The lion statues that have sat silently at the base of Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square for 150 years had a fifth member join their pride as a neon red lion accompanied them during the festival, facing north towards the National Gallery. The installation was entitled, ‘Please Feed The Lions’ and created by ES Devlin, known for her projection-mapped sculptures that juxtapose light with music and technology. This fifth lion was not like its silent brothers, it roared poetry from words the public “fed” it. During the day the poetry was displayed on LEDs embedded in the mouth of the lion but by night the poem was projection-mapped over the lion and onto Nelson’s Column.

The project was a collaboration between ES Devlin and Google Arts & Culture. The installation assimilated a deep learning algorithm created by a creative technologist at Google to explore the boundaries of design and artificial intelligence. We love how ES Devlin contemporised the historical lions and had an interactive approach to create something collective.

What we love most about London Design Week is the opportunity to form new working relationships and collaborations. William Clark is a household name that has been producing linen for nearly 300 years and is popular with Saville Row Tailors and luxury fashions brands.

In their Earthed range, they have unveiled a new, unique linen for decorative interiors called ‘Dappled Beetle’ which combines their traditional manufacturing practices with a modern twist. Beetling involves linen fabric being impregnated with a starch mix and wound around a wooden beam. The beam of linen is then turned slowly and pounded with heavy wooden beetles. The fabric is pounded by beetling hammers for a total of 140 hours. This unique technique produces a flat surface with a high lustre making the linen beautifully fine.

Behaving like raw silk, beetled linen takes on added character with moisture or water adding to the tonal markings on this fabric which we just adore. We love it when the traditional and contemporary can marry together so exquisitely. Looking forward to using this fabric for some upcoming projects. You may see it on the website soon so keep an eye out!

House of Eroju are a London based leather architectural ironmongery and leather products design firm established 14 years ago by brothers Keji and Tunde Eroju. They are a brand we were not aware of but we are delighted that we have finally been introduced.  Their door handle designs are divine. They keep artisanal skills alive by using traditional tools and high-quality hand weaving and stitching to achieve their first-class, luxury finish. The attention to detail and excellence of their work reiterates the luxury standard of British craftsmanship which is what we appreciate most here at AUTHOR.

Excited to bring them into the fold of our ever-growing group of makers and to use their pull handles in future private client work.