Get out from behind you computer screens and see some type in the real world (well, while the sun is still shining) on a typographic tour of London, which run monthly. Also available are Baskerville’s Birmingham or get out of the UK altogether and have a jaunt around Typographic Rimini or Amsterdam.
Fancy a bit of nostalgia? With over 12,000 original items of packaging from Victorian times to present day the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising is the place to get your fix.
For all you fashionistas, head to the Berkeley Hotel for an afternoon tea with a couture twist. Prêt-à-Portea is inspired by themes and current style from the fashion world. The menu is redesigned every 6 months by the likes of Alexander McQueen, Christian Louboutin, and Oscar de la Rent so your cakes are never out of fashion. God forbid.
Smell the print at St Bride Library. 50,000 books, 3,500 periodicals and a heap of artifacts from wood block to lithographic stones will show you everything there is to know about printing, books, binding and type. If you don’t just want to look at it, you can book a day workshop at Harrington and Squires for £125 day fee. Other letterpress workshops and courses are available from Letterpress Alive.
See the world FIRST continuous paper making machine at the Frogmore Paper Mill which has been in operation since 1219 when it used to alternate between making paper and flour making depending on the community requirements.
Insider London offers a whole host of design related tours around London. You could opt for their Innovative Interiors tour, which will show you futuristic egg toilets, an indoor rainforest and a cave made from (real!) gold in and around the cafes and stores of London. Or you may prefer the Modern Architecture, Cutting Edge Green (floating garden, anyone?) or Ethical Fashion tours.
Certainly on my design geek to-dos is a visit to the Basel Paper Museum in Switzerland where you can make your own paper from clothing rags as has been done here since 1453. (I first saw this on Stephen Fry’s super-duper documentary about the Gutenberg Press.)
They say we live, breath and sleep it, so why not put your head down for the night in a design hotel? Design Hotels showcases the best of the best from the slick and sophisticated to the weird and wacky, but all of them are amazing.
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