It is that time of year again where everyone gathers together in London to explore and widen their knowledge of Design at 100% Design Week. This year thousands of people flocked to the iconic Olympia London to have a nose at the latest and greatest products, myself and my colleagues included!
As we arrived we were greeted with a free cup of tea and coffee in the Havwoods bus and ventured into the show; being such a huge space you almost don’t know where to start! We began with lighting, one of my favourite products as they make such a great impact in spaces. We also looked at lots of furniture – it’s always fun to sit on the different sofas and chairs – and then the bathroom accessories – where we failed at getting a free glass of bubbly! We also saw tiles, colourful veneers and slightly more unusual products such as fake plants and door handles with skulls on them!
Alongside the products, it is always interesting to see how creative people are with their stands, for example one used rope as their partition and another used live fish swimming in a bowl, an effective way to encourage people to their stands. As always there were plenty of companies we already knew and so it was good to see their latest products and take advantage of the freebies which is always an extra bonus! I particularly enjoy discovering new products – this year I really liked the bright commercial feature wallcoverings, the new fabric ranges and the sink in the shape of a bucket.
After a lot of walking around mingling and carrying lots of brochures, business cards and bags we continued onto our next destination for the evening – Chelsea Harbour. A place I always enjoy visiting, we were lucky enough to be invited to the Focus Contract Evening 2015! There were lots of friendly faces there to catch up with and the added bonus of constant prosecco and very yummy food including steak and a duck salad! Despite conversation ranging from work life to honey bee farms, it was a very civilised event that finished at 9pm – a great way to end 100% Design week!
