This year was the 25th anniversary of 100% Design, a design event that is integral to the festival and a great facilitator in allowing established and new makers to mingle and network. They celebrated in true style, welcoming the outstanding Beverley Knight to do a very special performance to officially launch Design London – the future of 100% Design.

It was wonderful to see some of our current makers exhibiting such as Art Futuro and Another Country. Art Futuro, the Stirling-based company who make exquisite lighting and furniture using beautiful slate veneer, had their stunning pieces on display such as their Slate Cube Lamps and Slate Stools. We loved their latest design, a Slate Outdoor Stool Light, that they were showcasing and soon to be available to purchase on the AUTHOR website. This inventive piece won’t look incongruous or out of place and will add warmth with its guiding light in your garden. The stunning variation of the slate means the Stool looks equally beautiful and interesting unlit during the day.

Another Country were exhibiting their new FRAM Shelving unit as well as some fabulous new chair, bed and sofa designs. Delighted to say we will be adding the gorgeous Another Sofa to AUTHOR’s collection, designed by Daniel Scofield and handcrafted in Another Country’s British workshop with all-natural materials.

Makers new to us such as One Artisan and Lomas really wowed us with their ingenious and original designs in their respective materials: One Artisan’s Darren Rumley uses concrete to handcraft furniture for the home and outdoors in his Gloucestershire workshop whilst Rodney Lomas hand makes one-of-a-kind furniture pieces from sustainable timber in Devon. We’re hoping to get pieces from both of these fantastic makers into the AUTHOR collection soon.

Focus/19 at the Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour is an interior design event that we love going to every year and this year was no exception. We always pay a visit to the household British names that have showrooms there who we represent such as Porta Romana and Cole & Son. Our good friend Jacky Puzey, who specialises in digital embroidery, had her Squirrel and Peacock Ottoman on display in the new Design Avenue Atrium. The blending of different textures such as silk organza, embroidery and peacock feathers all seemed to grow out of the bespoke, digitally printed velvet organically creating a piece that mixes functional luxury furniture with statement art, a stunning piece to see in the flesh! We are currently collaborating with Jacky on creating AUTHOR’s own bespoke stools that will feature the same stunning embroidery work.

London Design Fair at the Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane is always a highlight of the festival. LDF brings together a myriad of national and international cutting edge designers. It is also a fantastic platform for emerging and smaller artisans/businesses to make connections and create brand awareness. We personally find LDF a great sourcing ground for new potential makers to bring into the AUTHOR fold. It was fantastic to see two of our AUTHOR makers there: Dovedale Design Studio and Fritz Fryer Lighting. Oliver Tebbutt and Charl Heynike from Dovedale were exhibiting their gorgeous limited edition pieces that feature on the AUTHOR website such as their Six and Ten Watch Boxes and their Fifty Cigar Humidor. All their pieces are handcrafted to the highest quality with the finest materials. They also had some new pieces of furniture and home accessories on display that we look forward to featuring soon.

It’s always lovely to see Simon and the team at Fritz Fryer Lighting. Their showcase in the [d]arc room was stunning with their beautiful handmade lights particularly their impeccable ceiling pendants such as the Grafton and the Wellington. Fritz Fryer upholds an ethos similar to that of AUTHOR that focuses on British manufacturing and reducing our impact on the environment which is why we adore their designs and have them included in our collections.

There were so many amazing makers that were new to us at London Design Fair but two that definitely stood out to us were Tortie Hoare Furniture and Teaseme London. Tortie Hoare hand make high-quality, leather furniture in Britain using a technique called ‘cuir bouilli’ to mould the leather, removing the need for resins and plastics. ‘Cuir bouilli’ was commonly used to make medieval armour before steel. AUTHOR appreciates that these makers look to use unconventional sources for their leather such using deer pelts that are usually discarded as a result of the venison supplied to restaurants in the UK. We love that the business has created an inventive way of using the pelts that would otherwise go to waste.

Teaseme London’s Sanja Sakic creates unique and wonderful bone china pieces such as cups and saucers with a twist in the Teaseme workshop in Stoke-on-Trent. These stunning afternoon tea sets are designed to resemble parts of the female body. The inspiration for these pieces is Sanja’s own reflections on the increase of breast cancer in her native Bosnia after the Bosnian War. Her first collection was launched at Great Western Studios, Notting Hill in October 2015 to raise money for Breast Cancer Now charity which we think is fantastic.

AUTHOR makers Emma Alington and Sevin London were exhibiting at designjunction in The Canopy near the Coal Drop Yards, King’s Cross. It had been many years since we had been in the King’s Cross area and couldn’t get over how amazing it is after all the redevelopment it has gone through. The Coal Drop Yards is definitely a new hub for design in London, especially with the likes of Tom Dixon opening showrooms there. It was so lovely to see both Emma and Sevin. Emma had a new, limited edition collection on display that she has made in collaboration with Katie Leamon which featured lovely new plant pots along with Emma’s range of bone china tea mugs and espresso cups that we feature in our collection with the AUTHOR logo. Sevin had a beautiful display of her candles, soaps and luxuriously soft towels. We love her Square Scented Candles that are made from a plant-based wax so much and we are looking forward to featuring an even smaller size on the website, perfect for gifting.