{"id":621,"date":"2025-09-18T10:00:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T10:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/classicsofabed.com\/?p=621"},"modified":"2025-09-23T09:50:43","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T09:50:43","slug":"charlotte-taylors-debut-ldf-exhibition-allows-female-design-to-stand-for-itself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicsofabed.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/18\/charlotte-taylors-debut-ldf-exhibition-allows-female-design-to-stand-for-itself\/","title":{"rendered":"Charlotte Taylor's debut LDF exhibition allows “female design to stand for itself”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Soft<\/div>\n

As part of the London Design Festival<\/a>, Charlotte Taylor<\/a> has curated an exhibition of collectible design<\/a> pieces from almost 40 women creatives. Here, she explains why it’s not just a “female design show”.<\/span><\/p>\n

The designer’s debut show at the festival, called Soft World, Sharp Edges<\/a>, takes over two interconnected rooms inside The Lavery<\/a> \u2013 a historic Georgian townhouse that forms part of the Brompton Design District<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As well as launching her own pieces, Taylor<\/a> has brought together selected works by 36 international designers staged as a domestic scene strewn with books, ashtrays and glittery cigarettes.<\/p>\n

\"Soft
Soft World, Sharp Edges by Charlotte Taylor is on display at The Lavery<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

All of the designers in Taylor’s exhibition are women \u2013 a fact that she acknowledges to be as crucial as it is irrelevant.<\/p>\n

“When you say it’s a female design show, it kind of defeats the purpose of doing it,” she told Dezeen. “And it feels negative in a way because you want female design to stand for itself.”<\/p>\n

In fact, Taylor explained that she did not set out to do an “all women” show.<\/p>\n

\"Charlotte
The exhibition features works by 37 designers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rather, she was looking for pieces that piqued her interest, which became a list of predominantly women designers by chance.<\/p>\n

“I wasn’t looking specifically for women, it just came very naturally because there is such a wealth of incredible design,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I really felt like this would be a great opportunity to spotlight purely female designers. I still don’t feel like it’s done that much, which is a huge shame.”<\/p>\n

\"Ceiling
Mo Tong Yang is showing a decorative ceiling hanging<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Soft World, Sharp Edges<\/a> is anchored by a bespoke bed \u2013 the first created by Taylor’s studio \u2013 made from a duo of mild, rolled stainless steel platforms and topped with rumpled bedsheets.<\/p>\n

“I’ve been very interested in domestic space, so that drew me straight away to the bedroom,” she explained. “It feels like the most intimate and vulnerable space in the home,” she added.<\/p>\n

Crafted in collaboration with Australian designer Sasa Barnes<\/a>, the bed features a slit on its side that a removable mirror or a television on stilts can slot into. Taylor’s studio is currently working on developing a lamp and a side table as additional attachments.<\/p>\n

\"Table
Yoonjeong Lee’s sculptural table lamp features in the curation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Adaptable furniture is a theme that runs throughout the exhibition, which will change in appearance throughout its run at The Lavery as Taylor rearranges its contents like a real home.<\/p>\n

Among the pieces on show is a sculptural table lamp by South Korean designer Yoonjeong Lee<\/a>, crowned by a foldable paper shade that’s held in place with only a perfectly sharpened pencil.<\/p>\n

Rotterdam-based Forever Studio<\/a> contributed a rectilinear sconce lamp covered with a translucent resin plate that can be removed from its aluminium base and replaced with a different colour.<\/p>\n

\"Stool
Cara Campos has made a stool from bent bike parts<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In another corner, British designer Amelia Stevens<\/a>‘s sleek metal ashtray was placed atop an angular table by Irish designer Cara Campos<\/a> made from bent bike parts. Close by, a silvery stool by French interior architect Pauline Leprince<\/a> features a mirrored component that allows users to use the seat as an alternative dressing table.<\/p>\n

True to the show’s name, its denser materials are balanced by softer pieces, including a decorative textile by London-based Mo Tong Yang<\/a>. Suspended from the ceiling, the work is made from a kite-shaped cut of Chinese linen embellished with hand-sewn dragonflies.<\/p>\n

\"Charlotte
All of the designers in Taylor’s show are women<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Taylor also noted a “queer undertone” in the exhibition, as seen in a selection of old Hollywood noir films curated by Spanish writer and filmmaker Elena Gallen<\/a>, which will play throughout the exhibition with sound design by Kaifeng-born Yu Su<\/a> and define various “acts” staged across the show.<\/p>\n

“It’s not communicated [in the exhibition], but to have six or seven queer female designers in one show is quite uncommon, I think,” she considered.<\/p>\n

“Some people will really pick up on that and feel represented, or learn, and for other people it might go completely over their head, and that’s fine. They might like a chair.”<\/p>\n

\"Lighting
Lighting plays a key role<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Taylor said she aims to incorporate “all the senses in a space”. This is reflected in the shifting layout of the show \u2013 a technique she trialled during Copenhagen’s 3 Days of Design<\/a> this summer, where she slept, ate and hosted friends within her Home from Home installation<\/a> during the design week.<\/p>\n

“I think that’s what really takes the experience to another level,” she said. “It can be things you don’t necessarily notice, but leave you feeling like you had a real, whole experience.”<\/p>\n