Around The World
22:37
London Design Festival Visit
Day I; 15th
September
The British Airways flight was on time and we reached Heathrow, London
at 3pm from where we took a taxi to reach our hotel at Ibis, Earl’s Court by
5pm. After a brief rest we set out towards Tower Bridge area. We took the tube
from West Brompton station which was a 4 minute walk from our hotel and took
the metro to Tower Hill. Today we visited ‘The
Gherkin’, an commercial building designed by Architect by Sir Norman Foster.
The building looked awesome by night light and we walked around the area soaking
in the atmosphere and looking up at the modern architectural marvels in the
vicinity.
We could see ‘The Shard’, from
a distance and walked towards it. It is the other prominent commercial building
in the area which was designed by Italian Architect Renzo Piano . It is also the tallest building in the European
union and the sixth tallest building in Europe. The Architectural style of ‘The
Shard’ ( meaning a piece of glass) is called ‘Neo-futurism’.
We reached the Tower Bridge by following the Google maps [which is by the way very confusing and we
really had a tough time] and enjoyed the beautiful sights walking besides River Thames and listening to the laughter and chirping of other walkers and visitors.
The tower bridge was beautifully lit up and all the tall buildings alongside the Thames were lit up too. We enjoyed the sights and thereafter went back to our hotel.
The tower bridge was beautifully lit up and all the tall buildings alongside the Thames were lit up too. We enjoyed the sights and thereafter went back to our hotel.
Day II:16th
September:
Today it was cloudy and a bit of chill was there in the air. We had
reached around 10.30am at the Imperial wharf station from West Brompton as it was a convenient to take the Tube which was just a 4 minute walk from the hotel.
The morning near the Chelsea Harbour area required a thin rain cum wind jacket. Inside the Design Centre was however comfortable and did not require any jacket. It was a truly amazing show at Focus 2019.
The morning near the Chelsea Harbour area required a thin rain cum wind jacket. Inside the Design Centre was however comfortable and did not require any jacket. It was a truly amazing show at Focus 2019.
The Design centre was teeming with visitors, both trade and consumer. We
were registered and given our badges. We wandered from dome to dome with 4
floors at each dome ( North, South , Centre and East) and each floor with
multiple studio cum shops which flaunted awesome products. It took us 6 hours
to see the place but still a few studios were left. If we want to really check
out each studio it would take 2 days. We also attended a few talk-shows and
workshops and interacted with the designers and their teams. [We plan to go one
more day later.]
The London Interior Show at Chelsea Harbour Hotel (which was located
just at the back of The Design Centre) was somewhat of a disappointment. It was
a small show of mostly home furnishings. The
TOIDX show at Taj Palace Delhi was so much more awesome!
The night air was cold and a thin sweater and a light jacket was
required.
Reminder to self :- bring better walking shoes next time.
Overall it
was an awesome day.
Day III- 17th September:
It is a sunny day today with a mild chill in the air.Today we took the bus (430) towards South Kensington for the Science
Museum and V&A ( Victoria & Albert) museum. The red double-decker London bus has entered popular culture as an internationally-recognised icon of England and it was a beautiful ride to our destination. [ The London Buses network and its branded services, the Red Arrow and East London Transit systems are managed by TfL through its arms-length subsidiary company, London Buses Ltd. As a result of the Privatisation of London bus services in the mid-1990s, bus operations in London are put out to competitive tendering and routes are operated by a number of private companies]
We walked from the South Kensington Stop/ Station towards the Science Museum . On the way we crossed the 'Brompton Design District' and visited the participating outlets of the London Design Festival.
We reached the Museum around 11 and after a look at the 'American Oak' installations outside the science museum, which was also a part of the London Design Festival. As we were hungry and did not have breakfast yet, we sat for a breakfast
to start with. The Dates and banana yogurt which was very fluffy in texture,
butter croissants, brownies chips and coffee made us ready to check out the
Museum .( a ‘Night at the Museum’ event was going on which I was very tempted
with and would have loved to attend , but…)
The Science Museum was overwhelming with so much to offer. As a Designer, I was mainly interested in ‘The
Challenge Of Materials’ on the 2nd floor and the ‘Interior Architecture’ of the
Mathematics Gallery by Zaha Hadid on the 3rd Floor. The various products made of various materials were on dislay. I loved the awesome spread of glass products and also the explainations of the life-cycle of a product from Raw-materials to the finished goods.
The Design of the Mathematics gallery was really beautiful and was fully a reflection of Zaha Hadid Designs with flowing curvy lines. The mathematics gallery was interesting too in terms of imparted knowledge regarding mathematics of various subjects.
