Telling Tales

This exhibition explores the recent trend among European designers for unique or limited edition pieces that push the boundaries between art and design. It showcases furniture, lighting and ceramics, designed by a new generation of international designers, including Tord Boontje, Maarten Baas, Jurgen Bey and Studio Job, who are all inspired by the spirit of story-telling. Each tells a tale through their use of decorative devices, historical allusions or choice of materials, sharing common themes such as fantasy, parody and a concern with mortality.

The exhibition is in three sections:

The Forest Glade is inspired by fantasy and nature evoking the spirit of fairytales.

'Princess' chair
Tord Boontje

Antique chair, silk, embroidery

The morality of fairy tales relies on oppositions of good and evil, often taking a visual form. This chair and the 'Witch' chair, also by Tord Boontje, show both traits. The 'Witch' chair is scaly, dark and sinister, while this chair is like a child's fantasy of Cinderella at the ball: effervescent, elegant, light and fanciful.

'Fig Leaf' wardrobe
Tord Boontje

Hand-painted enamelled copper leaves, lost-wax-cast patinated bronze tree, iron tracery support structure, hand-dyed and woven silk base and back

Tord Boontje regards the fig as a symbol of fertility, associating it with oases and the biblical notion of Paradise. The snake persuaded Adam and Eve to eat an apple from the tree of knowledge. They then fell from grace and were expelled from Paradise, wearing only fig leaves to hide their newfound shame. Ironically, the wardrobe only becomes 'dressed' when its user is not.

The Enchanted Castle exaggerates and parodies historical design styles often associated with displays of status.

Heaven and Hell is concerned with themes of mortality and the afterlife.

Faber and Faber: Eighty Years of Book Cover Design, 1929–2009

This display celebrates the 80th anniversary of Faber and Faber, one of the great remaining independent publishing houses in London. It was born in 1929 out of Faber & Gwyer, which had been founded in 1925 by Geoffrey Faber, T.S. Eliot and Richard de la Mare.

Responsibility for book production and design fell to de la Mare. His taste and originality established an unmistakable style at a time when only a few London publishers were conscious of book design.

This commitment to design continued under the direction of David Bland and Berthold Wolpe, whose lettered and typographic jackets became identified with the Faber imprint. On Wolpe's retirement in 1975, design continued under the direction of Shirley Tucker until 1980, when the design partnership Pentagram took on responsibility for jackets, covers and publicity material.

Geffrye Museum

The Geffrye Museum depicts the quintessential style of English middle-class living rooms. Its collections of furniture, textiles, paintings and decorative arts are displayed in a series of period rooms from 1600 to the present day.

The displays lead the visitor on a walk through time, from the 17th century with oak furniture and panelling, past the refined splendour of the Georgian period and the high style of the Victorians, to 20th century modernity as seen in a 1930s flat, a mid-century room in 'contemporary style' and a late-20th century living space in a converted warehouse.

The museum is set in elegant 18^th century almshouses with a contemporary wing surrounded by attractive gardens, which include an award-winning walled herb garden and a series of period gardens.

During my walk through this museum, I felt like walking through time, experiencing the transitions of British history. I like the timeline in each room, which tells us the important events of British history, the wars, the breakdowns and setting up, the great inventions, the achivements in the humanity arts etc. I understand more about how london gradually become one of the top cities in the world, and love this city more and more.

Gay Icons

London is an open, multicultural place, in which contains all sorts of thoughts and genres, people holding different values can live happily in such a city. It really surprised me when I found so many pages about gay and lesbian clubs on Timeout London magazine, and when I see real gay couples' intimate relationship in public spaces, when I see this exhibition- gay icons.

A gay icon or LGBT icon is a historical figure, celebrity or public figure who is embraced by many within lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities.Qualities of a gay icon often include glamour, flamboyance, strength through adversity, and androgyny. Such icons may be heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual or transgendered; they may also be closeted or open with their sexual orientation and gender identity.

Historical icons are typically elevated to such status because their sexual orientation remains a topic of great debate among historians. Modern gay icons, who are predominantly female entertainers, typically garner a large following within LGBT communities over the course of their careers. The majority of gay icons fall into one of two categories: the tragic, sometimes suicidal figure or the prominent pop culture idol.

