‘Simplified Beauty’ at London Design Festival

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21/10/2014

For the London Design Festival 2014 Johnson Naylor were asked by SCP to design a scheme for the Simplified Beauty exhibition held at their flagship Curtain Road store. The show was a celebration of everyday design from Japan, Britain and America.

At the ground floor entrance white and red silicone was cut and stripped across the width of the storefront, in recognition of the Japanese practise of using Noren, a word that itself has become associated with the idea of a brand or company’s goodwill.

The complete stock of tiny handmade ceramic bells were hung in front of a banner and lit so their shadows danced on the wall, each bell making a different sound. When bought, they were just snipped down.

The show was well received, with SCP extending it from one to two weeks in duration. We particularly enjoyed the narrative around the Japanese Mingei Movement, which looks at the idea of objects being produced by hand in quantity, at function in daily life and at things being representative of the place they come from.

Elsewhere on the ground floor we created a minimal display for a selection of delicate handmade Japanese ceramics by using some oversized wooden shelves from an old cheese factory, simply hung on upholstery webbing.

The exhibition banners were designed to print with ease on a large plotter. They were used to announce each product group and divide the show into smaller, more manageable vignettes.

For the London Design Festival 2014 Johnson Naylor were asked by SCP to design a scheme for the Simplified Beauty exhibition held at their flagship Curtain Road store. The show was a celebration of everyday design from Japan, Britain and America.

At the ground floor entrance white and red silicone was cut and stripped across the width of the storefront, in recognition of the Japanese practise of using Noren, a word that itself has become associated with the idea of a brand or company’s goodwill.

Elsewhere on the ground floor we created a minimal display for a selection of delicate handmade Japanese ceramics by using some oversized wooden shelves from an old cheese factory, simply hung on upholstery webbing.

The complete stock of tiny handmade ceramic bells were hung in front of a banner and lit so their shadows danced on the wall, each bell making a different sound. When bought, they were just snipped down.

The exhibition banners were designed to print with ease on a large plotter. They were used to announce each product group and divide the show into smaller, more manageable vignettes.

The show was well received, with SCP extending it from one to two weeks in duration. We particularly enjoyed the narrative around the Japanese Mingei Movement, which looks at the idea of objects being produced by hand in quantity, at function in daily life and at things being representative of the place they come from.