We are happy to have the guys from Design Marketo back at our space. After the last exhibition Bar Alto nearly exactly 1 year ago, the expectations were high- but we should not be disappointed.

Entrance

This years theme of the exhibition is pepper- the spice of all spices. Why pepper we asked ourselves- well you can find it on every dinner table and it is widely used in perfumery. The exhibition will explore the many different effects of it and many more.

Gallery 1: Opening night

The exhibition includes a collection of limited edition design products, an installation and a series of dinners and workshops all- obviously – inspired by pepper.

Opening night

For this exhibition DesignMarketo’s brief to designers was to create an object inspired by Poivre 23, a scent by maverick French perfume makers Le Labo and renowned French parfumer Nathalie Lorson. These products will be on sale while stocks last. The opening night was a great success with lots of people showing up and entering the world of pepper.

Opening night: Perfume sir?

Come by and get inspired.

At the end of a hot summer of street art, there seemed to be one (flank) wall on Ebor Street looking sorry for itself. Shame as it’s very visible from nearby BOXPARK (grab a burger outside of Bukowski and you’ll see what we mean). Shame no more.

After a quick call from a friendly agent, ABOVE dropped by on his way through London and go look what he did…

Hopefully Dean and Alex and all the crew from ‘C on C’ will approve.

It’s all looking rather international on the block - what with the UK, USA (x2), Australia (via Berlin), Beligium and Germany now presented.

More above ABOVE? See here…

A clash of the titans was avoided by an intelligent Monocle 24 radio debate between Robert Soning, COO of Londonewcastle and Nigel Barker, London Planner & Conservation Officer for English Heritage on the subject of Demolition: When is it time to clear it all away and start afresh?

The debate focuses on those who decide when to list buildings, those who build new, and the artists, activists and architects that are taking action.

NB: “Each owner should be regarded as a custodian.”

RS: “There is tension, but English Heritage is vital in cities like London. Each area and building should be judged on its own merits…”

RS: “There is a long hard process to go through and it’s not for the faint hearted.”

Click here to listen to the full show online.

Click here to subscribe to the show on iTunes.

About The Urbanist

Hosted by editor Andrew Tuck, the show is about the people making city life better, from dedicated mayors to hi-tech businesses. monocle.com

A few emails, some flights from The Fatherland and 4 days back to back work later and Chance Street has never looked so good.

The finished wall

We first met Claudia Walde (aka MadC) back in 2011 when her 700Walls project in Germany caught our eye and she was over in London to launch a graff typographic book for Thames & Hudson at the Pure Evil Gallery. Meanwhile, she kindly stopped by the Londonewcastle Depot (RIP) with her team and did a stunning, though dark piece.

2 years on and with Summer here, the artist has returned and boy has she brightened up the street. The block itself is now a microcosmic who’s who of the Street Art world with ROA, Eine, Reka, Shep Fairey, Stik and now MadC entering the fray.

Chance Street never looked so good

With one wall left and plans afoot already, will any one out there surpass this?!

Street artist Andy Seize has ditched the street for his first gallery show at Londonewcastle Project Space. The show features a range of work from the hard-working artist and genuine nice guy. Crucially it shows the artist’s first forays into 3-dimensional art in the form of custom car models and a huge reproduction of an underground train carriage crash landed in gallery 3.

The tube car is great idea, but leaves one wishing that he’d gone the whole hog and dressed up the space to replicate a platform with mock tube posters and Transport for London signage. With seats inside and some piped in sounds the experience could’ve been truly immersive, but perhaps a bit cheesy too. Whatever, it’s a great way to use the space and get people to walk through the art to experience it in the round.

Regardless, my favourite pieces are the car models (which took the artist 5 weeks each to make by hand and are available to buy for a cool £5,000 each), which really add something to the show - though they are cartoon-like in form, they don’t feature the usual Seize-style artwork in colourful splendour. May they mark a turning point for the artist in the future?

Who knows? What I do know is the show is on now and the bright white walls contrasted with the vibrant artworks makes a change for recent shows which have tended to take themselves quite seriously. So if you want some light relief from looking cool and Shoreditch, head here for some light relief.

The show runs daily until 22nd August. Click here for full details and opening times.