With great excitment we are happy to announce we have moved to our new Clerkenwell offices. We can now be found at Unit G15, Clerkenwell Workshops, 31 Clerkenwell Close, London EC1R 0AT. The new contact number is 0203 176 0961. We welcome visitors but to avoid any disappointment please remember to book an appointment before coming to see us.

We have several of our products to view and have a lovely coffee bar next door which is an added bonus!

The new A-Frame Bench attracted a lot of attention at Clerkenwell

A few days later and we’re still reeling from the success of Clerkenwell Design Week (24-26 May). None of us could have predicted what a rewarding experience it would be; we’ve wasted no time in booking up for next year.

Orders for our A-frame bench are pouring in and we have several larger commissions in the pipeline for outdoor, atrium and indoor spaces. (Watch this blog for more details on some of our new projects for schools, colleges, cafés, architects and workplaces.) Visitors were able to really get to grips with our de-mountable Balcony Table, and we had a lot of interest in our table and bench combinations. ‘I think being able to see how our designs can mix and match really helps peoples’ vision,’ Jennifer explains. ‘We love it when people touch our designs. Then they can really feel the difference between handmade furniture and mass produced items.’

Meeting current contractors and architects face-to-face was a real highlight of the show, as was meeting some of the journalists and stylists who have supported us in their publications throughout the year (click here to see our press clippings). ‘Clerkenwell is the new Christmas,’ says Jennifer. ‘We’ll be back again next year in a prime spot and twice as big.’

As we were deciding what to showcase at Clerkenwell, we kept coming back to furniture for small areas or outdoor spaces with restricted access. An increasing number of our enquiries are from people who need beautiful, contemporary furniture for small gardens or who need to take furniture up stairs or through doors in order to reach their courtyards or balconies. So we’ve taken our designs a stage or two further, creating a new de-mountable Balcony Table (based on our Groove Table) and a matching Angle Bench for Clerkenwell. We’ve also pared down our ever-popular Cube Stool design, making it simpler, lighter, and more versatile.

As well as these prototypes, we’ll also be showing off our new brand new Portal Table: a design commissioned by the BBC and inspired by the classic design of our Portal Benches. Other Jennifer Newman designs available to explore at close quarters at Clerkenwell will be our Gap Desk (in hot pink) and our classic Groove Table in white. Past experience tells us how meaningful it is for people to get ‘hands on’ experience of our designs, and Clerkenwell promises to be a feast for all the senses this year. I hope we’ll see some of you there.

On the final day of the show (Friday 27th), show furniture will be available to buy from the stand as follows:

De-mountable Balcony Table. White 150 x 60 x 75

New Portal Table 150 x 60 x 75 cm high in Metallic Grey, and matching Angle Bench 110 x 40 x 45 cm high.

Groove Table 130 x 70 x 75 cm high in White, and matching Portal Bench, 110 x 40 x 75 cm high.

Gap Desk 105 x 60 x 75 cm high. Hot Pink

White Groove Tables and Portal Benches at Westminster College Main Campus

Earlier this year the studio was  commissioned to supply white Grove Tables and Portal Benches for Westminster College’s new main campus building at Paddington Green.  Jennifer Newman designs are inspired and informed by the best of contemporary architecture, making this commission particularly thrilling as the College building has been designed by Jennifer’s all-time favourite architects.

Schmidt Hammer Lassen is one of Europe’s most significant and well respected architectural organisations. Over the last 20 years the company’s reputation has constantly grown and flourished on the strength of such high-profile projects as the ‘Black Diamond’ library building on Copenhagen’s waterfront and ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, also in Denmark. Closer to home, Westminster College’s new main campus building at Paddington Green has attracted admiration from architectural professionals for the relationship between the inside and outside spaces. We’re proud to be playing a significant part in this fundamental design aspect of the building.

Jennifer Newman Groove Tables and Portal Benches are now in place at this remarkable new setting, situated in outside areas including the roof terraces. The college building is Schmidt Hammer Lassen’s first completed building in the UK and it feels great to be part of it.

BBC Media City: new commission

We’re delighted to announce a contract to supply outdoor furniture for the prestigious Media City UK in Manchester this month. Our Groove Tables (redesigned for the project) and Portal Benches will grace the Media City’s ambitious new development on Manchester’s iconic waterfront. The studio has been commissioned to create a new design specifically for the project – the Portal Table (images available soon).

It’s always an enjoyable creative challenge to be designing something with a specific site, use and demographic in mind. Informed by our underlying design ethos of timeless simplicity, harmony and versatility, the Portal Tables will be a natural complement to our range.

Media City UK, situated over 200 acres which includes residential space as well as businesses, is currently one of the most important architectural developments in the country. The BBC is currently in the process of moving 2,300 staff into its buildings there. Internal furnishings are being  supplied by James Burleigh, and we’re delighted to be complementing his Waldo/45 with our own Portal Tables and Benches.

The O2 Building: sustainability is paramount

A new landmark in Slough – the new O2 building – is to have outside spaces furnished by Jennifer Newman in keeping with its fresh, spacious and flexible architectural design.

Our Groove Tables, Cube Stools and Portal Benches have been commissioned in white for the outside terrace areas of the building. According to the O2 website, one of they key objectives for this new building is sustainability: cutting running costs as well as cutting carbon. Although Jennifer Newman products have relatively high embedded energy, their timeless design, in-built durability, and local manufacture give them strong sustainability credentials. Our furniture is created to exist harmoniously with the built environment it serves, and as sustainability of buildings climbs ever-higher up planners’ agendas, we think our products are well positioned to provide excellent, versatile solutions to furnishing outside areas.

The Slot Desk is made from powder-coated steel and aluminium, and has been produced as de-mountable flat-pack, so it’s easy to store when not in use. A slot runs along the surface of the desk with a cable tray beneath it. This allows cables to be dropped through the slot and to emerge exactly where they’re needed – ensuring the working area is kept clear and free from an unsightly tangle of leads.

The Slot desk measures 120 cm (w) x 60 cm (d) x 75 (h), and is available in three standard colours – Red, Grey and White. However, a full range of colours is available to order.

Aluminium has an indefinite life and can be re-powder-coated at any time, to provide a new look whenever it is required.

Jennifer trained in Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art & Design and pursued a successful career in abstract, colourist art, before turning to furniture design. As an artist she counted Issey Myake, Terence Conran and Ken Shuttleworth among her clients. Jennifer applies the same ethos to her furniture designs as she did to her paintings – that they must ‘look right’ and pass the tests of simplicity, proportion, colour and texture. They must also satisfy functional and durability requirements, such as castors on heavy tables, easy-clean surfaces and neat storage solutions. As such her work is popular with architects, designers and an increasingly style conscious public. This year she has worked with an impressive range of clients that includes Sony, Nokia, Ove Arup and Urban Splash.