News and Announcements

Burlington House, housing The Royal Academy, was constructed, in its current guise, as a building for six “Learned Societies” (given what has been there – a slight understatement!).

Since 1874, Burlington House has been home to:

• Society of Antiquaries
• Royal Academy of Arts
• Linnean Society
• Geological Society
• Royal Astronomical Society
• Royal Society of Chemistry (formerly The Chemical Society)

Together, the societies contribute to the cultural, historic, natural and scientific cultural environments.

The organisations are exploiting their close proximity to work together on breaking down the barriers between the arts and sciences, improving cross-fertilisation and communication between the disciplines.

A quote from ‘A Brief History of Burlington House’ explains how the building itself contributes in some way:

 The playwright and architect Sir John Vanbrugh (1664-1726) famously wrote that such multi-layered historic buildings have the power to “create lively and pleasing reflections on the remarkable things which have been transacted in them, or the extraordinary occasions of erecting them”. Vanbrugh was suggesting that the experience of visiting historic buildings fires the imagination and conjures up a wealth of new ideas about their builders and occupants. Similarly, through looking at, and understanding, a building such as Burlington House and the diverse organisations that have taken residence there, one can begin to appreciate the motivations and circumstances of those who left their mark upon it.

So you can imagine, shortly after we created our Periodic Table, both as a work of art and a starting point for our companies vision, and were subsequently asked by The Royal Society of Chemistry to donate one to them, we were understandably humbled but excited. So Higgs & Crick have been able to in some small way leave our mark on Burlington House, but it will never be the same amount that it has made upon us. The most incredible totem to design, science and art in one location in the worlds greatest city!

UPDATE: 

We have recently donated a second Periodic Table to the RSC for their offices in Cambridge. We proudly installed in in 2019 and look forward to other collaborations with this fine British institution.

If you find yourself at Burlington House do stop in at the Royal Society of Chemistry to take a look at our Periodic Table. They also have an excellent digital version which can be found on their site: http://www.rsc.org.

Over Christmas we were lucky enough to spend some time researching for our US launch.

Abbot Kinney, just off Venice Beach, LA, has a real mix of independent boutique shops and cafes, though they are slowly but surely being priced out of the market as rents soar. Its still worth a visit to get a feel for the movement of trends, as most of the retail owners have their ears firmly to the ground. Whilst we will be launching our first products in Seattle in 2015/16, it’s still worth going to LA for a few days if you are on the West coast. If you’ve not been before make sure you get some insider information about where to go and what to do – LA can seem like a charmless, sprawling mass if you don’t know where you’re going, and an amazing vibrant and fun city if you do!

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One of the final stages of the Chomsky Chair involves the upholstery. The latest order to be shipped to the United States is bound for Los Angeles and the client’s chosen leather has just been picked and cut. The button drawing is completed and after a final oil and polish, the chair is packed for its long journey west.

The new Taschen book: Understanding the World

We were very flattered but not surprised when Taschen approached us to see if they could include a version of our Tree of Life print in their new stunning coffee table book, Understanding the World. The image is one depicting the evolutionary tree starting 200 million years ago (humans are shown as a mere speck on the right side of the tree!). We helped them format the image so it could be used as one of the select diagrams to be included as a fold out poster. Taschen certainly did it justice and I am sure you will agree that whilst it is beautiful, the best way to appreciate this artwork is in a frame and on your wall.

Some of the other amazing diagrams and illustrations from this stunning book are shown here. To get more info visit: http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/design/all/03411/facts.understanding_the_world_the_atlas_of_infographics.htm

Milan is a fantastic city at the best of times, whether visiting the Duomo and other beautiful buildings, attending any of the Fashion Weeks, or being lucky enough to visit during one of their all night festivals. Of course anyone with any interest in furniture attends the Salone Di Mobile, the worlds most important furniture fair.

Due to an airline pilots strike… or was it the baggage handlers…?! we had to fly into Turin and take the train. We spent 2 full days walking nearly 30 kilometres round the Salon Del Mobile this year and other than coming home with holes in our Grenson’s we were not disappointed. It was superbly organised and we were very impressed with many of the stands but particularly by the chairs showcased by Maruni Wood Industry. We fell in love with the beautiful Hiroshima chair and the poor stand attendees had to wrestle their only walnut version from Will’s arms. We will be getting one for the office!

An interesting thing regarding this years Salone del Mobile are the number of fashion brands that are starting to join in the party. Many of the big names such as Versace and Giorgio Armani participates in some way during the five-day fair, along with smaller brands keen to take advantage of the many opportunities that open up here. It is a must for anyone interested in design, whatever field you’re in.

Though it take a few days to cover the whole fair (a great deal of the really interesting stuff happens in town away from the fair itself), with a bit of prior planning you can achieve all you need to whilst finding time for a bit of fun. A great restaurant which is out the way and in the backstreets (you will feel you’re in totally the wrong place… but you won’t be) is the two Michelin starred Il Luogo di Aimo e Nadia. We had the tasting menu which was utterly sublime, and luckily a knowledgeable sommelier on hand – tasting menus are, of course, exceptionally hard to pair!