After winning two Best of Year Awards from Interior Design Magazine at the Guggenheim Museum in New York last December, eijkingdelouwere has completed its first international commission: A wall tapestry for the Dining Hall of Thomas's Lower School in Kensington, London.
Thomas's London Day Schools were founded in 1971 when Joanna Thomas, an actress and mother of three, started the Ranelagh Kindergarten in a Pimlico church hall. Today, sons Tobyn and Ben run four Day Schools and two Kindergartens in the tradition she established: co-educational schools with high academic aims, where a wide curriculum is taught. The Dining Hall is where pupils gather to lunch, where activity sessions are held, and where performances are staged.
A 100% wool felt wall tapestry was created in lime green and poppy. A unicorn-the school's mascot-emerges from a rolling field of poppies, creating a sense of both tension and depth. In addition to the wall tapestry eijkingdelouwere implemented a new color-scheme integrating existing doors, a piano and large folding tables (which hang against the opposite wall when not in use). In total, a colorful intervention, truly making the Dining Hall heart and soul of the Thomas's Kensington Lower School.
Patrick O. de Louwere and Bart Eijking founded Dutch design firm eijkingdelouwere in December 2004. In order to create quality furniture made by hand, they opened Studio Lawrence with an international launch at the 2007 Milan Furniture Fair.