London’s best design events: this January don't miss these interiors sample sales, antiques fairs and exhibitions

From sample sales with massive discounts at interior design emporiums to shows on John Ruskin and Future Homes, January is packed with must-see events.
By Manuel Canovas at Colefax and Fowler: the chair is upholstered in Balleroy fabric in rose, normally £84 per metre — sale price £28. Wallpaper, also Balleroy in rose, usually £69 per roll, is £19
Barbara Chandler14 January 2019

WINTER LIGHTS FESTIVAL

January 15-26 at Canary Wharf Estate

Dark evenings vanish as more than 21 light installations turn commercial Canary Wharf into an outdoor after-hours art gallery. Adapting a common theme of sustainability and the environment, an impressive clutch of international artists are using light and technology for installations, on buildings and even on water.

See glowing droplets form words taken from a live newspaper feed. Let sensors map your emotions on to a water spray in the dock. Wonder at marching elephants, rhinos and a huge whale silhouette — a comment on endangered species — while pulsating hearts at the base of a skyscraper express the power of love.

Fast-food trucks offer roast meats, pizzas, and much more.

Not to miss at the festival is Prismatica, above, by RAW Design, which turns heads with the countless colourful reflections made by its prisms. See city life in every colour of the rainbow.

SAMPLE SALE

Until Saturday at Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, Lots Road, SW10

Bag a bargain from more than 30 showrooms in the glass-domed centre of luxury and design, where samples and display models are being sold with reductions of up to 70 per cent. Expect classic and contemporary furniture, fabrics and wallpapers, lighting, hardware and more. Also famed for bargains is the one-day Colefax and Fowler sale on January 18 at Lindley Hall, Elverton Street, SW1. Find fabrics and wallpapers at up to 70 per cent off, ex-display furniture, curtains, cushions and accessories.

THE WINTER DECORATIVE ANTIQUES & TEXTILES FAIR

January 22-27 at Battersea Evolution, Battersea Park, SW11 (020 7616 9327). Tickets £10 on the door, or register at decorativefair.com for free tickets. Free shuttle from Sloane Square

Held three times a year, the Decorative Antiques and Textiles Fair is loved by decorators and homeowners alike, all seeking that special one-off “with provenance”. Antique, vintage and retro treasures from 150 dealers include furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, paintings, sculpture and garden ornaments. Throwing a party, or simply entertaining friends? Designed to inspire, the foyer display celebrates “the cocktail hour” and Fifties and Sixties nightspots.

From left to right: Stevens & Williams; Whitefriars; Moser, Ernest Léveillé; Priced from £100 to £400 at Geoffrey Stead

We love this selection of 20th-century glass and crystal vases, above. See also a Sixties Vicke Lindstrand for Kosta glass bowl and vase, from Newsum Antiques of Winchcombe, Cheltenham.

JOHN RUSKIN: THE POWER OF SEEING

January 26 to April 22 at Two Temple Place, WC2. Closed Tuesdays, open late on Wednesdays until 9pm. Free entry

John Ruskin (1819-1900) was an intellectual giant — idealist, thinker, artist, critic and educator — and he believed an awareness of beauty was an essential tool for social reform.

Eclectic: Ruskin's own collection of artefacts and minerals

Celebrating this great Victorian’s bicentenary, this show combines Ruskin’s own eclectic collection of paintings, drawings, artefacts and minerals, pictured, first assembled for his educative Sheffield museum, with more than 190 other works, augmented by commissions from contemporary artists and designers. The ideal setting is this magnificent neogothic mansion, open to the public only for such special events and well worth a visit in its own right.

HOME FUTURES

Until March 24 at Design Museum, 224-238 Kensington High Street, W8

This huge spread of products and concepts from the last century brings visions and dreams of home life, expressed in drawings, film, models and furniture. Older design buffs may remember many of them — but which actually became part of our lives?

Design classic: Gufram's 1970 Bocca lips sofa

See, for example, how the early modernist vision of the home as a machine has morphed into today’s internet-enabled domesticity, and how early ideas of fitted furniture have evolved into extreme minimalism. You can’t miss Gufram’s 1970 Bocca lips sofa, above.

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