These London Designers Created Their Dream Rooms—in Miniature

Dec 22, 20141:25 PM

PriestmanGoode’s Paul Priestman, The Longest Party Table in the World — Close-up of *The Longest Party Table in the World* by PriestmanGoode’s Paul Priestman, who designs high-tech aircraft and bullet trains.
Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

What happens when you ask a group of contemporary British designers to create their dream rooms in miniature? London’s Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood asked a group of London-based designers from a range of backgrounds to bring their design fantasies to life for “Dream House.”

Designers expressed their ideal spaces and fantasy rooms in 1-foot-square wooden boxes, which range from the aspirational to the whimsical to the fantastical. This charming exercise in style accompanies the exhibition “Small Stories,” a historic look at U.K. dollhouses that is on until September before it travels to the U.S.

Paul Priestman of PriestmanGoode created The Longest Party Table in the World. — *The Longest Party Table in the World* was inspired by Priestman’s childhood memory of making pin-hole viewers out of shoe boxes. Using mirrors and reflective surfaces, he creates the illusion of an endless spread of licorice and cake.

Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

2014HG7112 — *Llama Dreams* by textile designer Donna Wilson was designed to look like it could belong in a Wes Anderson movie—a room so full of pattern and color that it would inspire crazy dreams.
Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

*Molly’s Favourite Things* by Molly-Meg Price, an interior designer specialized in children’s spaces who made scaled-down versions of her current favorite pieces by contemporary designers.
Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

My Dream Space, My Toy Box by Design K — *My Dream Space, My Toy Box* by Byung of DesignK is a collage that pays homage to the multidisciplinary designer’s own childhood imagination.

Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Wellbeing Bathroom by Roger Arquar — *Wellbeing Bathroom* by Roger Arquar creates a streamlined fantasy bathroom that includes sculptural brass faucets sprouting from a floor of marble pebbles, a wall of green moss, and a glass ceiling bulb.
Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

2014HG6736 — *If a Budgie Dreamed of Being a Magpie* by furniture designer Bethan Wood, who used scaled down versions of her own work and other trinkets to reflect an idealized version of her home.
Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

2014HG6738 — *lf You Don’t Know Where You Are Going, Any Road Will Get You There* by commercial designers and wayfinding specialists Pearson Lloyd is named after a famous Cheshire Cat quote from *Alice in Wonderland* and designed to promote the notion of getting lost.

Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Room with a View by Nancy Edwards — *Room With a View* by illustrator Nancy Edwards uses iconic London buildings as inspiration for a room that would kindle a child’s imagination.
Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

2014HG6612 — *More Is More* by Clara Designs is based on her belief that you can never have too many prints or patterns in a room. It features scaled-down versions of her own design and miniature family photos and portraits by her 7-year-old daughter.
Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

2014HG6616 — *Bermondsey Studio* by East London Furniture, Jessica Sutton, and Reuben Le Prevost immortalizes the bespoke reclaimed furniture company’s original workspace that is being turned into luxury apartments next year and features miniature versions of their own pieces.

Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

2014HG6623 — *Monsters in the Pantry* by furniture designer Peter Marigold—who used to make DIY monsters in his childhood bedroom—features three creatures having their own dinner party in the butler’s part of an imaginary house.
Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Into the Trees playroom by Pantxika Ospital, Jentil — *Into the Trees Playroom* by Pantxika Ospital, who makes accessories from cork, used only cork and clay to build this room inspired by an uncle who built a wooden slide in his living room for kids stuck inside on rainy days.

Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Wilderness Dreams by Orly Orbach — *Wilderness Dreams* by fine artist Orly Orbach features a small sleeping figure in a cavelike bedroom whose walls are covered with dreamlike drawings of animals and humans.
Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

2014HG6634 — *Not a Magnolia Room* by Dionne Sylvester is inspired by ’70s kitsch, ethnic design, and the sci-fi TV series *Space 1999,* and it expresses her penchant for clashing colors.

Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

*Offline Hideaway* by artist and designer Dominic Wilcox.
Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

*Home Is Bear the Heart Is* by illustrator Helen McGinley (aka Mister Peebles). This bear’s living room features a honey pot collection and a shelf of books including *The Complete Works of Shakesbear*.

Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

*I Always Dreamed of an Underwater Aquarium Bathroom* by illustrator Katy Christianson is a childhood fantasy come to life.
Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

2014HG6627 — *A Night in the Studio* by Ina Hyun K Shin is a miniature rendition of creator of the studio where she makes hand-crafted accessories from suede and leather for Tiny Track.

Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

*Library (A Recent Plan)* by Emma Mawston of Liberty Art Fabrics Interiors used scaled-down Liberty fabrics and hand-woven textiles.

Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Design