GRAND DESIGNS MAGAZINE OCT 08

As part of the ‘Great Brits’ issue of Grand Designs Magazine, Absolute Zero Degrees’ Mark and Keith, appear in the ‘Brit List’ – top ten ‘Britain’s Hottest talent’.

Article reads:
“ABSOLUTE ZERO DEGREES
THE STORY SO FAR
Mark Hampshire and Keith Stephenson established Absolute Zero Degrees in 2001. Places and Spaces, the British interiors store, commissioned a range of wallpapers in 2004 that was immediately successful. Later, friends asked the duo to come up with inspiring wallpapers for kids, and the Mini Moderns Playtime collection was born, which was immediately picked up by Heal’s. Mini Moderns has since expanded into a range of interior products for kids and kidults including fabrics, cushions and tableware. Recently, the Southbank Centre commissioned them to produce wallpaper featuring the iconic Fifties Net and Ball pattern, originally designed for the carpet in the Royal Festival Hall.

INSPIRATION
Keith hails graphic designers Paul Rand, best known for his design logos for IBM and UPS, and Lance Wyman, as pioneers in their use of graphics for corporate logos and identity. ‘They’ve expanded the expectation of what graphics can do. Nowadays it’s common to pigeonhole designers, but in the Fifties and Sixties it didn’t use to be like that.’ says Keith. Textile designer Lucienne Day and the 1951 Festival of Britain have also had a profound impact on their pattern-led designs.

IN THE PIPELINE
Apart from expanding their Mini Moderns collection, Absolute Zero degrees are producing an exciting range of DIY kids dresses based on their Mini Moderns wallpaper prints for Clothkits. ‘The cloth patterns are printed with the design and sent out to the customer to make the dresses to size. Clothkits also offers a make up service if you are not keen to sew yourself.

YOU MAY NOT KNOW
The Net and Ball carpet was created by architects Peter Moro and Leslie Martin, inspired by soundwaves and an apple on their desks. Keith and Mark got down on all fours with tracing paper in the middle of the Festival Hall to faithfully copy the pre-digital era design.”