UU_Shop

UU_Shop

Wednesday 22 December 2010

Season's Greetings

We wish you a great holiday season and we are looking forward to a new year full of great events to share with all of you! Lots of love andrea & patrizia

Friday 3 December 2010

PRIVATE VIEW_Party

Thank you very much to everyone for making the Private View an enjoyable and memorable party!

Sadly is over, after all the effort and long preparations
Sunday evening we wrapped up our main event of this season: The private view of Our Collective Show,
Urban Upholstery_Events!...
but not fear the exhibition will continue till the 31st of January 2011!!!
It was simply a great fun to celebrate two years of successful collaborations with such extraordinary people and creativity!
But none of this would have been possible without the support from guests, friends, partners and most important our designers, So our biggest Thank you goes to:
all our guests for coming to the party, despite the freezing cold and tube strike (...another one!)
the exhibitors: Madeleine, Annette, Dawn, Laura, Ian and Susan for their constant support, for showing their amazing works with us, bringing lots of creativity, charm and style to our showroom...
and also for baking and offering their favourite dishes at the PV!
A special Thanks goes to:
Attilia, Andrea's mother for baking 3 typical savoury cakes from Liguria....
feeding everyone!!!
to our Partners: YSH for offering very generous goody bags to all of our guests... at the end of the day everyone was very happy to take home free sweets and drinks!
Niko B. Organic Chocolates for amusing us with the spicy smell and taste of his chocolate soup (with a hint of Rum, it was simply a pleasure) and his delicious range of chocolate.
And at last but not least a warm thank you to our friend and special guest: Experimenter En Colour for his extraordinary live show...sowing machine, scanned fabric and various tools from our museum of found objects, were just few of the elements mixed to create a sound specific performance.

But for all of you that missed all this
...the fun is not all over yet, we will be back next weekend for two special events offering you the chance to view and buy our works and meet our designers at the:
  • Hidden Art Open Studios Sat & Sun 4-5/12/10 12:00-6:00 pm at Urban Upholstery, 21 De Beauvoir Road, N1 5SF for the full list of open studios please check Hidden Art web-site.
  • Eco Design Christmas Fair,Saturday 4th December 10am – 5pm & Sunday 5th December 10am – 4pm at the Assembly Hall, Islington Town Hall, Upper Street, London N1 2UD, Entry fee: £2 Concessions: £1, for a full list of exhibitors please check the Eco Design Fair web-site.


























Thursday 25 November 2010

Special Guest: Audio Architecture

"Experimenter en Couleur" of Audio Architecture will be showcasing their work at our forthcoming Private Event held on Sunday the 28th at 14:30!
They are a group of artists specialised on innovation and emerging technologies and for the occasion they will present "Testing The Wheel", their first recorded work after 10 years of research and experimentation.
When we invited them to play at our event they immediately responded with an idea to make a specific work for us, related to what we are doing. Scanning fabrics and who knows what else to compose a site specific track...!

Their music is inspired by sounds recorded in space to express the multidimensionality and physicality of everything that surrounds us.
Materials react in different ways because they have a specific molecule structure that moves when forces or energies are applied or hit them. They absorb and reflect light to appear
to our naked eyes with a specific colour and they express a different feeling to our touch.
Sound travels in a similar way to light, hitting any object around us and assuming a specific value when crosses them.
We are living in a dynamic world where subsystems transform energies and they
constantly stimulate our perception.
Creating spaces means understanding the potentialities of every material and keeping into account all the elements such as sound, light, forces in order to
generate a complex system of reactions that eventually will please our senses with their aesthetics...

In the mean time:
Testing The Wheel
These early compositions aim to refine and define several methods in generative music making, to prove the indefinite moods and experiences possible and understand more of how the listener is stimulated by such unfamiliar territory.
The compositions break from the barriers of scale and timing associated
with traditional music to allow the freedom to explore new possibilities. All use generative tools in their music creation and are the outcome of self-made audio and visual synthesisers coupled to different stimuli. Control comes in varying degrees from the rules set at the beginning of the development process.
Methods for playing the machines vary greatly according to project. Unexpected outcomes are celebrated and essential to the process.
Listen to Testing The Wheel at the Experimenter En Colour Shop











Tuesday 9 November 2010

Eco-Design Christmas Fair 2010

Designed as an all-in-one sustainable and ethical shopping spree, the Eco-Design Christmas Fair returns for it's seventh year, providing a unique retail platform for the UK's most forward-thinking designers whose work is centred on environmentally considerate techniques.

The event promises an attractive and hassle-free shopping experience for those who wish to buy contemporary, fair and friendly products - perfect for a kooky, conscious, design-savvy crowd; one of the most stylish and inspiring sustainable events in town.

Come along and discover a fantastic range of quality Christmas gifts and gadgets, home accessories, fashion, footwear, jewellery, furniture, lighting, books, technology, baby clothes, toys and many more top British and Fairtrade sustainable products.

With prices to suit everyone, the Eco-Design Fair offers a rare chance to meet the designer/makers and chat about their challenges and criteria.

To add to the festive atmosphere, they'll have a little live music, plus textile recycling workshops:

Festive bunting run by the superb Seaside Sisters: http://seasidesisters.co.uk/about/

plus your chance to make your very own Festive Youdoodoll: http://www.youdoodoll.co.uk/home/ open to all ages & abilities. Bring along a small photo of yourself (or a freind), and we'll have the talented Eco Annie on hand to help you create your doll.

They'll have a refreshments area with organic, locally-sourced nibbles and hot spiced cider.