The Design of the Mathematics gallery was really beautiful and was fully a reflection of Zaha Hadid Designs with flowing curvy lines. The mathematics gallery was interesting too in terms of imparted knowledge regarding mathematics of various subjects.
After a brief exploration of the Space Gallery we started for the
V&A museum just opposite to Science Museum at around 1pm.
We wanted to take the 2pm tour of LDF19 installations at the museum and
we took a look around the place before the start of the tour from the main
entrance. (We did a bit of shopping from the V&A shop)
(Resting a bit now
as I complete the diary before the start of the #ldf tour)
3.45pm- tour done.. it was hectic.. but good, it would have been
difficult to find the installations by ourselves. Our tour guides explained
everything in detail and in an interesting manner. The tour guides of the
museum are Volunteers and they were volunteering for the #LDF19 Tour too. We
left the V&A museum with happy memories and a decision to come back in my
next trip(hopefully) to London.
[The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in
London is the world's largest museum of applied and decorative arts and design,
as well as sculpture, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million
objects. ]The museum is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the
Department for Culture, Media and Sport. As with other national British
museums, entrance is free.
4-30: sitting at Le
Pain Quotidien restaurant eating smoked salmon and sippng rose wine .
Took the South Kensington metro to Bond Street and landed at Oxford- South Molton street and had a look at the beautiful Walala Camille lounge and street furniture. The whole South MOlton road was lined with exotically designed seating furniture by Camille Walala, a French Artist-Designer.
Day IV 18th September 2019:
We took the Royal Day Out Tour Of Buckingham Palace. The highlight was ‘Leonardo
Da Vinci, A Life Of Drawings’ from his practice notebooks. Leonardo was a
student of life and studied Science ( Maths, Biology, Technology ) and Art (
Design, Architecture, Fine Arts) equally well. As a Science and Design student I had been an
ardent admirer of Leonardo Da Vinci and it was really exciting to see his draft
notebooks which led to original famous masterpieces.
Marking the 500th
anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci, the exhibition brings together
more than 200 of the Renaissance master's greatest drawings in the Royal
Collection, forming the largest exhibition of Leonardo's work in over 65 years.
Drawing served as Leonardo's laboratory, allowing him to work out his
ideas on paper and search for the universal laws that he believed underpinned
all of creation. The drawings by Leonardo in the Royal Collection have been
together as a group since the artist's death in 1519. Acquired during the reign
of Charles II, they provide an unparalleled insight into the workings of
Leonardo's mind and reflect the full range of his interests, including painting,
sculpture, architecture, anatomy, engineering, cartography, geology and botany.
After the Queen’s gallery we visited the Royal Mews and saw the horses, the
exotic carriages (buggies) and cars of the Royal Family. The Royal Mews at
Buckingham Palace is responsible for all the road travel arrangements for The
Queen and members of the Royal Family.
Next was a 2 hour walk through the staterooms which was truly amazing.
The walk to the exit was through the gardens which was more of a
semi-jungle, the usual English style garden . We had ice-cream on the way
sitting on a garden bench which was being made in the Royal bakery and sold.
We took back the tube from Victoria station after having food from the
food terrace at the Victoria station. It is a good idea to take the metro / bus as you can visit any Design Festival Installations on the route and inside the stations too.
#victoriaspalace
@royalcollectiontrust
Day V, 20th September:
Today we planned to
visit the Design Exhibition ‘100%Design’ . We pre-registered the night before
as Trade Visitors , got our tickets printed at the hotel reception and we took
the tube from West Brompton To Olympia.The train dropped us just in front of Olympia exhibition centre at 10.30am .
100% Design was one of the stand out trade shows during London Design Festival and provided us with the perfect opportunity to visit and checkout latest trends and products of international exhibitiors (architects and designers). The area was vast and we looked around till 2.15 interacting with the Designers, checking out products and appreciating the new emerging trends.
100% Design was one of the stand out trade shows during London Design Festival and provided us with the perfect opportunity to visit and checkout latest trends and products of international exhibitiors (architects and designers). The area was vast and we looked around till 2.15 interacting with the Designers, checking out products and appreciating the new emerging trends.
After a small lunch in the exhibition hall , we walked to St Barnabas
Church bus stand to catch Line 49 bus to Kensington Palace.(2.40pm) . Such walks to through the city gives you an insight to the various experiences that the area has to offer and I love to look around while walking and soaking in the local atmosphere of the place.
Kensington Palace in London is a working Royal residence. Of great
historical importance, Kensington Palace was the favourite residence of
successive sovereigns until 1760. It was also the birthplace and childhood home
of Queen Victoria. Queen Victoria was born and brought up in the Palace and news of her
accession in 1837 was brought to her there by the Lord Chamberlain and the
Archbishop of Canterbury; however Victoria chose to reign from Buckingham
Palace.
