Designposts: Carrie Coningsby | Islington Design District

Carrie’s Designpost is part of a wider collaboration between LDF, the American Hardwood Export Council, and three leading British furniture makers Benchmark, Sebastian Cox and Jan Hendzel that pays tribute to London’s neighbourhoods and presents the potential of an underused and highly sustainable material – American red oak. To honour Islington’s history as a block-printing hub in the 18th and 19th centuries, Carrie Coningsby has created a ‘local landmark library’. Her design presents a rational vaulted timber structure made from solid red oak with a canopy of block-printed decorative discs, referencing the abundance of blue heritage plaques that adorn so many of the district’s buildings today. These discs are CNC cut from 4mm plywood, veneered on both sides with red oak; a material decision that was to reduce weight, allowing the canopy to drape well and move in the wind. The Designpost is located in Islington square and is one of ten that can be found in locations across London; King’s Cross, the Design Museum, Shoreditch, Southwark South, Brompton, Waltham Forest, Greenwich, Park Royal and Clerkenwell. Made by Benchmark Furniture