The shortlist was recently unveiled for the London Design Museum’s 2009 design awards and - in the product category to be precise – we spotted one of our unsung heroes from this year, the Magno Radio.
Far from just a pretty thing to look at, the Magno wooden radio is something of an environmental fairytale. Its creator, Singgih Susilo Kartono, hails from Central Java and came up with the design to kick start a community-based eco regeneration in his home village.
Based on traditional woodworking craft, he set about training his fellow villagers to create modular wooden casing for a series of radios, made from a mixture of sonekeling (dark wood) and pine (light wood). Every piece is handcarved from the two types of wood and for each tree that is felled another is planted in its place. The three-band radio can also be hooked up to your mp3 player, but the charm of the design itself is what really sings.
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Vestre’s neo-brutalist furniture will bring ‘a little madness’ to Paris Fashion WeekBound for Paris Men’s Fashion Week this month, Norwegian furniture brand Vestre reveals a sculptural bench and mirror created with designer Vincent Laine and fashion creative Willy Cartier – the latest outcome of its risk-taking ‘a little madness’ initiative
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For its latest runway show, Zegna creates a serene oasis in DubaiThe Italian fashion house took over the Dubai Opera for a S/S 2026 show that proposed a lived-in elegance, drawing inspiration from Dubai’s sunbaked landscapes and Zegna’s birthplace of Trivero
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Time-travel to the golden age of the cruise ship at Sea Containers LondonThe South Bank hotel celebrates its tenth anniversary with four new suites inspired by period cabin design, from Edwardian elegance to 1980s glamour
