Design
21.02.12 - Facebook likes Canteen chairs
Status update: The social media bohemoth likes our Canteen Utility Chair - the ones found in all our branches – so much, it just requested around 500 for its Californian headquarters.
It was a big order for the company, Very Good and Proper, that designs and builds the chairs. And as it’s now been shipped, as they say in the US, Very Good and Proper wanted us to let you know it is now free to help you, if you’d also like some Canteen Utility Chairs for your home or office. They say they can’t guarantee a massive IPO valuation to go with it, but you never know.
02.02.12 - What’s your design of the year?
We think great design matters. If you do too, then you’ll know about the Oscars of the design world, the Design Musuem’s Design of the Year.
Up for a gong are the Olympic Velodrome, the BBC homepage and the 787 Dreamliner, not to mention this nautical and nice Harbour Chair.
It was designed and manufactured by Very Good and Proper, the product design company behind the Canteen chair and table.
Join the conversation on twitter using the hashtag #DOTY and by following @DesignMueseum and @VGoodandProper. And if you need any furntiture for your home or business, have a look at Very Good and Proper’s new website, too.
21.10.11 - Dezeen and London Design Guide and Very Good and Proper
Canteen Covent Garden has already played host to a few interesting events, including the preview of not one, but three, creative endeavours.
In the London Design Guide 2012/13, Max Fraser reviews the capital’s 138 finest design destinations, from retailers to restaurant and hotels.
No less inspiring is Dezeen’s book of ideas, packed with 116 from architecture, interiors and design that have made the biggest impression on its editor, Marcus Fairs.
Finally, the Covent Garden Club Chair from Very Good & Proper, the product design agency responsible for the Canteen Utility Chair, was specially commissioned for Canteen Covent Garden.
You can see more photos of our design preview event here.
15.09.10 - Stefi Orazi’s limited edition Canteen postcards
Until you can wear an edible wristband that’ll ‘check you into’ a Canteen branch, tweet your location and tell people you ‘like’ our food by updating your facebook account automatically, we’re supplying you with good, old-fashioned postcards to help spread the Canteen word.
And what beautiful postcards they are, too.
Look out for these pocket-sized masterpieces from illustrator Stefi Orazi in any one of our branches from Saturday.
Pop a stamp on them and send to friends you’d like to share a Canteen meal with.
Or just put them on your wall because they look great.
10.09.10 - MoMA’s got a brand new knob
The Canteen Hook and Knob that features in all our London branches can now be seen in the Museum of Modern Art in New York, too. In its shop!
Fly over to the Big Apple and pick one up for forty bucks or save yourself the airfare and get it for £19.50 from twentytwentyone.
Powder-coated back plates protect the wall from dirt and cover fixing marks.
Only trouble is, they look so pretty, you’ll never really want to hang anything from them.
You can buy them from Very Good and Proper, and also internationally at Remodlista and MoMastore.
08.09.10 - Design Guide cycle tour
Over at London Design Guide, our good chum, Max Fraser, has just finished a series of sell out bike tours of London Design Festival.
In association with urban bike brand, Tokyobike, he guided riders to a surprise selection of exhibitions and events.
And when all the excitement and exercise was done, Max brought journalists and aficionados to lunch at Canteen, where they were delighted to discover bits of grub in amongst all the design.
Go to London design guide to buy your copy of the book, you can also visit Tokyobike by clicking here.
08.07.10 - Canteen postcards, by Stefi Orazi
We’re currently working with artist, Stefi Orazi. Or rather she’s doing the working and we’re doing the looking-on-in-amazement while she creates wonderful illustrations of our restaurants and animals (yes, animals) for postcards, as well as for a little surprise we’ve got coming up for little people.
If you’re a fan of modernist architecture, you might have heard of Stefi already.
If not, find out more about her and her work here.
23.06.10 - Canteen scoops Restaurant and Bar Design Award
It’s pretty hard to write while you’re doing backflips but here goes.
Have you been crossing your fingers for us since we told you last month we were nominated in the Restaurant and Bar Design Awards?
If you have then thank you because on Tuesday, 22 June, 2010, we beat Wahaca and four other restaurants who’d employed architects and designers, and one other in-house team, to collect the award for best design in the multiple restaurant category.
Thank you judges. Also thank you of course to Windmill Furniture, Very Good and Proper, Twentytwentyone, Robert Dudley Best, Ernest Race, Hudson Powell and everyone in our in-house team who helps make sure our simple, honest designs reflect the quality of our food.
19.05.10 - Hang on a minute, meet Very Good and Proper’s hook and knob
Talking of design – we’ve just been nominated for a Restaurant and Bar Design Award – here’s some more good news.
It’s not just Canteen’s customers who benefit from comfortable, good-looking and functional interiors.
Their coats, hats and scarves get somewhere groovy to hang out too.
Twentytwentyone has been stocking Very Good and Proper’s Canteen hook and knob for some time now.
And we’ve just heard that MoMA (New York’s Museum of Modern Art) will be taking up this simple, colourful and functional item as well.
A nice little bit of Canteen’s British design for the Big Apple. Marvellous.
12.05.10 - Canteen nominated for Restaurant and Bar Design Award
We can’t believe you haven’t heard.
We’ve reached the last six from 23 entries into the ‘multiple restaurant’ category in the Restaurant and Bar Design Awards.
The prize-giving takes place in London on 22 June. So cross your fingers for us until our next newsletter, will you?
We’re chuffed because it’s nice to be recognised (unless you’re on the run from the law, which we’re not).
It’s even nicer to be recognised not just for our food but for something else we’re passionate about – design.
In fact, we’re as focussed on how our restaurants look, feel and work, as we are about how our food tastes.
We’d go as far as to say our design philosophy, like that of our grub, is all about being democratic and welcoming, celebrating British craftsmanship and using simple, honest materials.
Winning design? You decide next time you visit. And please do let us know what you think – we’d love to hear from you.
Find out more about the awards and see who we’re up against here.