Wallpaper* Design Awards 2026: best furniture of the year

Among our winners, as featured in the February issue of Wallpaper*: ‘After’ chair, by Michael Anastassiades, for Fritz Hansen, from Chaplins. ‘Treflo’ dining table, by Ronan Bouroullec, for Cassina. ‘Coppie di Fatto Black’ vessels, by Nathalie Du Pasquier, for Mutina Editions. Flat interior paint in Black-Orange, by Tonester. ‘Les Bijoux’ tiles in Marron Imperial, price on request, by Florim

(Image credit: Adam Friedlander)

Was 2025 the year everything in design became collectible? The elegant glamour of the secondary market met the rigour of industrial R&D in the same brand, showroom, object, breath. Stands at Salone del Mobile in Milan resembled not just furnished but fully inhabited midcentury houses in Palm Springs. Even the most innocuous dining table belied the simplicity of its form as the culmination of a five-year research project into repurposing waste material from an industrial process.

Furniture from the Wallpaper* Design Awards — ‘Monk’ chair, by Afra and Tobia Scarpa, for Molteni & C. Tiles (on wall) and matte paint, both in Curry, by Muller Van Severen, for Bleo. ‘Mystone Berici’ tiles in Bianco (on floor), by Marazzi

New furniture looked old, and simple furniture bore sectoral innovations of mind-blowing proportions, all packaged in the cinematic splendour of our experience-obsessed times, where layer upon layer of sensory titillation resulted in reveals so sublime they became surreal. We’re still dreaming of Loro Piana and Dimorestudio’s La Prima Notte di Quiete immersive installation at Milan Design Week. How we all revelled in the rêves.

Against this theatrical backdrop, we have plucked a selection of scene stealers amid the dream weavers. What you see here are the stars from the year gone by, bathed appropriately in a limelight that highlights the beauty of their form and the depth of their material expression. Though it’s hard not to be starstruck, we urge you to pay attention and look closely. You’ll see golden oldies reissued, classics reimagined for modern times and tastes, rising talents invigorating proceedings with a breath of fresh air, and the youthful promise that good ideas exist in the future, not just the past.

The mood in our story reflects the atmosphere of the year at large. We’re calling it dramatic tension. You feel it in the liminal space suspended between various dualities: graphic forms with delicate finishes; industrial heft with fine, crafted detailing; exuberant objects with functional properties; lighting that looks like sculpture, and textiles that resemble paintings. Everything is real but nothing is quite as it seems. There’s a strokeable sensuality in the volume of gloss lacquer, cut glass, brushed metals and leather. It will have been a good year for cleaning products, too.

And what does this design mood say about the times in which we are living? The bygone flavour is comforting in its familiarity, though we’d stop short of calling it nostalgic. It’s Wong Kar Wai more than Baz Luhrmann, seductively indulgent more than cloyingly escapist. A cynic might suggest it’s been a year of plundering the past and burying our heads in the sand because the present and future is too scary for design to address, let alone fix. We don’t agree. What might masquerade as a decadent, filmic flight of fancy is, in fact, a vintage year for design. This is the year the collectible design market became truly dominant within the sector. New records have been set at auction. New collectible fairs have been announced in new markets. Salone Raritas will make its debut as part of Salone del Mobile 2026. You heard it here first: all design is now collectible; old is the new new.

Set builders: London Art Makers Lighting assistants: Nic Bezzina, Charlie Hall Digi tech: Alex Gale Interiors coordinator: Archie Thomson

Discover all the award winners in the February issue of Wallpaper*, available in print on newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News + from 8 January 2025. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

TOPICS

Hugo is a design critic, curator and the co-founder of Bard, a gallery in Edinburgh dedicated to Scottish design and craft. A long-serving member of the Wallpaper* family, he has also been the design editor at Monocle and the brand director at Studioilse, Ilse Crawford's multi-faceted design studio. Today, Hugo wields his pen and opinions for a broad swathe of publications and panels. He has twice curated both the Object section of MIART (the Milan Contemporary Art Fair) and the Harewood House Biennial. He consults as a strategist and writer for clients ranging from Airbnb to Vitra, Ikea to Instagram, Erdem to The Goldsmith's Company. Hugo recently returned to the Wallpaper* fold to cover the parental leave of Rosa Bertoli as global design director, and is now serving as its design critic.