William Warren

London based product and furniture designer
Drawing Board

Church Chair Competition

The Church of England recently released a brief to design new seating to fit in their churches. The competition stated that designers should team up with manufacturers in order to ensure the final submissions would be produceable in high numbers.

Here are the pages I submitted for the competition. I didn’t get selected for the final shortlist. This may be partially due to the fact that I ignored the notion of partnering with a manufacturer and instead chose to pursue a…

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stained glass doorbell

The doorbell works by running current through the metallic strips of the stained glass window. A standard battery powered bell unit is screwed to the back of the door. Couples, once they have learnt the trick, can ring our doorbell by both touching the door and then kissing. The circuit is made and the bell rings.

Also visible in the photos are Jasia’s space invader curtains which she made herself.

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double bed and cutting table

This is a design for the double bed in our spare room at home. My lovely wife wanted a cutting table for the room which she uses as a sewing space. We also needed a spare bed for guests, but not a full size one as it would take up too much space.

It is made from phenolic filmed plywood and has knock down fixings.

If you would like the cutting paths for this bed, I will send them to you. You…

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ergonomic cutlery design

This is a drawing board idea for a set of ergonomic cutlery, originally designed to be manufactured in stainless steel for a company in Canada.

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William’s special hammer

This hammer was originally produced to form large aluminium ‘punch bowls’. These were large disks of thick metal that appeared to have been attacked by someone of super human strength.

It has since been used to take walls down and frighten children.

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the bridges of london

‘The long sentence by which we learn various crossings across brown waters’ is a mnemonic sentence I conceived to help learn the road bridges across the Thames.

If you can manage to generate a better graphic to communicate this piece of information then I’d love to see it. I don’t think these ones are very good.

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Glug Jug

This glass jug produces a distinctive glugging sound when water is poured from it. The image does not do the design justice, as its charm is experiential.

It was developed for a competition to design a water jug for London to encourage people to value and drink more tap water rather than continually buying bottled water. It is London by its language, character and connection to old Gin jugs.

The ‘Glug Jug’ is a traditional artefact, most commonly a ceramic fish and…

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Text Tiles

A series of ten ceramic tiles with applied decoration that can be used to create text and signage by their various combinations. The aim was to to keep the number of different decorated tiles to a minimum so that manufacturing might become cheaper and stock in retail outlets easier to manage.

The tiles were developed in 2008.

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Tessellating patterns

Here are some patterns I’ve drawn up. I don’t know what to do with them. The gun pattern has been used as a floor tile in both rubber and parquet.

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Serendipity Clock

The house that I grew up in had a fantastic grandfather clock that chimed the hour. A sound full of charm that marked time through the day.  This collection of old alarm clocks have been wired together and their led readouts messed around with. The fancy electrics is a ‘chocolate box daisy chain’. The clock reads a fairy-tale message twice a day, which will only be witnessed occasionally. Stripping the clocks of their original function makes the one moment in the day…

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Tilly’s Wall Diary

An important aspect of the home is that it doesn’t exist only in the present. A sense of home comes from how long we have been at a place and how long we plan to stay.

This is a child’s cupboard with a twelve-year lifespan, which aims to become a sentimental belonging. The child creates a visual diary over the course of their growing up, which will continue to be seen and enjoyed when the locker has grown beyond it. Every…

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Terror Firma Parquet

This parquet came about as an application for the tessellating pattern I had come up with. I couldn’t think of what else to do with it. It was originally made as an floor for a trade show stand and has been installed in a few houses since.

I would have loved to see this design used in a James Bond villan’s luxury hide away. The pattern does celebrate the automatic pistol which is not my style. Guns are bad. Yeah?

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