Grain Pile exhibition in old fire station shows six designers' fresh takes on wooden furniture
British furniture maker Ercol and Max Radford Gallery commissioned six of the capital's designers to create imaginative chairs, tables, cabinets, and more with timber, at this exhibition for London Design Festival.
The six London-based designers – Andu Masebo, Eddie Olin, Joe Armitage, Jaclyn Pappalardo, Isabel Alonso and Lewis Kemmenoe – were all encouraged to craft their pieces using the materials and machinery available at Ercol's sprawling factory in Buckinghamshire.
"The designers have visited the factory multiple times and spent countless hours talking with Henry [Tadros, Ercol's CEO]; working out the capabilities of the shop floor as well as Ercol's raw materials and feeding this back onto their designs," said Max Radford, the gallery's eponymous founder.
"To start, I wanted to be able to show Lewis, Eddie, Jaclyn, Joe, Isabel, Andu and Elliot the factory, the machines, the people, how we finish the pieces and then just see what they design in reaction to it," added Tadros.
"Depending on the designs we've then helped with the raw materials, machining parts, even crafting a few of the pieces completely to their designs, and then finishing them all in our polishing department," he continued.
"I wanted to be able to let the designers use Ercol as an inspiration and then as a tool to realise their designs where we could."
The resulting furnishings have been displayed amongst the red-painted columns of the Grade II-listed Clerkenwell Fire Station.
Masebo created a colourful range of ashwood seating called Seconds Stools, which are composed of defective furniture parts (typically referred to as "seconds" in a factory setting) from Ercol's production line.
Because the parts available were completely random, each stool looks different – the maroon stool, for example, has a chaotic whirl of footrests, while the teal-blue stool balances on just three legs.
Alonso's contribution is a pair of solid-ash geometric tables titled The Echoes. Both feature a beam that curves up and over the tabletop, mimicking the arching backrest of an Ercol Windsor chair.
Kemmenoe, meanwhile, used a combination of ash and oak to produce a contemporary iteration of Ercol's signature rocking chairs – his is more linear in form, and has abstract "patchwork" inlaid on its sides.
Influenced by the veneer-wood corner cupboards that Ercol released in the 1950s and 60s, Pappalardo fashioned a drinks cabinet titled Mezza Luna; the name is Italian for "half moon", nodding to the inward bend of its two front doors. Externally the cabinet is lined with red cherrywood, while the shelves on its sides are black-stained oak.
Olin employed black-stained ash to make his Hard Edge series, which comprises two benches and a table. All of the pieces have been finished with hand-polished stainless steel corners.
Finally, Armitage has created a chair, lounger, and pouffe inspired by Keeling House – a modernist housing block in London's Bethnal Green neighbourhood, designed by architect Denys Lasdun.
All his pieces have blackened ash frames, but the lounger also boasts walnut armrests and patterned wool upholstery that emulates the facade of Lasdun's building.
Other standout exhibitions orchestrated for the 2025 edition of London Design Festival include Out of Orifice, which examined the different types of objects people put in their bodies – whether it's for health purposes, or pleasure.
A total of 35 objects were put on display, ranging from a contraceptive sponge to an acid tab, and visitors were encouraged to guess what they're used for.
Grain Pile is on show from 13 to 21 September as part of London Design Festival. See Dezeen Events Guide for a dedicated festival guide, as well as other events taking place around the world.
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