For the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2026, we chose a cast of characters that represents everything that's exciting in domestic design right now. Enduring icons and new furniture-making ideas are always on our radar, and this year's new (and newly reborn) furniture designs and home accessories are the cherry on top of a brilliant year of creativity.
A 1970s icon reborn
‘Magellano’ vase, by Vico Magistretti, reissued by Editions Milano, available from Artemest, $820
This globe-shaped vase by Editions Milano was originally designed by leading Italian architect Vico Magistretti, whose quest for purity and simplicity led him to create a series of spherical lighting and curved chairs in the 1970s. Named after the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, the first European to cross the Pacific Ocean, the vase is composed of two hemispheres, one of which features a grid of lines recalling meridians and parallels. The result is not only beautiful, but makes an ideal support for flowers, which can easily be arranged into ikebana-like displays. Below the equator is a solid base engraved with Magistretti’s signature. Crafted from brass with a palladium finish, ‘Magellano’ is entirely produced in Italy by master artisans, and available in two sizes.
An innovative lamp that’s 50 years young
Italian designer Ernesto Gismondi founded lighting company Artemide in the 1960s with Sergio Mazza, and joined Ettore Sottsass’ influential Memphis movement in the 1980s. In between, he used his background as an aerospace engineer and rocket specialist to create some unique lighting designs. The first to be launched was the ‘Sintesi’, an industrial table lamp that resembles a cross between a robot pet and a vintage microphone, with a light source protected by a curved metal grid. Reissued to celebrate its 50th anniversary, this innovative light forms the basis of a galaxy of lighting products, all featuring efficient and perfectly engineered modular components. Adjustable in height and angle, its slim Y-shaped support can be tilted through a simple motion, and folds on itself for compact packaging.
Recycled polystyrene that mimics the expressiveness of wood
For the past three years, Nicolas Zanoni has been transforming expanded polystyrene into unusual designs. Visits to processing plants and a series of experiments led him to discover that, when heated up, the material could revert to its plastic state and fuse, creating homogeneous sheets. With the help of recycling specialist Bel Albatros, the Parisian designer uses a heat press to produce marbled sheets, and then sculpts and burns the polystyrene layers as if they were more traditional pieces of wood or marble. Part of the ‘Chair Brûlée’ seating collection, this delicious-looking but sturdy stool comes with a golden, toasted-marshmallow finish.
A prickly colony of chairs
From their Madrid workshop, Esto founders Amalia Wakonigg and Guillermo Borreguero create unusual objects through craftsmanship and experimentation. The studio’s ‘Disguise’ series, resembling ‘a colony of newly discovered beings’, comprises stools, benches and chairs, all made of a tubular steel structure wrapped in a hand-sewn textile cover, with prickly edges highlighted in a contrasting thread. With their seaweedy spindly limbs and aloe vera-like spike, they manage to look both organic and slightly unsettling – alien shapes that would turn any living room into a new world of possibilities.
Ceramic vessels that look like cardboard
French artist Jacques Monneraud’s creations appear to be flimsy pieces of corrugated cardboard held together with bits of tape, but are, in fact, ceramic vessels that can hold water without any spills or soggy bottoms. Monneraud grew up in a family of artists and makers, and worked as a creative director for years, but only took up pottery five years ago. After a lot of experimenting with different clay mixes, he came across a texture perfectly resembling cardboard. The addition of ‘tape’ – actually two different glazes, applied with a brush in four very precise strokes – completes the optical illusion.
A raw aluminium beauty
This slightly surreal office chair was handmade in the north London workshop of Joseph Ellwood, an architect and designer passionate about championing expressive forms, raw materials and visible imperfections. Ellwood, who founded creative studio Six Dots Design in 2020 and unveiled his debut collection, ‘Contemporary Vanity’, in 2022, works mostly with raw aluminium, and aims to create bespoke pieces that are joyful rather than purely functional. The Six Dots team are keen that the finished pieces reflect the fabrication process: each grind mark, scratch and scuff reveal a story about the tools and hands that created the piece. Made to order, this chair is height adjustable, while the upholstery is available in a variety of colours and finishes. It can be paired with a similarly free-flowing desk and floor lamp that appear to have been drawn into space.
The Wallpaper* Design Awards 2026 winners are featured in full 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