London
CNN
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“A kinetic contraption” is how the English design duo Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby (aka Barber & Osgerby) prefer to describe their latest endeavor, “Forecast,” currently on display in the Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court at Somerset House, as the UK’s entry to the first edition of the London Design Biennale.
A response to the Biennale’s theme of “Utopia by Design” – a nod to the 500th anniversary of the publication of Thomas More’s “Utopia” – the giant wind-powered installation is composed of three rotating elements inspired by weather measuring instruments.
“We like to think of it as a kind of weather machine,” notes Barber. “It reacts to its elemental surroundings, creating a quite hypnotic series of graceful movements that hopefully makes people take pause.”
Made in collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum, supported by British Land, and engineered by Arup, “Forecast” represents a more fantastical turn for the designers who are widely known for their ever-growing portfolio of furniture and product designs for leading manufacturers including Flos, Vitra and Cappelini.
Courtesy Barber & Osgerby's
In the lead-up to the 2012 London Olympic Games, Barber & Osgerby were tasked with designing the official Olympic Torch, which was carried across the UK for 70 days leading up to the opening ceremony.
Courtesy of Barber & Osgerby
To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the London Underground in 2012, Barber & Osgerby were asked to design a commemorative £2 coin. Their version shows a train emerging from the darkness of a tube tunnel.
Courtesy Lee Mawdsley
Barber & Osgerby's "Double Space for BMW -- Precision and Poetry in Motion" exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, part of the 2014 London Design Festival, showcased the more playful and fantastical side of the duo's work. Two large reflective silver elements were suspended from the ceiling of the V&A's Raphael Gallery, creating entirely new visual experiences of the architecture as they rotated through a series of choreographed movements.
Courtesy of Barber & Osgerby
Barber & Osgerby's Olio 2015 collection of tableware combines wood, ceramic, and stainless steel elements to form a 40-piece collection for Royal Doulton.
Courtesy of Barber & Osgerby
The designers' first project took the shape of the Loop table, which was subsequently acquired by both the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London for their permanent collections.
Courtesy of Barber & Osgerby
The lightweight, stackable Top Ton Chair (produced by Vitra) has become one of Barber & Osgerby's most recognizable designs.
Courtesy of Barber & Osgerby
The designers created the versatile Tobi Ishi table (for B&B Italia) in 2012, doing away with the traditional concept of a table being centered on a symmetrical central base.
Courtesy Ed Reeve
This year, Barber & Osgerby installed a weathervane-like structure at London's Somerset House as part of the inaugural London Design Biennale.
That said, in addition to their memorable object designs – which include the Olympic torch for the 2012 London Olympic Games and the £2 coin made to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the London Underground also in 2012 – Barber & Osgerby are increasingly being recognized for their more experimental and experiential installations and exhibitions, making them two of the UK’s most in-demand designers.