Wikipedia-Gay Icon

The exhibiton:

Gay Icons explores gay social and cultural history through the unique personal insights of ten high profile gay figures, who have selected their historical and modern icons.

The chosen icons, who may or may not be gay themselves, have all been important to each selector, having influenced their gay sensibilities or contributed to making them who they are today. They include artists Francis Bacon and David Hockney; writers Daphne du Maurier and Quentin Crisp; composers Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Benjamin Britten; musicians k.d. lang, the Village People and Will Young; entertainers Ellen DeGeneres, Lily Savage and Kenneth Williams; sports stars Martina Navratilova and Ian Roberts and political activists Harvey Milk and Angela Mason.

Their fascinating and inspirational stories will be illustrated by over sixty photographic portraits including works by Andy Warhol, Snowdon and Cecil Beaton together with specially commissioned portraits of the selectors by Mary McCartney. McCartney. All are set in a striking exhibition design conceived by renowned theatre designer, Robert Jones.

Pollocks Toy Museum

Pollocks Toy Museum

Location
1 Scala Street
London W1T 2HL

Pollocks Toy Museum takes its name from Benjamin Pollock, the last of the Victorian Toy Theatre printers. Set up by Marguerite Fawdry who bought up the stock of Benjamin Pollock Ltd., after trying to buy one small item for her son’s toy theatre.

Benjamin Pollock’s original shop at 73 Hoxton Street,
Shoreditch which unfortunately was subject to bomb damage in the Second World War.
The present museum has been at Scala Street since 1969.

Nearly every kind of toy imaginable turns up here from all over the world and from all different time periods. It’s a fascinating exhibition of toy theatres, teddy bears, wax and china dolls, board games, optical toys, folk toys, nursery furniture, mechanical toys and doll’s houses.

Cartoon Museum

I visited Cartoon Museum twice when I was in London this summer, and I made notes and drawings for the ones that attrated me on the second time I visited,as below:


The couple on the left and the bird on the right are from two different drawings. The couples were actually on the court of their divorce, I especially like their facial expressions as they are really ironic.It has used simple lines to convey the emotion so well.


Those two are also from two different drawings.I especially like the jumping man on the left, he stands out from the whole drawing in which there were many figures.The exagerrated posture and dressing made him unique and lovely.


The top two are from the same drawing, in which there was a mysterious atmosphere, each of the figures in the drawings were however unique. It has used different thin and fat figures, accurate facial expressions to varify the different characters.

Web: Cartoon Museum

Address:
35 Little Russell Street
London
WC1A 2HH
England

Introduction:
There are currently about 900 works in the collection. These include original cartoons, caricatures, drawings, sketches and letters.There is also a selection of eighteenth century original prints. Some rare books featuring the work of cartoon artists are also included in the collection.

Collection details
Design, Film and Media, Fine Art, Literature, Social History, Weapons and War

Key artists and exhibits

* Rare and original artwork on loan from The Beano, the Dandy, and Topper including The Bash Street Kids, Roger the Dodger, Billy the Whizz, Desperate Dan, Beryl the Peril and of course Dennis the Menace.
* Classic works by Gillray including The Plum Pudding and, John Bull - taking a luncheon, and The Zenith of French Glory.
* Cartoons in 3D including Gerald Scarfe¹s memorable Chairman Mao, Scarfe's caricatured original leather armchair from 1971.
* Cartoons by Larry, Kipper Williams, Tony Husband, Nick Newman and many more.
* Emett¹s working ‘Fairway Birdie’ (made by this eccentric cartoonist whose wacky contraptions appeared in Chitty Bang Bang, and at The Festival of Britain.)
* Classic war cartoons including Sir David Low¹s ‘All Behind you, Winston’, and Bruce Bairnsfather¹s, ‘If you know a better ‘Ole...’
* Colour mural painted by top cartoonists including Steve Bell, Dave Brown, Martin Rowson, Peter Brookes, Chris Riddell, MAC and Hunt Emerson.
* Annual cover drawings by Carl Giles featuring the Giles family and his immortal Granny.