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Landmark Projects

Alphabet

Kellenberger-White
Supporter

15-22 September 2018

Broadgate
London
EC2M 3WA
Free Event
Supporter
British Land

British Land

British Land is the Headline Partner of London Design Festival for the fourth consecutive year and the principal supporter of the British Land Celebration of Design. The latter forms a key part of the Festival, honouring and celebrating those who have made a significant contribution to the world of design. Both partnerships demonstrate the company’s ongoing commitment to the use of design in creating places which meet the needs of customers and communities and respond to the changing way people live their lives.

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Known for their playful approach to typefaces, Kellenberger–White designed a new series of alphabet chairs as a Landmark Project at Broadgate, supported by Festival Headline Partner British Land.

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Alphabet by Kellenberger-White. Photo: Lee Mawdsley
Alphabet by Kellenberger-White. Photo: Lee Mawdsley
Alphabet by Kellenberger-White. Photo: Lee Mawdsley
Alphabet by Kellenberger-White. Photo: Lee Mawdsley
Alphabet by Kellenberger-White. Photo: Lee Mawdsley
Alphabet by Kellenberger-White. Photo: Lee Mawdsley
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Visitors were encouraged to explore, interact, move, and make words with the letters, which consist of 26 bespoke colourful alphabet chairs popping up in Finsbury Avenue Square.

The result of an experiment in folding metal to create a typographic system, the chairs were informed by research into László Moholy-Nagy, Marianne Brandt and Wilhelm Wagenfeld. The result is an alphabet of 26 chairs. Other influences for this usable typeface include Bruno Munari’s photos ‘Seeking Comfort in an Uncomfortable Chair’ (1944), Max Bill and Hans Gugelot’s Ulm Stool (1955), as well as Bruce McLean’s ‘pose’ works of the 1970s.

Each chair was a different colour, chosen from a specialist paint manufacturer used for industrial metalwork – from International Orange (used for San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge) to Cornflower Blue (the colour of Middlesbrough’s Transporter Bridge).

British Land Chief Executive, Chris Grigg, said: “Design is integral to everything we do at British Land. Our partnership with London Design Festival celebrates the world’s leading designers and we are delighted to once again support the Festival.”

Supported by British Land and hosted by Broadgate.