We reached Kensington Palace around 3pm and took the tour of the staterooms and other things on display. (£23.50) :
sitting at cafe now at 5.15pm drinking tea and eating biskut ( no raspberry ripple icecream for me - can’t have- caught cold yesterday ). We walked
outside through the Kensington Gardens after clicking some pictures of the lake
and the ducks and the garden views.
Our next destination was Harrods to check out the Decor section and we took the transport from Royal Albert Hall stop to Knightsbridge . The Harrods visit was as usual a good experience and we browsed through the new and trendy decor collection.
Day VI, 20th September
Day VI, 20th September
Design Junction
Visit: booked tickets as Trade visitors: found 50% promocodes on net
DJ100
Took the Tube from West Brompton to Earl’s Court and from there from
platform 5 ( not 9 3/4 ) to Kings
Cross. 11.15am
Walking Towards Coal Drops Yard, the venue of the Exhibition through
King’s Cross Design District - it was a good decision to come here as the whole
Kings Cross Design District could be visited apart from Design Junction.
Visited Samsung lounge(must visit otherwise too) .. its a different kind
of experience, superb. One LDF19 installation was here too(the colourful sofas)
by Idiosincrato, Martino Gamper , Disco Carbonara (carbonara name came from
coal drop yard). (Check Alpi wood image) The retail therapy at kings cross is a
must visit .
Reached Design Junction main hall and entered with the ticket. It was a much
smaller exhibition than 100%Design but the products were really offbeat.
Kings Cross District is otherwise an exciting design district and the Junction can be given
a miss by students as it has a £15 ticket.
1.50pm now and we are starved.. had an exotic lunch of white onion soup and duck roast salad while partner had the usual but yummy fish and chips meal. Plan
is to roam around some more and go to Oxford street for shopping by 4pm.
On way down to the station saw the ‘Rado Young Designers Awards’ products displayed along the path to station. The products designed by the young designers were really innovative and it was obvious that they had been taught good 'Design Thinking' skills.
Took Victoria Line to Oxford Circus stop.
Shopping and coffeeing done. Back on the exotic red double decker number 74 to West Brompton (Empire
State Building) .
Day VII - 21September
Visit To St Paul’s
Cathedral:
To take tube from West Brompton to Mansion House ( be careful and don’t
get on the South Kensington branch) : Check the train going towards
Upminster.
St. Paul's Cathedral has had an eventful history. Five different
churches were built at this site.
In 1665 Christopher Wren designed a plan for the renovation of the St.
Paul's Cathedral, which was starting to fall into decay. But disaster struck
again on the night of September 2, 1666, when the Great Fire of London
destroyed four fifth of all of London, wiping 13,200 houses and 89 churches,
including the St. Paul's Cathedral off the map. In 1669, three years after the fire,
Christopher Wren was appointed 'Surveyor of Works' and was tasked with the
construction of a new church to replace the destroyed Gothic cathedral.
The Baroque Interior is just as imposing as the exterior of the church.
The mosaics on the ceiling were added in 1890 by William Richmond after Queen
Victoria complained that there was not enough color in the cathedral. The
baldachin above the altar was rebuilt in 1958 after it was damaged by
bombardments during World War II. The design is based on a sketch created by
Wren. The only monument in the church that survived the fire of 1666 is the
tomb of John Donne, from 1631.
Several famous people are entombed in the cathedral's crypt. Most
notable are the tomb of the Duke of Wellington - who defeated Napoleon at
Waterloo - and the tomb of Admiral Nelson, who died at the Battle of Trafalgar.
There is also a tomb of Christopher Wren himself and a number of important
artists are buried here as well.
St Paul’s visited - towards Portobello Market now via St. Paul Stn To
Notting Hill .(2pm)
Awesome market, must visit !! A must must visit, the Portobello Road is the
world’s largest antiques market with over 1,000 dealers selling every kind of
antique and collectible. Visitors flock from all over the world to discover one
of London’s best loved landmarks which contains the most extensive selection of
antiques in Britain.
It is Saturday
today so there is a special Flea market stretched out. Portobello is
really several markets in one, Saturday being the day when all are in full
swing. Then you can experience a mile of hustle, haggle, colour and energy. The
feature of Saturdays is the opening of hundreds of antique and specialist shops
and stalls. There are some talented and bizarre street performers to be spotted
too.( We spotted the Drummers J )
Day VIII ; 22nd
September
Back to Delhi.. Plane got late by an hour as there was some technical
issue with the wing lights. From entering the terminal (5) to the plane is a
long walk through 2 elevators, a train and then 2 elevators and another
elevator after boarding and a long walk through the arm leading to the plane.(
The exotic shops at duty free slows you down too J )
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