Technicolour world
By Tom Howells
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A vivacious embrace of colour is a fairly broad approach for a design studio – but it's something that Jordan Cluroe and Russell Whitehead have explored with effusive panache in their work as 2LG. Even if, laughs Cluroe over a video call, it’s a characteristic that was thrust upon them. “We were just instinctively using colour and playfulness in the way that we wanted to and were told: ‘This is bold.’ And we were like: ‘Is it?!’”
Either way, the duo are marking 10 years of collaboration by bedding down at Hart Shoreditch to present SPECTRUM: a sensory journey and series of vibrant interventions around the hotel, ‘exploring human and personal connections to colour, evoking memories and inviting conversations’, they explain.
The hotel is a multifaceted canvas for their ‘joyful minimalism’, with products and ideas reimagined and revisited. The creations on show include a new take on a rug released with Floor Story, based on a large-scale moiré, here reinterpreted via AI filters in a rainbow spectrum; as well as a fresh presentation of a jacket based on a piece made for the furniture brand Ligne Roset, placed within a circular staircase at the Hart.
The de facto showpieces swerve away from the tangible: a bespoke, eight-minute soundscape written with the composer Quentin LaChapele and a wraparound video piece by the digital artist Lucy Hardcastle born out of the soundtrack. “It's going to be a moment of euphoric calmness within the chaos of LVF that we hope people will be able to be fully encapsulated within,” says Whitehead.
The 10-year landmark has let 2LG become retrospective in their ethos, they say, as well as a tad bolder, more confident and more inquisitive.
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“This show is an opportunity for us to explore the roots of our colour choices,” says Whitehead. “It's been a personal journey, a deep dive into colour – what it means to us and how it affects people and spaces and things.”
Crucially, 2LG’s use of vivid palettes has long been synonymous with their queer identity. They hope this show will encourage discourse and self-expression in others. “There's an emotional vulnerability to what we're offering here,” says Cluroe. “I want people to feel like this is a safe space where they can reveal something of themselves.”
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