs to help improve people’s lives, including designs to prevent waste. We also saw an exhibition called “New Adventures in Cardboard”, which explored the use of waste cardboard to create moving models of different products.

One of our favourite parts of the day was visiting the Conran Shop, which showcased designer furniture, miniature chair models, an assortment of lighting, home accessories including an electricity-free treadmill which we tried out. The final visit of the day was to the V&A, which hosted a variety of designers’ works as part of five exhibitions within the London Design Festival. The key attractions were ‘Between Forrest and Skies’ an installation of mirrors in the courtyard water feature and ‘Medusa’, a mixed reality experience of nature delivered through a virtual reality headset. Shivani said of the “Between Forrest and Skies” installation,  “light from the sun reflected off the water and projected on the ceiling of the installation, giving it a beautiful design on the ceiling.”

Eleanor summed up the day for many of the students, “Visiting such a variety of locations was really useful and has provided us with a lot of inspiration for our own projects.”