Darkroom in collaboration with Bert & May set a temporary floating pop up in East London, presented for London Design Festival 2016. Darkroom and Bert & May are taking over the beautifully black Bert’s Barge, presenting a tile/fabric collaboration alongside some very special new Darkroom products. 

The collaboration celebrates the simplistic beauty of three geometric shapes: the circle, the square and the triangle, which all come from the heart of Darkroom's signature aesthetic and feature a distinctive monochrome palette with pops of yellow and blue.

Named Split Shift, the small geometrically-designed exhibit includes a collection of new fabrics, encaustic tiles and a bold new paint colour, Darkroom Black. For LDF 2015, Darkroom created a bespoke triptych of hand-painted plates for Berts Barge. The piece celebrated the beauty of three simple geometric shapes: circle, square, triangle — each coming from the heart of Darkroom’s signature aesthetic. 

The shapes appear pushed off the side of the plates, slipping visually over onto the neighbouring plate. For the shapes to be seen as a whole, the plates need to be aligned in a certain order. In so doing, the shapes and plates are at odds yet completely connected for the time they stay in formation.

The concept of pushing a shape across different pieces has been expanded upon to create a set of 3 hand-poured encaustic tiles. The tiles have a certain ‘correct’ formation when the shapes are completed, yet when the formation is disturbed, it comes alive with a myriad of permutations.

For LDF16, Darkroom has created an installation using the 3 tiles that highlights the core 3 shapes explored in the tiles. The limitless permutations of pattern that can be achieved by placing the 3 tiles in different formations is explored from the most structured to the most random.

Bert’s Barge has been fully taken over by Darkroom for London Design Festival 2016, with the interior designed by Darkroom Director Rhonda Drakeford showcasing the tiles, fabric and paint. A special pop-up shop is on board to launch the A/W collection of Darkroom products.

Troughout the London Design Festival, Darkroom's new collection will be presented at an installation inside the company's Vyner Street showroom, and on Bert & May barge, which will be redecorated to reflect the collaboration. The London Design Festival will be continuing until September 25, 2016.

All images courtesy of Darkroom

Darkroom is a bold design brand. Originally housed in a celebrated store on London's Lamb's Conduit Street, Darkroom now presents it's expanding design collections and collaborations online and through selected retailers and special pop-up experiences.

> via London Design Festival