Design news: 100 years of the photo booth, Le Creuset on the go and Welsh modernism

This month’s news includes many old stories brought back to life. There are the photo booths that were once found in every town which celebrate their centenary. A new history about Welsh modernist holiday cabins makes us think anew about architecture and even Le Creuset finds new purpose.

Pyrographic vessel by Darren Appiagyei. Photograph: Matt Warner

While craft is often associated with dexterity, skill and practicality, modern artists are also using traditional methods such as ceramics, woodwork and textiles to raise awareness of social issues in an almost therapeutic expression of emotion and reaction to life events. At this year’s Collect craft fair in London, 40 galleries from 30 different countries are exhibiting work from over 400 artists, and some of the standout works were inspired by these personal stories and historic social events. Fibre artist Manya Goldman’s work is informed by her experience as a refugee from the apartheid regime in South Africa. Artist SaeRi Seo’s is inspired by Korean moon jars and the way that women weren’t traditionally allowed to create these culturally significant vessels. On a more personal level, wood artist Darren Appiagyei is exhibiting intricate carved pieces which address his mother’s chronic problems with fibroids, and ceramicist Jemma Gowland uses her work to look at the restrictions that society typically places on women. This year’s Brookfield Properties Craft Award Prize has been won by Ebony Russell, an Australian ceramicist whose ‘piped’ porcelain pieces reference cake decorating techniques and which, she says, represent “a commitment to celebrating feminized and matrilineal craft traditions”.

Collect 2025 runs from 28 February-2 March at Somerset House in London

A refurbished photo booth in London. Photograph: Autofoto

One hundred years ago, a Jewish American, fascinated by Box Brownies and obsessed by photography, invented the first photo booth. Anatol Josepho’s machine – called the Photomaton – was on Broadway in New York. It was an instant hit, and even when people no longer queued for the novelty, the sheets of photos produced in these egalitarian studios were loved for decades to come. Even as one-hour photo shops, Polaroids and camera phones eroded the special functionality and intimacy of the photo booth, they still hold a special place in social history. Autofoto is a company that keeps the remaining booths serviced and in circulation. This year, Autofoto is organising centenary celebrations, working with artists, designers and photographers to create new art using the photobooth. The Real Selfie Project will also document the communities around the locations booths are currently found. This month it’s the turn of London’s Spitalfields Market and local market traders and the general public will be invited to take an analogue selfie as part of this event.

Visit www.autofoto.org for more events

Groundtruth ambassador Mike Coots with the Unda bag. Photograph: Groundtruth

A “ground truth” is a fact established by gathering facts by direct observation and measurement. It’s something that the Scott sisters, Georgia and Sophia, first encountered as documentary filmmakers in conflict zones around the world and they used it as the name of their film production company; so it made sense to use the name for the travel gear company they’ve now founded with their sister Nina. The same approach to scrupulously investigating manufacuture, supply chain and materials has been applied to the venture.

Groundtruth’s new range, Unda, is a waterproof collection of backpacks, pouches and rolltop bags made from 100% recycled materials – including ghost fishing nets, which account for over 50% of marine plastic waste. The bags feature some high-tech, patent-pending clasps and D-rings which capture carbon emissions and Groundtruth has partnered with the professional association of diving instructors (PADI) on this new collection to highlight the organisation’s conservation efforts. Brand ambassador for the PADI/Groundtruth range is ocean photographer Mike Coots, who lost his leg in a tiger shark attack off the coast of Hawaii, but now advocates for ocean and shark conservation. His story is featured in an upcoming documentary by the Scott sisters called Kuleana which looks at the devastating effects of plastic pollution on our oceans, focusing on the seas around Hawaii.

“We aim to make a significant positive impact through the repurposing of these harmful plastics,” says Georgia. “Groundtruth was created with the value that all consumer products should contribute to a safer planet.”

Go to the Groundtruth website for more information on the Unda range and Groundtruth’s other projects, including Kuleana

The interior of the Bier Wood cabin in Manorbier. Photograph: Ian Brooks Collection

Rural Wales isn’t well known for its modernist architecture, but new book Cabin Crew explains why it should be. The Welsh architecture firm Hird & Brooks (a partnership between businessman John Grenfell Hird and architect Graham Brooks) made award-winning houses in the 60s and 70s, winning 17 major design awards. The private residences they created are well-loved and respected by design aficionados – particularly a group of villas in the Vale of Glamorgan. But the book details Brooks’s less well-known obsession: crafting the perfect holiday home. The book draws on interviews and an extensive archive of correspondence to bring to life the romance and delight of the holiday cabins Brooks created, inspired by the cabins found in Denmark.

Jack Hale, co-founder of the Modernist Society, says: “Unknown to most, many of these cabins remain standing to this day, tucked away in the corners of rural Wales and Scotland. We’re delighted to remind people of Hird & Brooks’ legacy.”

Cabin Crew by Peter Halliday, Bethan Dalton, Lizzie Biggs and Jessica Halliday is available to preorder for £20 from The Modernist Society

The new, improved drinks flask from Le Creuset. Photograph: Le Creuset

A century ago, two Belgians, one a casting specialist and one an expert in enamelling, founded Le Creuset, the colourful cast-iron cookware company that has become a mark of distinction in kitchens the world over. Little could Armand De Saegher and Octave Aubecq have known that a century on, we’re as likely to be dining on the hoof as we are at home, but this month Le Creuset launches On The Go, a new line of food and drink containers designed to make lunch classy and colourful.

There’s a lunch pack and food flask, as well as a relaunched water bottle and travel mug, in seven new shades. If you’re looking for something more sustainable and more of a status symbol than a plastic sandwich box, this could be the place to look.

“For a century, Le Creuset has been providing the means to cook delicious food at home,” says Marianna Spiliotopoulos, head of marketing, “and now we have the perfect way of taking it out and about too.”

The Le Creuset On the Go range is available now