The British Council exhibition "British Design X 4", which was shown in March and April 2004, presented the work of of four talented designers working in Britain, who bring together technology, home life and the arts in innovative ways.

Each working in different areas, the designers showed new approaches to the use of technology, with exciting and visually attractive objects and interior spaces. They were Mathias Bengtsson (furniture), Tord Boontje  (lighting and glassware), Sam Buxton (product design) e Daniel Brown (multimedia).

Curated by Emily Campbell, Director of the British Council`s design department in London and Alice Rawsthorn, Director of the Design Museum in London, the exhibition "British Design X 4", was shown in São Paulo at the Museum of the Brazilian Home during March and April 2004.

MATHIAS BENGTSSON
To create his Slice sculptural furniture, Mathias Bengtsson began with a hand drawing which he then translated into a data profile and, using computerised laser-cutting, turned into a series of complex 2-D forms. Together these pieces produced a yet more complex 3-D form: a combination of an organic aesthetic and advanced technology which is central to Bengtsson’s work.

Born in Copenhagen in 1971, he studied furniture design at the Danish Design School before moving to London to enrol at the Royal College of Art. After graduating in 1999, Bengtsson collaborated with fellow RCA students in at the 3 stroke and Design Laboratory. He now works from his own studio and is preparing a solo exhibition which opens in Gothenberg, Sweden later in 2004.

Having applied the Slice concept to different materials, including plywood and aluminium, Bengtsson is now experimenting with a carbon fibre spinning process originally used in the aerospace industry, notably by NASA in the production of rocket fuel tanks and nozzles. This process enables him not only to create chairs and chaises longues in the complex curves of computer graphics but to achieve, as he puts it, “maximum strength from minimum material” as only a fifth of the surface consists of carbon fibre.

TORD BOONTJE
Working on the cusp of design and craft, Tord Boontje combines decorative motifs from nature - flowers and animals and birds - with precision technology and hard industrial materials such as crystal, glass and steel to produce glassware, lighting and furniture.

Born in Enschede in the Netherlands in 1968, Boontje studied industrial design at Eindhoven Design Academy before moving to the UK to enrol at the Royal College of Art, London. After graduating in 1994, he designed and made objects from recycled and ready-made materials, but more recently has harnessed advanced technologies and materials to create contemporary versions of the romantic aesthetic he admires in 17th and 18th century objects.

To make the Wednesday Light, Boontje encircled a standard light bulb with a floral garland of laser-cut stainless steel and his Blossom chandelier for Swarovski is a glittering LED and crystal replica of a bough of blossom. Boontje’s Dartington Crystal glass bowls are formed by pressing a freshly blown, hot bubble of glass against a wooden plank stuck with nails. In his new Inflorescence project he has collaborated with new media artist Andrew Shoben and computer programmer Andrew Allenson to develop a computer programme that produces randomly generated floral drawings.

Tord Boonje’s work is being featured by the Italian furniture manufacturer Moroso in a solo show for the 2004 Salone del Mobile in Milan. At this year’s Salone, he will also be exhibiting the third of his crystal chandeliers for Swarovski. His work with the crystal manufacturer has also included a Christmas tree for the Victoria & Albert Museum in collaboration with the fashion designer Alexander McQueen, and a range of crystal tableware. 2004 also sees the launch of a range of paper products for the LA manufacturer Artecnica and tableware for the German manufacturer Authentics. Boontje created, with the design consultant Ilse Crawford, a “boudoir” for the British Council’s exhibition Hometime in China (2003). Along with three other British designers, he has been commissioned by the British Council to develop a product with the Coopa-Roca collective in Rio de Janeiro which will be showcased in the London department store Selfridges’ “Brazil 40 degrees” promotion in May 2004.

SAM BUXTON
When Sam Buxton needed a new business card rather than make “a boring printed card”, he devised one which reflected his work as a product designer. By deploying a chemical milling process used in the electronics industry, he produced a fine flat stainless steel card which unfolded into a 3-D miniature of himself using a computer. Buxton has since created other miniatures of the same character, MIKRO-Man, in different guises and a MIKRO-House. Like all his work, the MIKRO series combines Buxton’s preoccupation with the possibilities of technology with a talent for narrative drawing.

Born in London in 1972, Sam Buxton studied furniture design at Middlesex University and the Royal College of Art.  After collaborating with fellow RCA graduate and Great Brits exhibitor, Mathias Bengtsson, he has worked on his own and has developed commercial projects for Kenzo and Habitat as well as the MIKRO series – including a full-scale MIKRO environment in laser-cut stainless steel complete with furniture and integrated computer terminals. He is currently a consultant to Vauxhall Motors and Bloomberg and has been shortlisted for Designer of the Year 2004 at London’s Design Museum.

Buxton has ploughed his MIKRO royalties into prototyping other products such as this Electroluminescent Table, which he conceived as an experiment in interaction between furniture and the human body. The table also deploys display technology to demonstrate the degree to which the information surrounding us can be present – or communicated back to us – in objects.

DANIEL BROWN
Like many multimedia designers Daniel Brown discovered the medium - and drew his early inspiration - from the video games he played as a child. He has since sought to refine the frenzied, sometimes brutal aesthetic of those games by creating interactive images which are fluid, playful and as emotionally expressive as music.

Born in Liverpool in 1977, Brown left school early to start work at Amaze, a design company linked to the Learning Methods Unit at the city’s John Moores University, which was then developing early interactive learning tools on CD-Rom and the internet. In 1997, he launched an experimental website - www.noodlebox.com - to exhibit his light, humorous digital animations often inspired by nature.

Living and working in London Brown became multimedia director of the fashion and art website www.showstudio.com - while continuing to create personal pieces for his new gallery site at www.play-create.com. For Great Brits, he unveiled a new Software-As-Furniture concept of sound reactive animations specially programmed to relate to furniture and other architectural features of interior space. By isolating elements of the animation, Daniel Brown releases it from the conventional frame of a rectangular screen and integrates it within specific environments in a new form of "dynamic home-decorating".

Danny Brown has been shortlisted for Designer of the Year 2004 and is participating in the exhibition of that name at London’s Design Museum.