As London Design Festival kicks off this week, we're diligently sorting through all of the invites and announcements that have been flooding our inboxes. Here's a project that caught our eyes, and we haven't even seen it in person yet. It's on the itinerary though—so check back in the coming days for more highlights from London!

Charcolor Furniture by Louis Rigano and Avantika Agarwal, who met in the the RCA Design Products course

The Charcolor Furniture series—a joint effort between RCA alums Louis Rigano and Avantika Agarwal—debuts publicly this week at the Royal College of Art's Big-Small Show. The intense hues result from a fun and innovative process: CYMK pigments are burned directly into the wood with a blow torch. Amazing!

One of our favorite aspects of London is that it's such an international city. We asked the designers to comment on this:

"In London—more than any other city in the world—design is respected and celebrated. Not only are there so many opportunities for young designers to show work and gain exposure, but there's also a huge amount of resources with which to make new work. While historically, British design has been characterized by its set of distinctive qualities, today it's defined by its profusion of influences; this frees the designer up entirely from any sort of preordained directives. London attracts a very international mix of designers. These disparate voices create an ethos for the city that is vigorously progressive, diverse and open. In a city that is more international than it is British, design can't help but reflect this multicultural pluralism."

Good luck to Louis and Avantika, and all of the designers participating in the RCA exhibition! We know you'll attract a lot of interest!

The Big-Small Show open today and runs through the 19th, 10am to 10pm each day, located at the Hoxton Basement Gallery, 12-16 Hoxton Street, London.