Saturday 15 September 2007

More Deptford X






Deptford X: the station looking a bit brighter than usual...







... half of the not-entirely successful installation by Helen Palling in Giffin Square. Despite their colour, the two items are rather dwarfed by the ugly colonade and the scale of the square..







... Via Dolorosa by Bea Denton - winner of the MacDonald Egan Award apparently. I haven't seen the benches by Leanne Bell but I suspect Via Dolorosa may prove the most impressive of a fairly underwhelming bunch. I'm not sure how the contenders were nominated, but I have to say I think some of the other things in the Deptford X lists were more deserving. This at least has the power to provoke debate...




.. and one of the many joke road signs dotted along Creekside. Some are genuinely funny, but the rest of them are a bit too clever-clever and obviously aimed at graphic designers.

Wednesday 12 September 2007

Pink anchor




Just a little taster to whet your appetite for the weekend!

Wool and Deptford. What a great combination!

Deptford Design Festival/Deptford X

If you get chance to spend some time in Deptford this weekend, make sure you check out some of the events in the Deptford Design Festival. Unfortunately the website is rather vague about what is happening where - I couldn't find any kind of programme - but much of it seems to be focussed on Cockpit Arts and the Faircharm estate, so I would guess Creekside is the place to be.

If you can't get along this weekend, do try and make it to the Royal Festival Hall from 15th to 25th September, to see the outcome of the Deptford Design Market Challenge. This is an absolutely inspired idea from Raw Nerve, in which they took 27 objects bought from Deptford's junk market and asked 27 different designers to transform these discarded objects into things of beauty or function. They have come up with some fascinating results - some more successful than others - and even if you can't get to see the objects at the exhibition, the website is well worth a look. Click on each of the items and you get to see the 'before and after' makeover photos, sometimes several of each.

I particularly liked the sofa that had been transformed using old teatowels, and the jigsaw that was made fiendishly difficult by photographing the pieces and then making the photograph into a second jigsaw. Even my gran, the queen of jigsaws, might struggle with that!

***NEWS JUST IN - UPDATED DEPTFORD X WEBSITE lots of info about this weekend's events***

Sunday 2 September 2007

Wavelengths progress



Take a look at these lovely glulam roof beams - while you still can! The roof of the new 25m pool in Deptford is up, I suspect it will soon be covered by some architectural equivalent of corrugated steel,and I'm not sure what length of the beams will remain visible when it is finished.

It's certainly cutting an impressive dash right now though - and making us all quite excited about the finished product.