Cathy's Art Diary

Colourful installation on the Strand outside Somerset House by Simone Brewster. The work had been part of London Design Week which I’d missed and commented on the future of the cork industry. I must admit I’m not sure how other than that the large sculptures were covered in coloured cork. The blurb said that “the future of the cork oak forest will be secured by four key traits: upright expression, drought resistance, regenerative growth and biodiversity conservation.” Each work was meant to reflect one of these traits but I don’t really understand that link. Still the works looked great in the space! Closed 8 October 2023  

An installation in Trafalgar Square as part of London Design Week. This consisted of four sheds/rooms by different designers with the brief of “What makes a house a home?”. My favourite was Jasper Morrison’s “Pigeon Fancier’s House”   with a pine finish and a big window from which to watch birds to watch birds. This was witty but was also a room you could live in. Raw Edges’ interior with the ability to move walls to create different spaces at different times was an interesting idea. If you only use the bathroom at certain times of day why does it take up so much space? Just slide the wall over to make enough room to use the wash basin or the shower, the slide it back again for a bigger living space!   The other two pieces were more like installations than rooms you could actually live in.