Ain’t Concrete Great?
Resolution for the new year: write more often!
Apologies if I haven’t kept this section as updated as I should be, but I’m still digesting Christmas’ dinner(s). I’ve been busy collecting material, so now I promise that you’ll be hearing from me once a week from now on!
My first “come-back” article is a celebration of English and London brutalist architecture. Those grey concrete buildings built in the 60s and the 70s have finally obtained listed status in the UK and are now becoming symbols of an era, of the post-war and post-colonial Britain. A couple of young designers, Hannah Dipper and Robin Farquhar of People will always need plates, have created a complete set of dinnerware with these (in)famous buildings, and called it “Ain’t Concrete Great?”. The Trellick Tower and the Barbican in London, Hoolings College in Manchester, the New Street Signal Box in Birmingham and many others have been depicted in stylish and colourful plates, mugs and even bags for collection…or simply for eating on a piece of architecture!
I find it a great idea to celebrate a part of architectural history that today still isn’t well-seen – some of those buildings are a real eyesore, can’t blame people for that! – but are an idea in space and time, and highly representative of a period of English architectural history.
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