Formafantasma at Gallery Libby Sellers

In the new Gallery Libby Sellers space in Berners Street, London, is the work of Italian designers Simone Farresin and Andrea Trimarchi, who together are Formafantasma. The exhibition for LDF 2011 features the ceramic series, Moulding Tradition, and a new textile series, Colony, which focuses on the geo-political issues of immigration, and the historical cross-flow of culture between North Africa and Italy.

HBL Tradeshows: Live from Glee

Apples To Pears at Glee 2011

WGSN-homebuildlife reports live from gardening lifestyle trade show Glee in Birmingham, UK, highlighting the key trends:

The vintage garden: Outdoor furniture and gardening accessories appear timeworn, with faded surface effects and classic colour palettes used.

Wireframe: Wireframe structures are seen in every product category from furniture to lighting and accessories.

Mexican Chimeneas: Outdoor clay garden heaters are a key product at the show, as the trend for primitive living continue.

Subscribers can read our full report from the show here.

HBL Tradeshows: Live from Cersaie

Flaminia at Cersaie 2011, Bologna

WGSN-homebuildlife reports live from Cersaie, the biggest and most important annual bathroom tiles and furnishings trade show, to highlight the emerging trends:

Extreme proportions: Mosaics are used as raw material for massive panels that look like works of art. Big and bold graphics look like gigantic paintings.

A hint of colour: Bright colours appear as design details, especially in bathroom fixtures and fittings.

Black and white: this classic colour combination was widely seen, in all kinds of products. Although a traditional and conservative choice, it brings elegance to the bathroom.

Subscribers can read the full live report here.

The Ford E-Bike Concept

At the Frankfurt Motor Show 2011, Ford revealed their new E-Bike Concept. It promises a range of up to 85km at full charge, and could be an innovative solution for urban mobility. Although Ford is not currently producing the E-Bike, they say they will continue studying the concept which combines cutting-edge sensor technology from Formula One racing with top-of-the-range bicycle components.

Campaign: designer profile

London-based design studio Campaign specialises in unique retail spaces and pushing the boundaries of the consumer experience. Here is a selection of their most innovative projects so far.

Loft Laws in Brooklyn

WGSN’s own Youth Trends Editor, Sarah Owen, explores the unique loft interiors of her neighbours at 151 Kent Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn for today’s New York Times Magazine blog. Due to prohibitively expensive rent costs in NYC, vanishing factory activity and therefore vacant industrial space in Brooklyn, artists and those not so gainfully but passionately self-employed in their trades sought cheaper rent, over the last few decades, in buildings that used to house a variety of operations from food processing to doll-making.

HBL Book(s) of the Week: Designers & Books

This week's book of the week is not one but 1029 books - chosen by 77 designers and counting. Designers & Books is a website which lists the books recommended by renowned designers, from Shigeru Ban to Christian Lacroix and Milton Glaser. Updated every Tuesday, highlights so far include The Canterbury Tales (recommended by Sir Norman Foster), Consider the Lobster (nominated by Stefan Sagmeister) and Line & Form, selected by Eva Zeisel.

HBL loves: that you can create your own personalised reading list on the website - providing informed bedtime reading for months to come.

Batik 2.0

Headed by young Batik designer Nancy Margried, the company Batik Fractal has developed a system using 3D mathematics, combined with traditional hand printing and dyeing processes, to inject a new lease of life into the ancient Indonesian technique.

Bottle Schools by Hug It Forward

Hug It Forward, a non-profit organization in Guatemala, has turned trash into treasure with its Bottle Schools. The organization works to raise awareness of global issues, and uniting communities to work towards powerful change. Bottle Schools, schools built for $10-15,000 from wasted trash bottles, act as the tangible vessels of these social goals. Recycling bottles into building products harkens back to the before-its-time Heineken WOBO (World Bottle) beer bottle that doubled as a brick.

HBL Blog of the Week: Things & People

Things & People is a very simple blog: it shows the person, their chosen object, and the connection between the two. So Lou is pictured next to an ointment pot, and the text explains: "This is one of Lou’s many Victorian ointment pots. This particular pot was manufactured in Deritend, a suburb of Birmingham, in the late 1800s. It was dug up by Lou on the outskirts of London in the late 1900s." From this starting point, fascinating snippets of individual lives emerge.

HBL loves: the uncomplicated aim "to show what things mean to people".

HBL News: Ron Arad awarded London Design Medal 2011

Photo: Susan Smart Photography

London-based designer and architect Ron Arad was last night presented the London Design Medal 2011, at a ceremony held in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral. Arad said of the accolade: "Thank you London – I couldn't imagine doing whatever I'm doing anywhere else in the world".

The ceremony also saw the Lifetime Achievement Award presented to Vidal Sassoon by Thomas Heatherwick.

HBL Exhibitions: Plusdesign presents Assemblage by Fabrica

Plusdesign Gallery, the space in Milan dedicated to contemporary design and brand for the production of limited edition pieces, presents Assemblage. This exhibition is created by the international team of Benetton communication research centre Fabrica's young designers led by Sam Baron: Dean Brown, Catherine Carreiras, Valentina Carretta Marie Dessuant, Margaux Keller, Jason Krugman, Gustavo Millon, Amaury Poudray and Filipe Ferreira.