Issue - Summer 2007

Welcome to the Iconic Interiors Summer 2007 Newsletter...

It has been an action packed Spring with much to report...

As promised we are launching a range of furniture designed by talented newcomers. They are perfect examples of the attention to detail that typifies all iconic design and sit perfectly with our existing pieces. Buy from this range knowing your purchase is directly funding the professional development of these gifted designers. We think they deserve to go far! I believe this is an exciting new dimension to the Iconic Interiors story.

So too is the new range of books on architecture, design and interiors subjects that we will be offering through our relationship with world class publisher Taschen. We try to provide a good introduction to the designers that we feature and this is a clear next step. I was fortunate enough to obtain samples and am really impressed with the high quality of these affordable books.

We are busy finalising the plans for our involvement in the BBC Summer Festival and Good Homes Show (Birmingham NEC 13th - 17th June), more information in this issue and the opportunity to win free tickets for the event. So please everyone that can, come along and join us there!

...and remember if there is anything we can do please send us an email or give us a call on 01482 222283...that's precisely what we are here for!

Profile of a New Talent

Polly Westergaard has recently graduated from Northumbria University, Newcastle UK following completion of a BA Hons Degree in Three Dimensional Design and is now working there as 'Designer in Residence'.

Her Rejse Table (below-right) is in our fresh new talent range and will be used as part of the stage set for the BBC Good Home Show Super-Theatre.

What made you decide to design furniture?
I have always had a real fascination with art and design, and I thoroughly enjoy the process of taking a product from sketches into a full size useable piece. It's a way of putting creativity into a practical outcome. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing one of your ideas developing into a working product.

Do you find yourself picking up chairs to look underneath them in restaurants?
I must say I do have this rather unfortunate habit of looking at furniture in such a way. There have been many occasions where I have received strange looks for getting down on my hands and knees just to see how things are made and put together.

How much of an influence is your Scandinavian heritage?
My Scandinavian heritage has inspired my design style greatly especially during my time at university. It's the Scandinavian lifestyle and not just the design. The Danes like to surround themselves with beautiful things which are not undermined by lack of quality and function. They take time and effort to ensure this refinement, within there lifestyle as well as their design. It is this combination of aesthetics, function and quality which marry to create a great basis for good design. I try to ensure that all my products continue this theme.

What are your next steps?
I am keen to keep expanding my business, with plans to continue creating a range of signature products to help promote 'westergaard designs' as a brand. I am also interested in promoting the North East as a new and upcoming centre of design.

If you were a piece of furniture what would you be?
I think I would be something like the Arne Jacobsen egg chair, because it encompasses sexy sweeping curves, (I wish I could say the same for me) , and a sleek form which gives the chair a playful yet sophisticated feel.

What is your favourite piece of iconic furniture design?
Once again it has to be the Arne Jacobsen Egg chair, it's a playful, exciting form which has still managed to remain a design icon over half a century after its birth. A true classic… and its Danish!

BBC Summer Festival

This year the BBC Summer Festival is an amalgamation of three BBC exhibitions BBC Gardeners World Live, BBC Good Food Show, and BBC Good Homes Show. All three shows are taking place at the same time at the NEC in Birmingham and promises to be one of the biggest lifestyle events in the UK.

We are exhibiting within the Good Homes Show so please come and visit us at stand H172 where we shall, over the course of the 4 days, be presenting several alternative room settings that should surprise and inspire you. It is a great opportunity to see the quality of our products before you buy and chat with us about any specific requirements or ideas that you may have.

As part of the show there will be a 200 seat theatre which will comprise of sessions from a host of BBC celebrities from gardening, food and homes fame to create a schedule of entertainment for the 5 days of the show. The full line up can be seen on the BBC Summer Festival website however celebrities such as Laurence Llewellyn Bowen, Gordon Ramsay, James Martin, Linda Barker, Anthea Turner, Alan Titchmarsh and Monty Don shall be presenting to name a few.

We are extremely proud to be supplying furniture, including the Big Easy Chaise Lounger for Laurence Llewellyn Bowen's stage setting and can barely wait to see it all in place.

