London Design Festival 2013

28.280 custom-made chandelier by Omer Arbel at V&A Museum

For those of you who were not able to visit this year's London Design Festival, here's the highlight of some shows I went. It gets more and more exciting, bigger and better each year. There was so much to see and I have tried my best to make this as compact as possible.

100% Design

Entrance of 100% Design

Alva chair by Charlotte Ardvisson (image via 100percentdesign)

Tableware as sensorial stimuli by Jinhyun Jeon (image via Jinhyun Jeon)

3D printed nylon lampshade by Alienology

Farm Kitchen designed by Mette. Products installed are Chop & Change modular kitchen workspace system, Bulbo light solution for plants, Felt Pods by Flip & Tumble.

Design Junction

Furniture by Orsjo

Canvas couch

Neat shelf by String

Wood veneer lights by LZF

Balloons light by Brokis

Shadow clock by Poetic Lab

Ripple lamp by Poetic lab

Sonobe Collection by Foldability

Ro chair by Jaime Hayon for Republic of Fritz Hansen

Blooming Branches collection by Valentina Glez 

Fork imprint silver plated brass plate by Victoria Delany

Solid olive wood baking stamps by Studiolav

Handmade Brooks leather saddle

Ham Made prints

Reflective warp cups by Richard Brendon and Patternity

Victoria and Albert Museum

The Wind Portal of 5,000 paper windmills turning in the breeze, created by Najla El Zein

ALESSI Made in Cruinallo displays the production process of ALESSI products

28.280 custom-made chandelier by Omer Arbel

Cyclothymia from alessandro BRIGHETTI on Vimeo.

Cyclomythia by Alessandro Brighetti demonstrates the electromagnetic manipulation of oil-based ferrofluids (video below)

Tent London

Kind Edison lamp with a chandelier inside the lightbulb by Mine Heart

The History Chair made of ash wood and leather by Peter Sheehan & Cathal Loughnane

Soda fired porcelain by Jack Doherty

Falliing Dansu solid ash plywood desk with many secret compartments and adjustable shelves and drawer by O'Donnell + Tuomey

Chair made out of special paper by Sekita Design Studio

Faceted mirror

Polyurethane side table with textures created from reaction of material with their special mould by Handmade Industrials

Swing table by Duffy London

Furniture by Hyojin Shin

Knits by Melanie Porter

Chalk board wall mural by Lizzie Marie Cullen

Hercules XIII universal tablet stand by Venus Design Studio

Venus of Cupertino iPad docking station by Venus Design Studio

Light sculpture

Wooden Keyboard by Oree Design (image via Oree Design)

Wireless power pebble by Oree Design (image by Oree Design)

There's another set of tourmaline and gold earrings and ring that I really liked but do not have a photo of cause I was busy trying them on and chatting to the designer. 

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Lemon glazed madeleine & Story of Madeleine de Commercy

My new toy just came through the post and I am happy already. How easily satisfied! It is the De Buyer Moul'Flex Mini-Madeleine Baking Mould. I have been meaning to buy a mini madeleine mould for as long I could remember and this one seem perfect. It was packaged in a cutout box so the madeleine mould makes the feature. The pretty brown box packaging has pink text and the tray was accompanied with a recipe booklet of French cakes.

The last I made madeleine was many years ago when my ex-flatmate had madeleine trays. How convenient! Finally, I have my own and without wasting any time, I made madeleines of course. Everything seems perfect until my madeleines came out of the oven. The shell biscuits popped out of the mould really well, with distinctive form but it lacked the golden colour I was hoping for. It is a good mould for any modern baker as it is dish washer friendly, which is always helpful. But now that I have seen the result, I have to say I prefer the metal tray more as it has better distribution of heat. Golden biscuits are always better than pale yellow.

The story of Madeleine de Commercy

Madeleine is a traditional small scallop-shaped cake from Commercy, a town north of the Lorraine region in France. There are a few stories or legends about the origins of madeleines. The most commonly known story is of Stanisław Leszczyński, a Polish King who was seeking refuge in Commercy, Lorraine during the mid-18^th Century. A young female servant had to prepare some desserts for him but only knew how to make the shell-shaped cookies she made at home during holidays. Stanisław was delighted when presented with these sweet, golden shell-shaped cakes and named it Madeleine de Commercy, after the young maid. He liked them so much that he frequently sends them to his daughter Marie in Versailles, who was married to Louis XV (1710-1774). It became popular amongst the nobility.

It is now a classic of French tea time snack, often dipped into a cup of coffee or tea.

Madeleine of Proust

It was Marcel Proust (1871 – 1922), the French author who immortalised the madeleine in his novel Swann's Way, in a beautiful poetic manner.

LEMON GLAZED MADELEINE RECIPE

adapted from David Lebovitz
makes about 64 mini madeleines

Ingredients:

• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 130g golden caster sugar
• 170g all purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 130g unsalted butter, melted, then cooled to room temperature

Lemon glaze:

• 150g powdered sugar
• 2 tbs of lemon juice
• 1 tbs water

Method:

1. Brush the mould with melted butter and dust with flour then put it in the fridge.
2. Whip the eggs and sugar until it becomes thicker and frothy.
3. Sift the flour and baking powder into the egg mixture and fold.
4. Add the vanilla extract into the cooled melted butter.
5. Slowly dribble the butter into the batter, a spoonful at a time. Fold simultaneously until butter is just incorporated.
6. Cover the bowl with a cling film and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (maximum of 12 hours).
7. Preheat the oven to 220C.
8. Bake for about 8 minutes.
9. Remove madeleines from mould onto cooling rack.
10. Once cool enough to handle, dip each madeleine into glaze and make sure both sides are coated.
11. Scrape off excess and place on cooling rack until set.

Tips:

• Mini madeleines make very good edible gifts.

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