Curl, twist and bend

Go and see

Art attack: If you've always hankered after an original work of art to grace your sitting room but never knew how to go about buying one, head to ARTfutures 2002.

Described by the Arts Council as "one of the most important events for the general buyer of art", ARTfutures aims to take the mystery out of buying contemporary art for the home. Now in its 16th year, the sale, which opens today at the City of London School near Blackfriars, features 1,000 works by 100 artists. It is organised by the Contemporary Art Society, and experts will be on hand to help you get the best from the sale. ARTfutures opens today until 13 April at the City of London School, Queen Victoria Street, EC4 (020 7831 7311).

Border patrol: Spring is well and truly here, so you can't put off sorting out the garden any longer. If you're in need of inspiration and ideas, head to the London Garden Show (from tomorrow to Sunday).

It's the ideal one-stop shop for urban gardeners who want to get the best out of their outdoor spaces, but who are limited by size, time or knowledge.

This year, contemporary designers have assembled show gardens demonstrating how to create stunning daylight and nighttime effects - including imaginative use of lighting, affordable designer furniture and garden sculptures. This is also the place to buy the best plants direct from growers.

The London Garden Show, 11-14 April, Alexandra Palace, Wood Green, N22 (Tickets pounds 11 in advance, pounds 12.50 on the door. Ticket hotline: 0870 733 4545).

Product news

Party animal: Dine with friends in industrial style around this 3.5m bespoke dining table (above), which seats up to 14. Tubular stainlesssteel legs and the simplicity of glass mean it won't have to dominate your living space.

Easy to clean and resistant to fading or tarnishing, it also makes an ideal conservatory table: pounds 2,468 from Angell Welding (01689 848141 ).

Glass bed: Forget Italian marble or Welsh slate, glass is now one of the designer's favourite materials - sandblasted and extra white for cool bathroom sinks, thick and blue for kitchen work surfaces, clear and delicate for cloud-like beds. Glass beds by Defy Interiors combine clean, modern design with beautiful materials and attention to detail.

Defy's owner and main designer, Alex Miles, has constructed the bed from panels of safety glass supported on polished stainless- steel legs.

Features include a clever steel bracketing system, a sprung beech slat base and a handmade mattress.

Glass bed, from pounds 1,539 (4ft 6in bed frame). Defy, 55-57 Chiltern Street, W1 (020 7486 2774).

Rainbow blown: This contour bowl (right) by Bob Crooks is from Lowe Interiors, which now offers a bespoke service for customers inspired by a particular designer's work. Visit Lowe Interiors at 18 Exmouth Market, EC1 (020 7278 1140), and if you like any of the pieces made by the designers on its books, they can be commissioned to make you something specially for your home.

Asleep in the City: If you're still suffering Sex and the City withdrawal symptoms and are too impatient to wait for the next series, you can sate those City-girl cravings by indulging in the Spring 2002 Calvin Klein home bed and bath collection, which appeared in the most recent series. Not surprisingly, the Carrie Bradshaw look is sensual but simple. The Layered Shadows range has warm berry colours and cool creams, and includes a basketweave blanket in rich fig and an alpaca striped throw in raisin. For the bathroom, there are sumptuous cotton terry towels (from pounds 13) in graphic oyster and charcoal. From House of Fraser stores and Selfridges in Oxford Street, W1 (020 7629 1234).

Rich pickings: This spring sees the launch of London designer Megan Park's first collection of textiles for the home. For the past five years, Park's richly designed fabrics have been used in clothes, scarves and accessories.

The textiles incorporate ribbons, beads, elaborate "dori" embroidery and woodblock printing techniques. Celebrity fans include Nicole Kidman, Cameron Diaz and Julia Roberts. Now sumptuous quilts (from pounds 500), pillowcases, floor cushions (from pounds 110) and cotton curtain panels are available in London.

English Bramble is a handblocked floral and leaf-trellis style; the rustic Provenal design includes Japanese glass beads and Indian wooden beads. From Harrods, Knightsbridge, SW1 (020 7730 1234); Liberty, Regent Street, W1 (020 7734 1234); The Cross, 141 Portland Road, W11 (020 7727 6760), and Carden Cunietti, 83 Westbourne Park Road, W2 (020 7229 8630).

