Design Awards 2019: best of the rest

Best pigeonhole
Your award is in the post

Most of us hate to be pigeonholed, but that’s probably because we don’t have ‘the mail box’, designed by Jinsik Kim. Slim, discreet and elegant, this brushed stainless steel box hugs the wall, its curved top and plain back concealing a rack of storage slots on each side. It marries perfectly with Jaime Hayon’s ‘Lightolight’ lamp, one of a series of wall and floor lamps that feature an upward-facing cup shaded by a rotating dome, giving a soft, indirect light, as well as Giuseppe Bavuso’s ‘moon’ door, which comes in numerous finishes with matching handles. As always, everything hinges on good design. Writer: Christopher Stocks

‘The Mail Box’, KRW1,400,000 ($1,250), by Jinsik Kim, for Laifo. ‘Lightolight’ lamp, £625, by Jaime Hayon, for Parachilna. Kings envelope in Nile Blue, £12 for 25, by Smythson. ‘Moon’ door, price on request, by Giuseppe Bavuso, for Rimadesio. Paint in Lichen, £45 for 2.5 litres, by Farrow & Ball. Photography: Tobias Alexander Harvey. Interiors: Maria Sobrino

Best bedtime story
Once upon a time in the land of beautiful things…

And so to bed, specifically to Porada’s sumptuous ‘Killian’ bed. Designed by Maurizio Marconato and Terry Zappa, it has a solid Canaletto walnut frame and headboard, upholstered in a range of Porada fabrics, while a sliver of brass adds an extra luxe touch. Where better to snuggle down with the latest titles from Penguin’s Pelican series, first launched by Allen Lane in 1936 to introduce serious non-fiction to a general readership. Sporting iconic blue covers, the series was discontinued in 1984 but relaunched in 2014, and recent titles include Walter Sinnott-Armstrong’s Think Again: How to Reason and Argue and Roger Eatwell and Matthew Goodwin’s National Populism. Perfect bedtime reading for the well-informed. Writer: Christopher Stocks

‘Killian’ bed, £6,490, by Marconato & Zappa, for Porada. ‘Kio’ sheet, £360; pillow case, £140 per pair, both by Society Limonta. Books, part of the Pelican Series, from £9 each, by Penguin. Photography: Antje Peters. Interiors: Matthew Morris

Best dream factory
Assembly-line chic from our clean, mean glam team

As glass acts go, these are pretty hard to follow. Gianfranco Ferré Home’s ‘Jenga’ coffee table is constructed entirely from rectangles of light- and dark-coloured glass, impeccably assembled without visible joints. More sculptural still is the ‘Fusion’ bench, with a marble core holding stacked acrylic rods, by Chiara Pellicano and Edoardo Giammarioli of Rome-based ‘Marty’ console for Visionnaire contrasts ribbed and smooth glass to architectural effect, while the South Korean designer Jihye Kang’s ‘Purity’ side table pairs clear acrylic rods with a stainless-steel base. Extra brilliance is provided by Stefan Diez’s cylindrical ‘Guise’ hanging light for Vibia, and Angelo Mangiarotti’s re-editioned ‘Lari’ table lamp from 1978, hand-blown in a single piece. Clear winners, one and all. Writer: Christopher Stocks

‘Jenga’ table, €9,700, by Livio Ballabio, for Gianfranco Ferré Home. ‘Guise’ hanging lamp, €1,625, by Stefan Diez, for Vibia. ‘Fusion’ bench, €25,000, by Millim Studio, for Secondome. ‘Marty’ console, price on request, by Marco Piva, for Visionnaire. ‘Lari’ table lamp, €850, by Angelo Mangiarotti, for Karakter. ‘Purity’ table, $4,500, by Jihye Kang. Vertical neon lights, price on request, by Kemp London. Photography: Matthew Donaldson. Interiors: Olly Mason

Best natural selection
Our leafy urban oasis brings the outdoors in

We were moved by the principles of biophilic design to create a space that seamlessly blends the domestic and the natural. Inspiration came from crafts-focused brand Another Country, whose ‘Ori’ mirror is hinged so it can be oriented to guide daylight into a room, thus engendering a sense of wellbeing. In a further attempt to bring the outside in, we looked at Swiss company WormUp, whose home composter is an elegant alternative to standard composting solutions, with its structure of modular, sleek burnt clay cylinders. Our interior garden space is complete with Luca Nichetto’s ‘Esedra’ sunbed – a terrace lounger good enough to hold its own indoors – and Quartier’s ‘Geta’ planters, their silhouettes inspired by the eponymous Japanese wooden sandals, while Farrow & Ball’s new ‘Paean Black’ provides a serene backdrop. Writer: Rosa Bertoli

‘Ängsmark’ rug, £2,056, by Ilse Crawford, for Kasthall. ‘Vermi’ compost bin, from €265, by WormUp. ‘Ori’ mirror, £1,100, by Catherine Aitken, for Another Country. ‘Tivoli’ watering can, £180, by Normann Copenhagen. ‘Esedra’ sunbed, £2,825, by Luca Nichetto, for Ethimo. ‘Geta’ planters, from £22, by Quartier, from Bonds. ‘984’ side table, £702, by Cuno Frommherz, for Rolf Benz. ‘Oak Dublin’ flooring, £110 per sq m, by Kährs. ‘Paean Black’ Estate emulsion, £45 for 2.5 litres, by Farrow & Ball. Photography: Benedict Morgan. Interiors: Olly Mason

Best last supper
We like to dine in divine style

We love worshipping at the temple of fine design and when we come across furnishings that transcend the norm, we offer up high praise. Take, ‘Ordinal’, a sleek new collection of contemporary dining tables designed by Michael Anastassiades for Cassina. The version pictured here features an oval tabletop in solid Canaletto walnut and ultra-slim legs, set diagonally to leave more room under the table for diners. This was a challenge for Cassina’s research unit, but the resulting piece is strong and stable. We’ve matched it with a great design debut – young Italian Francesco Meda’s supremely comfortable, lightweight ‘Woody’ chairs for Molteni & C. Featuring flowing lines and leather seats, they don’t contain any screws as they are entirely crafted of seamlessly jointed solid ash. Writer: Léa Teuscher

‘Woody’ chairs, from £750 each, by Francesco Meda, for Molteni & C. ‘Ordinal’ dining table, £2,945, by Michael Anastassiades, for Cassina. ‘Rock’ candle and tealight holders, from £75, by Tom Dixon. ‘Pelham’ linen in Snow, part of the Plainly II collection, £88 per m, by Mark Alexander. ‘Seagrass’ flooring in Fine SG Herringbone, £34 per sq m, by Crucial Trading. Photography: Leon Chew. Interiors: Matthew Morris

Best lost weekend
Fun and games with check mates and culinary cocktails

Jean Nouvel’s new take on the games compendium is turning the tables on our lazy day diversions. Crafted by Bottega Ghianda, the ‘Enigme a Ttics’ cabinet-cum-table is made from pearwood with ebony and maple inlays, doors and drawers concealing the pieces for chess, game of the goose, draughts and backgammon. With playful inlaid metal tiling from De Castelli as our backdrop, we’d happily hole up with the table and a cocktail or two from Matthew Biancaniello, the pop-up bar impresario who coined the phrase ