'Money for Nothing' on BBC

A chance glance at Rupert Blanchard's blog alerted me to this series of programmes; Money for Nothing on BBC iplayer. Hurry it's your last chance for the first one of fifteen episodes as that's available until 7th Oct 16.30pm, then each consecutive episode expires a day after the previous.

Sarah Moore intercepts things about to be dumped, gets artisans to revamp them and sells them on. Happily it's all done seriously well, not dabbling dilettante upcycling that there is so much of now, no this series uses some of our favourite talented artisans like Rupert Blanchard and The Rag and Bone Man. I don't like everything that gets done but some are great and having seen 3 episodes so far you really get the point about our wastefulness and neglect of potential use.

London Design Week 2014 Highlights

It's always great to see what Paul the Rag and Bone man has been up to and these lamps were on show before they go to a hotel in Australia. I wish there was more one-off invented hand-made stuff like this in London Design Week so this was a real treat. Seeing that they all wind I think I have an old mincer to give to Paul. I used to have it screwed to a bench and kept my pencils in it but people kept winding it and crushing them!

If you didn't see Kevin Mccloud's Supersized Salvage where Paul and 2 other designers set to work on re using an old aeroplane do watch it on 4oD here. It's interesting to cost it all as it's a tragedy that it can be cheaper to discard than re-use, something we are trying to turn around.

I went to a big show too but it felt a bit like a department store, everyone's marketing is very smart and shiny these days, probably a good thing but I like things that are a bit rough around the edges or more accessible. For this Designers Block seemed the best to aim for in the big fairs.

And here I was completely taken by Camilla Barnard's prolific amount of carved and painted sculpture, beautifully done, charming and witty - I was so refreshed to see this. The little carved shreddies just made my heart sing. I love just knowing that there are people who spend there time obsessively working away enriching our culture making these objects from their imagination. So hats off to Camilla and to Paul my personal faves of London Design Festival.

Another hit was Old Sessions House the building Designers Block was in, I really wanted to see inside and it didn't disappoint, it's very very beautiful inside with amazing stairwell's and a huge dome but.....

....I discovered afterwards that it has a horrible history - read here. On the top floor the walls were part plastered and patched with layers of historic colour - very Rough Luxe I know - but very beautiful, the latter photo is definitely enhanced by my god-daughter elegantly stepping into the photo. They must surely use this place for shoots and filming - it is such an amazing backdrop and atmosphere.

TENT London

I really enjoyed TENT in the London Design Festival this weekend. It was good to meet The Rag and Bone Man and see his work in the flesh, I loved these metal coat hangers from golf clubs with lovely detailing. If you're looking for a present for a bloke......also check out his lighting and other metal adventures here.

I was super impressed by what the Urban Upholsterers have been up to. Andrea is very skilled at traditional upholstery techniques and he and Patrizia wanted to show the beauty of the inner workings. They've produced this sofa called the Baubau Sofa: it's a found piece (as always) and stripped down, repaired and then re-uphostered with no more padding than is necessary so you can see the history and the workings of the piece.

It's beautiful, I love it. You can see more much better photos than mine on their Facebook page. Watch the video of it at various stages, and see all their other recent developments.