Eye for design: Are you always the last person to spot a design classic?

Have you only just bought your first Dualit toaster? Here's your chance to get ahead of the style pack with the Tivoli Model One Radio. Based on an almost 40-year-old design by American audio pioneer Henry Kloss, it looks retro but sounds contemporary. The pounds 99 radio includes technology found in mobile phones, resulting in stunning sound quality.

For stockists, call 01702 601410.

Reader offers

A Fridge Too Far: Twenty-five Homes & Property readers can get a free pair of VIP tickets to the opening of A Fridge Too Far, a selling exhibition at Purves and Purves featuring the work of Stefano Giovannoni (wacky designer for Alessi), on 18 April, from 6pm to 8pm, at the Tottenham Court Road store.

The exhibition runs until 11 May and is a venture with "wood.for good", the ambitious drive to promote the use of wood in the home and garden. Send your name and address on a postcard to wood.for good/ Fridge Too Far, Fuel PR, 3 The Cloisters, 8 Battersea Park Road, London SW8 4BG. Closing date is 14 April. For more details, call 0800 279 0016 or visitwww.wood.forgood.com.

On form: The Nine Schools, one of London's leading Chinese importers and retailers, is having a warehouse sale this weekend and everything is discounted by at least 25 per cent, with some prices slashed by 70 per cent.

A black lacquer wedding chest, for example, is reduced from pounds 1,750 to pounds 600.

The sale is this Saturday, 9am to 5pm, and Sunday, 10am to 4pm. The warehouse is off the A205, just south of Clapham Common, a 10- minute walk from Balham Tube. Call 07973 739523 for more information. The first 15 Evening Standard readers to spend more than pounds 200 will receive a free red-lacquer rice pot or a rattan basket, each worth pounds 75. Just bring this copy of Homes & Property with you.

Book of the week

Coffee-table books are sometimes only that - books that look good on tables.

More Space by Fay Sweet, however, not only looks great but is full of practical solutions to space problems.

Chapters include designing a home office, spare bedrooms and enlarging living areas - in ways to suit every budget.

More Space by Fay Sweet is published by Conran Octopus at pounds 20. Homes & Property readers can get a copy for the special price of pounds 15 (including p&p) by calling 01933 443863. Have your credit card ready and quote reference H673.

Getting in a twist

INTEREST in contemporary design continues to soar but finding new designers and makers is something of a fulltime job, writes Corinne Julius.

Two years ago, Rebecca Southgate and Jemma Clouston realised that a lot of people were interested in contemporary applied art, but didn't know where to buy it or how to commission it. Between them they knew quite a few makers and now, two years later, they know a lot more - 150 to be precise.

The pair act as brokers bringing artists and clients together. They have no permanent gallery, preferring to hold an annual exhibition. This year, 30 of their artists will be showing their work in Living with Twist at the gallery@ Oxo, Oxo Tower. Clients can buy off-the-peg or commission pieces.

While some of their artists love fantasy in their work, others are decidedly practical. Watch out for Ane Christensen's mischievous lemon holder (left) and Ingrid Philips's gorgeous marbled glass (above).

Living with Twist, the.gallery Oxo, Oxo Tower Wharf, Bargehouse Street, SE1. Until 21 April, 11am-6pm daily, 11am-9pm on Fridays.

Shop news

Most down-at-heel pubs these days are eyed up by designers only interested in giving them the gastro-pub makeover, so it makes a change to find one where the designers are doing something more creative. The showroom and studio of design company Unto This Last are based in a oncederelict Victorian pub in Brick Lane. Here, using the latest technology and computercontrolled tools, French owner and designer Olivier Geoffroy is turning out innovative and funkyyet- practical furniture and accessories. We love this quite extraordinary curvy Spline chair (above, pounds 150), for example.

Unto This Last, 230 Brick Lane, E2 (020 7613 0882; www.untothis last.co.uk).

Copyright 2002
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.