Darkroom patterns furniture and accessories with Superstudio's "anti-design" grids
London Design Festival 2014: design boutique Darkroom looked to grid patterns used in the 1960s and 70s by radical Italian architecture firm Superstudio to inform its latest collection of products and in-store installations (+ slideshow).
![Darkroom for London Design Festival 2014](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/darkroom-london-design-festival-2014_dezeen_468_0.jpg)
A neon window display by set designer Anna Lomax and a chromatographic series of paintings by artist Marcus James greet visitors to Darkroom's central London shop.
![Tiler Table at Darkroom for London Design Festival 2014](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/Tiler-Table-darkroom-london-design-festival-2014_dezeen_468_0.jpg)
The installations were created to complement the store's new Off The Grid range of products and accessories based on work by Superstudio – a radical architecture studio that championed the motifs in the 1960s and 1970s.
![Tiler Table at Darkroom for London Design Festival 2014](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/Tiler-Table-darkroom-london-design-festival-2014_dezeen_468_1.jpg)
"As huge admirers of Superstudio, we've set ourselves the challenge of interrogating their theory that a grid can be deemed 'anti-design' – by designing a complete collection based on grids," said Darkroom's founders.
![Tiler Table at Darkroom for London Design Festival 2014](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/Tiler-Table-darkroom-london-design-festival-2014_dezeen_468_2.jpg)
The collection includes a series of tables, covered in over 3,000 Italian glass tiles.
![Planters at Darkroom for London Design Festival 2014](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/planters-darkroom-london-design-festival-2014_dezeen_468_1-e1411384133685.jpg)
The mosaics create a grid over the surfaces of each piece, but are used in different colour patterns to create variation across the range.
![Grid plate at Darkroom for London Design Festival 2014](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/grid-plate-darkroom-london-design-festival-2014_dezeen_468_1.jpg)
Cubes with faces hand-painted in primary colours and edged in black have open tops to be used as plant pots.
![Grid plate at Darkroom for London Design Festival 2014](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/grid-plate-darkroom-london-design-festival-2014_dezeen_468_2.jpg)
A set of plates is also painted by hand, decorated with a simple pattern of intersecting perpendicular lines laid over coloured shapes.
![Grid Plate at Darkroom for London Design Festival 2014](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/grid-plate-darkroom-london-design-festival-2014_dezeen_468_0.jpg)
New knitted, quilted, woven and printed textiles were designed by Darkroom, London studio Shepherd England and Dutch designers Febrik to fit in with the theme.
![Manhole cushions at Darkroom for London Design Festival 2014](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/Manhole-cushions-darkroom-london-design-festival-2014_dezeen_468_1.jpg)
Geometric jewellery by London designer Henriette Lofstrom accompanies the larger furniture pieces and fashion accessories.
![Manhole cushions at Darkroom for London Design Festival 2014](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/Manhole-cushions-darkroom-london-design-festival-2014_dezeen_468_3.jpg)
"We've questioned what even constitutes a grid by taking it into three-dimensional formats," said the Darkroom team.
![Manhole cushions at Darkroom for London Design Festival 2014](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/Manhole-cushions-darkroom-london-design-festival-2014_dezeen_468_0.jpg)
"This has allowed us to explore the effects of materials and textures on the rigidity of gridded patterns, creating fluidity and charming imperfections across a collection of decorative and functional pieces."
![Henriette Loffstrom at Darkroom for London Design Festival 2014](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/henriette-loffstrom-cufflinks-darkroom-london-design-festival-2014_dezeen_468_0.jpg)
Darkroom is located at 52 Lamb's Conduit Street, London, WC1N 3LL. The collection was launched during this year's London Design Festival, which took place across the British capital last week.
![Henriette Loffstrom cufflinks at Darkroom for London Design Festival 2014](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/henriette-loffstrom-cufflinks-darkroom-london-design-festival-2014_dezeen_468_1.jpg)
Photography is by Jess Bonham.