ForLook Interior Design

August is not a good month for us designers. Most of the clients and sub-contractors are on holiday - some manufacturers are closed for the whole month (particularly in southern Europe!) - so we just sit in our offices, surfing the net, cleaning up our files and dreaming about being somewhere hotter and sunnier. Well, you could spend this period being bored or you could recharge your design batteries by getting inspiration from other designers and trade shows.
So take a long lunch break or leave the office a bit earlier and go to one of these shows and exhibitions:..
 
Design Museum

Visit the Zaha Hadid Architecture + Design Exhibition. This exhibition is the first full scale show of Zaha Hadid’s work in the UK. It is also one of the largest exhibitions  held at the Design Museum - it spreads over two floors of galleries, and shows both her architectural and product design work. Tickets cost £7.00 (£4.00 for students) and the exhibition is open from 10am-5.45pm.

British Museum

Head to the British Museum  to get inspiration from the Crafting Beauty in Modern Japan exhibition. Look at some of the most beautiful Japanese art-crafts produced during the past 50 years including ceramics, textiles, lacquer, metal, wood, bamboo, glass and dolls. Tickets cost £5.00 – the exhibition is open between 10am-17.30pm (20.30pm on Thursdays and Fridays). Whilst you’re there you might as well check out Ikebana: Living flowers of Japan show in Room 3 – if you go on Thursday at 1pm, you can see the flower arrangements being changed. Admission is free.

Royal Academy

The annual Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy is always worth a look. It is the world’s largest open submission contemporary art exhibition, showing works by unknown and emerging artists alongside more established names. It attracts entries from around 9,000 artists, including paintings, sculptures, photographs, drawings, prints and architectural models! It finishes on the 19th August, so go there during his week if you can.  It’s open from 10am to 6pm (till 10pm on Friday).

Tate Modern

The Dali exhibition is a must for those interested in art and design!  Many of his important paintings are on display - beautifully lit by the way. Also drop in to the Turbine Hall to see the Global Cities exhibition which looks at the changing faces of ten dynamic  cities: Cairo, Istanbul, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Mumbai, São Paulo, Shanghai and Tokyo. Admission is free to the Global Cities exhibition, the Dali display costs £11.00. It’s open from 10am to 6pm (Friday an Saturday till 10pm).

I think these should be enough for this week, I’ll be back with more good things to see or do in London whilst everyone else is off sunbathing somewhere nice!