Alex and myself (Ed) did a whistle-stop tour of some of the main attractions on offer to see what 2008 had to offer. Here’s what caught my eye and captured my imagination at the London Design Festival.

Tent London exhibited a diverse range of furniture and lighting. The Wired Lamp by Something From Nothing caught my eye, a simple design that would work well in a contemporary interior. I also liked the painted wooden furniture by Meg Shirayama at Rocket, the wood / gloss paint combo gets mine and Alex’s nod for what’s hot in 2008.

Designer’s Block had an interesting space at Selfridges this year, comprising of an area on the 4th floor and several of the shop’s windows on Duke Street. Friends of Pli, WEmake, exhibited their collection of shrink wrapped discarded lamps in one of the windows. The assortment of jovially named lights of all shapes and sizes glowed pleasantly, each with their own persona, from behind their window, inviting people to make something new from something old. Hulger displayed their range of USB phones. Some elegant  products which plug into laptops and mobiles alike to make Skype that little bit more sophisticated.

At the main DB event in Covent Garden, The Institute of Korean Studies provided a plethora of interesting designs, as well as some free noodles and other treats including ‘Wagon Wheel’ style biscuits  with a mushroom (i think she meant marshmallow..!) filling. The cheeky smiley-face ‘Wire Button’ clips to attach headphone cords to a shirt button, caught my eye; a simple but super-cool little product by Jaehyung Hong. Upstairs Sang Jin Lee had a few clever items including the floating ladle, with a large air bubble to keep it upright in a liquid, ideal for carefree cooking.

Many an ultra-stylish table and chair were on display at this years ever-vast 100% design. These included Anthony Dickens’ Origami table; a simple, but very sleek design. The Mars chair from Boss Design, a versatile office chair, was exhibited in some brilliant and very effective colour ways. I also enjoyed Tessell, the tessellating foam child’s furniture, a fun and flexible product providing flooring, seating and toy all in one.

One of my favourite areas was Ingredients at 100% Materials, with a selection of boundary-pushing materials, merging technological advancements with creative insight. This years material selection included expanded aluminium (think metal Aero), Thermochromic thread (which changes colour reversibly with heat), Hydrotect (a water repellent tile based on the surface of the lotus plant, that won’t allow dirt to stick to the surface),  and Solanyl (a biodegradable polymer made entirely from waste from the potato industry).