And if that wasn't enough already we have also grasped the opportunity presented by the BBC to completely dress the back stage green room, so the comfort of the celebrities directly before they present shall be entirely in our hands! Of course if there is one thing that Iconic Interiors does better than anything else it is assisting others to sit comfortably and we are very excited at this opportunity. The scheme for the green room shall be opulent and inviting, rich and just ever so slightly decadent with black leather Barcelona range furniture accessorised in rich reds and golds with some fantastic photography kindly loaned by Natalie J Watts - a leading light in contemporary portraiture who specialises in photographing stage performers - simply perfect.

We have some free tickets to give away to the first lucky people to send an email to info@iconicinteriors.co.uk with 'Get me in for free!' as the subject of the email so don't delay - get typing!!!

What is retro?

We know that many of our customers find our website when searching through the search engines for 'retro furniture' and it has long been the holy grail for us to understand what this term means. For several months through Winter and Spring we have run a competition asking people to let us know and have the chance of winning a fantastic Eero Aarnio Ball chair. A big thank you to everyone that took the time to reply, we hope the winners have lots of fun with their prizes!

So what did we learn?
We learned that there are a lot of definitions of retro! The slim majority seem to be looking for the more recent designs within our classics ranges, the work that was produced in the late 1950's through to the early 1970's by designers such as Verner Panton, Eero Saarinen and of course Eero Aarnio. The pieces in particular that entrants nominated as typifying retro furniture were those made utilising industrial manufacture techniques and newly developed man made materials such as plastics and fiberglass, materials and processes that lend themselves to mass production. This then lead on to quite a debate in the office as there seemed to be a fairly equal split between those who classed these pieces as retro and those who class them as futuristic! Retro or futuristic regardless we now feature a full range of these pieces and expect them to be very popular.

Another significant number of competition entrants cited the timeless classics, the works of Mies Van Der Rohe (i.e. the Barcelona Chair) or Charles and Ray Eames (the Eames Lounge Chair).

In addition there are those that are looking for original pieces (a lot of people looking for hanging wicker chairs) and unfortunately we cannot help them directly except by offering the advice to not look online and instead get themselves to the nearest car boot sales, auction houses and second hand shops - that's where the real treasures are to be found at bargain prices and you will have some fun hunting them down too!

Do you have an opinion on retro? Did you find us by looking on this term and of so did you find what you are looking for? Please let us know, your feedback is precious to us.

Look out for new competitions in the coming months.

New Team Member.

We are happy to have Penny joining the team for the Summer and there is already a great long list of things for her to do (sorry Penny!). She is the niece of one of the founders of Iconic Interiors (Mark) and although thankfully she does not share his side of the family's looks she does have the same hardworking attitude!

Currently studying for a BA Hons in Event Management at Sheffield University we are looking forward to the opportunity to share some of her new found knowledge and see if it will present us with further opportunities.

We already have quite a stronghold in the supply of furniture (both lease and sale) to set design companies, having supplied furniture for (amongst others) the Channel 4 Show 'How to Look Good Naked' the ITV coverage of the 2007 Boat Race and the Footballer of the Year Awards and we are keen to see if there is more we can do as it is not only great for the business but we all find it a lot of fun too. We are expecting that Penny will be a real asset in looking into this.

In addition she will also be helping the rest of the team with the BBC Show and I am sure she will get to do her fair share of tea making and sandwich runs (well we all do).

If you (or someone you know) has involvement in an event management type of business that would benefit from a high quality, reliable and cost efficient furniture supplier please give Penny a call to talk through your requirements, now is a great time to discuss this as we shall be in a position to tailor a service to meet your specific needs.

Round Up

• A range of design and interiors related books from Taschen
• ECommerce capabilities for secure online credit card payment
• A range of works by new designers
• A lighting and accessories range
• At least 20 new pieces in our design classic range
• At least 5 new pieces in our in house manufactured 'Cush' range

and keep visiting the website over the next months for even more exciting new developments!!!