LDF15 >> ‘The Cloakroom’ Installation at The Victoria & Albert Museum, London, by Faye Toogood

During this year’s London Design Festival, visitors to the V&A will be transformed into temporary custodians via Faye Toogood’s new installation, The Cloakroom. We are invited on a journey of discovery through the Museum’s collections, simply by checking out and wearing one of 150 Toogood coats from the Cloakroom.

Situated in the Clore Study Area in the British Galleries, a circular rail dispenses a selection of coats specially designed for the installation in Kvadrat’s Highfield, a hightech compressed-foam textile

“With a shared vision for innovation and boundary pushing, Kvadrat felt like a very natural partnership. The emphasis on function whilst retaining a strong aesthetic and sensitive approach to materiality.” 

‘The sense of uniformity fostered by these garments is subverted by customised mask designs painted on their backs, rendering each one simultaneously individual yet anonymous.

Maps are sewn into each coat, guiding visitors to a further 10 variations on the overcoat theme in diverse locations around the V&A. Each of these are specially commissioned sculptures that interpret and deconstruct specific items from the Museum’s collections.’

The 10 sculptures are created using different, unexpected media, ranging from studded industrial rubber to intricately carved marble (below), drawing on the unparalleled expertise of 10 British manufacturers, both well-established and up-and-coming.

Reflecting and renewing the rich history of design that surrounds them, these individual pieces will be hidden in the galleries ready to be discovered.

Explore the installation for yourself from 10am-5.45pm daily and until 10pm on Friday’s whilst LDF is on. The installation is free to participate in.

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Faye Toogood is a British designer, her furniture and objects demonstrate a preoccupation with materiality and experimentation. All of her pieces are handmade by small-scale fabricators and traditional artisans, with an honesty to the rawness and irregularity of the chosen material.

With an academic training in the theory and practice of fine art, and a vocational background at the forefront of the magazine industry, Toogood approaches product design with a singular and acutely honed eye. Her highly sculptural work, while showing an astute respect for the past, is derived from pure self-expression and instinct.

Kvadrat was established in Denmark in 1968 and has deep roots in Scandinavia’s design tradition. Kvadrat holds the leading position in Europe’s high-quality contemporary textiles market. We supply architects, designers and private consumers across the world with textiles and textile-related products.

The London Design Festival is an annual event, held to celebrate and promote London as the design capital of the world and as the gateway to the international creative community. The London Design Festival this year runs from 19 – 27 September 2015

Images courtesy of Camron PR

LWSY