For one week only, Joy of Living – a charity project created by design author Max Fraser – brings together over 100 leading UK designers to support Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres, which empower people to live with and beyond cancer through a network of unique cancer caring centers designed by superstar architects like Zaha Hadid and Frank Gehry. Each participating designer has been charged with creating a new artwork that expresses the Joy of Living sentiment, starting with a simple sheet of A4 graph paper. The signed works are on display at London’s Somerset House through March 21st, with the goal of raising £50,000 for Maggie’s.
Each artwork (check out a few designs below) is priced at £250, and the name of the piece’s designer will not be revealed until after purchase, making sure that supporters buy a piece to which they have a sincere emotional response. In addition to the artwork, each designer has supplied a short text on the inspiration for their work. Participating designers include Terence Conran, Tom Dixon, Barber Osgerby, Sebastian Bergne, Tomoko Azumi, Martino Gamper, Stuart Haygarth, Max Lamb, and Troika, among many others.
Joy of Living is a personal project by Max Fraser and is backed by his brand, LONDON DESIGN GUIDE. Explaining the inspiration behind the event, Fraser says, “After a very personal, emotional journey as I supported my mother through her 6-year battle with cancer, I vowed to contribute in some way to mankind’s fight against this disease. Maggie’s recognizes that building an atmosphere of calm and celebrating a good quality of life are immensely beneficial to patients, and I know that my mother would have benefited so positively from its services. Charity founder Maggie Keswick Jencks once said, “Above all what matters is not to lose the joy of living in the fear of dying,” and this statement has inspired the design challenge and Joy of Living project.”
To see all the designs, visit londondesignguide.com/joyofliving. Donations can be made online at justgiving.com/joyofliving.
