Furniture Forward

We are proud to present a group show of our favourite emerging British designers. For Furniture Forward we have selected Artist/Designers who pay tribute to the history of furniture design, whether in their technique or their material selection, but who are also challenging preconceived notions of how furniture should be constructed and presented.

Michael Carroll brings to his furniture design an interest in engineering and a desire to conceive new structural and joining techniques. In the past this has manifested in a chair joined by poured pewter (melted down from old tankards) - '22 Tankards 2011”, and a bench inspired by the humble clothes peg - 'Peggy Bench 2012”.

Alex Chinneck is the founder of Sculpture House, an initiative that commissions sculptors to create furniture and design objects. As part of Furniture Forward we are very pleased to be showing 'Whirlpool Table” a functional piece of furniture with a sense humour brought from the artists unique perspective in approaching a design object.

Charlotte Kingsnorth is an industrial designer with an Artist's vision, her work melding together the practical and the sculptural. In Charlotte's creations, familiar domestic furnishings are pushed out of everyday reality and are imbued with a new form reflecting her personal narrative and world vision. The biomorphic shapes of her Hy-Breed series spill out from the silhouettes of reclaimed pieces of furniture, fleshy and otherworldly yet sensual. Their functionality is never removed but they challenge our preconceptions of ergonomic form.

In Fred Rigby's furniture he explores and re-imagines historic joining and decorative practices. For his latest pieces he is revisiting the Georgian decorative technique of marquetry (cut and inlaid wood), exploiting modern technology to contemporary designs based on the Dorset landscape in which he grew up.

The exhibition will be open throughout London Design festival.