Venue: Assembly Hall, Islington Town Hall, Upper Street, Islington, N1 2UD

Opening Times: Saturday 4th December 10am-5pm & Sunday 5th December 10am-4pm

Entry £2. Concessions £1.

For a full list of exhibitors and workshops please see the "Eco Design Fair" website:

http://ecodesignfair.co.uk/christmas_fair.html

Thursday 4 November 2010

Our Partners






We are proud to introduce you to our partners for our forthcoming Private View the 28/11/10 from 14:30 and for the Hidden Art Open Studios the 27-28/11/10 & 4-5/12/10, both will be held at Urban Upholstery shop.

YSH London. A textile, fashion and interiors online magazine, offering students, young designers and businesses the latest news and trends happening in London. They have a great website full of interesting and exciting information. You can also register your business in their directory for a small yearly fee. To find out more, please visit: www.yshlondon.com

Niko B. Organic Chocoates!
I love chocolate and I am one of this person that doesn't understand why some people doesn't,
but I am very fussy about it, it has to be very good otherwise I won't eat it.
Well if you try the chocolate from Niko B. you won't ever eat most of the chocolate that is out there...
I met Susan, Anthony and the yang Nicholas at friends house and they cooked an amazing dinner were food complemented fantastically their chocolate, it was heaven! I have to say it brought me back in time, I was expecting my mother coming to the room and tell me off because I was eating too much chocolate...My childhood hero was Pippi Longstocking and I always dreamt to be in a room full of sweets, I am suspecting that there are few people out there that shares the same dream?...Well that day was like a dream coming true. Their chocolates are very good and I can't wait to try some more at PV. You will have a taste... and you can buy some more, maybe?
Checkout their website: www.nikobchocolates.com

Our event is open until the end of January 2011, but don't miss the chance to meet the designers during the two weekends of the Open Studios!




Hidden Art is an organisation based in East London that supports designer-makers and designers to expose and sell their products to a wider audience.
They do this through promoting and supporting members to place their products both nationally and internationally through international trade fairs, the Hidden Art E-Shop, global press coverage, Hidden Art Awards and their annual pre-Christmas Open Studios event.
Hidden Art Open Studios is now in its 17th year, and is aimed at helping designer-makers make sales direct to the public in the lead up to Christmas.



Saturday 18 September 2010

URBAN UPHOLSTERY_EVENTS! II Anniversary-Collective

10th of October 2010 - 31st of January 2011
Mon-Fri 11:00 - 18:00 Sat 11:00 - 15:00
at 21 DeBeauvoir Road N1 5SF London
Private view the 28th of November at 14:30
Hidden Art Open Studios 27-28/11/10 & 4-5/12/10
opening times: Sat - Sun 12:00 - 18:00, except for Sun the 28th (Private View)
Tel +44 207 2759436, info@urbanupholstery.com

"Urban Upholstery" is celebrating two years of successful collaborations with local designers, crafts-makers and artists! For this special occasion, we are teaming up with the companies that have been working closely to us as AtaDesigns, Bird In The Hand, Elli Popp, Madeleine Boulesteix, Secondnature and Woosa Woosa.
We are proud to present a show of inspiring new products and fantastic ideas for the home such as rugs, sculptures, furniture, fabric, ceramics, wallpaper and chandelier.
Come and meet the designers during the Hidden Art Open Studios!

Sunday 1 August 2010

Escapism_Summer 2010

Urban Upholstery will be away from the 7th to the 30th of August 2010.
Every summer we going to Italy to work on a big scale
project of restoring an old house, recycling everything it is available and sourcing locally materials that we can't find around.
The house seats
in the inside land of Liguria in a small town called Rio that counts 35 inhabitants. We love to be part of such small community, they are all very friendly and generous with us.
It is our escape from our busy/business life and it works pretty well: hard work, excellent fresh growing food, long walks in the mountains, swimming at the local river to avoid the overcrowded Italian beaches, and most of all surviving to all the needs and requirements that a comfortable life in the city is imposing to us.
Well, nice weather is a guarantee ... it's hot and sunny all the time...a lots of wild life around, we are literally sharing the house with Victor_the red squirrel and Pippi_a family of bats. They live in the attic and we all meet at night or in the early morning for breakfast...When is all quite around a family of wild boars (the little ones weight 70 kilos each) comes close to the house and eats the walnuts that falling from our trees.
Every year friends and volunteers join us in this adventure to make it even more special...Big Thanks to everyone that up to now has contributed to this fantastic project.

We will come back at work the 31st of August with a program full of events: Collective_exhibition in our showroom, open studios and Eco Design Christmas Fair.
We are very happy of the success that our
upcycling concept and program of exhibitions have collected in the last two years and we will work even harder to make it more successful!
Have a great summer!
Andrea & Patrizia

Monday 24 May 2010

SECONDNATURE AT URBAN UPHOLSTERY

A new exciting exhibition has started at Urban Upholstery! Till the end of September 2010 we will showcase a selection of unique and reclaimed steel sculptures by Secondnature. Their contemporary wall and garden pieces are inspired by natural forms focusing on silhouettes, shadows and movement of leaf, branch and light.
Secondanature is a creative partnership between graphic designer Ian Turnock and fine artist Susan Laughton. They cross the boundaries of art and design to create innovative and distinctive abstract sculpture.
Their unconventional approach combines a graphic designers' eye for line and pattern with a fine artists feel for materials and texture. Traditional and digital drawings and photographs are used as starting point.
Elements of chance and play are then used to digitally create organic shapes. These are refined, developed
and then water jet cut into the metal thus transforming the drawn line into a tangible object.
They work with stainless steel, aluminium, copper and reclaimed mild steel, using traditional and modern
finishing techniques to industrial polishing.
heir