Article by Roxana Florina Popa
Moritz Waldemeyer’s installation spreading the R9 light vibration of a flamboyant lily from a Brochier textile
Believe it or not, the magic and the success of the Focus 18 design-for-excellence show are in having discreetly offered visitors colours as wonderfully surprising guides. Mine was the R9 colour rendering value. Dazzled with Moritz Waldemeyer’s installation set up in the enchantment passage to Design Centre East, I was unconscious when this guide permeated my soul with its touchy warm embrace. R9 introduced itself in all its beauty only a couple of hours later during my talk with Rebecca Weir at Crestron’s sessions on the “The Colour of Light”. She revealed my companion and all I was feeling: “it is an energising colour”.
My journey of discovery continues under Porta Romana’s incandescent flames of creation.
A bar of lamps in the showroom invites to numerous vital cups of light on the occasion of the brand’s 30th anniversary.
Focus / 2018 dunks visitors in the most immersive colours of an absolute biofilia experience from botanical or beryl green to the paths of English gardens, the blue calm of costal life, the breathing minerals of Scotland’s highlands to animal spirit and skin.
Three days after soaking in hero designers’ imaginative worlds, I am still visited by an abundance of inspirational dreams. I have never taken in so much creative substance in any other fair before and the benefit to both interior designers and lovers of homes must be tremendous. It is the uniqueness and variety of collections that will help customers be clear on what they desire for their living spaces.
The key message is maximalism.
Finally, one can enjoy the freedom of creation and its contagious optimism. There is so much affluence of colour, shape, light, texture one can experience, choose and invest in the best. It feels like opening the window, breathing a lot of fresh air and feeling happy to have all and everything of nature’s most beautiful landscape.
I am diving deep in the show.
ARTE, THE NEW PALAZZO TREND, GEOMETRY & FASHION
A conversation about their Insolence Collection, their fabulous geometry, unique secret technique in the Le Corbusier Collection, the inspiration from the 20s’ Charleston dresses.
CREATION BAUMANN & BOTANICAL PAINTING
Combining purple shades of acquarelle with Dr Helen Cousins.
THE HOUSE OF HACKNEY & POP-UP MOODBOARD
Experiencing oriental comfort and the vibrancy of new season wallpapers created in collaboration with the French designer, Zuber.
STYLE LIBRARY, COLOUR & CHARACTER, LICHEN GREEN
Admiring the Pure Morris Collection inspired by William Morris’ Icelandic expedition
Listening to Sophie Robinson’s talk on the power of colour psychology in the StyleLibrary and learning that winter people are the most successful and love luxurious design.
PIERRE FREY & ECLECTIC COLOURS
Learning from Patrick Frey and the brand’s archivist Sophie Rouart about ships and train interior design and the art deco / modernism inspiration in their textiles.
BEAUFORT & SILVERY WINDOW DRESSING
Conversations with Trevor Wilson about being inspired by the beauty of textiles showcased at the Design Centre Chelsea Harbour itself , such as those of Colefax & Fowler.
ESPRESSO DESIGN & NATURAL COLOURS
Enjoying a good cup of coffee and learning about decorating kitchen with Indian wood.
BRIAN YATES & MC ESCHER WALLCOVERING
The designer Sheila Coombes introduces me to Escher’s mathematic drawings. Already applied in the bar area, these wallcoverings vibrate and have a strong visual effect even from the second floor of the Chelsea Design Centre.
JULIAN CHICHESTER & FRUIT COLOURS
Immersing in the optimist design of Julian Chichester and re-joining R9 in the vibrant raspberry of the table in their vitrine. “Pink is the navy blue of India” belongs to the Vogue editor, Diana Vreeland.
Focus / 18 makes you want to see more and more creations and it gives me the feeling that I have been on the greatest trip in the nature in my life.
A whole new world of creativity has been reconstructed in the magic pallette of colour. I am happy to have been witness to its birth at the Design Centre Chelsea Harbour.
Roxana Florina Popa is the author and self-publisher of the book “Beauty Elegance Creativity – 12 Interviews on the Act of Creation“
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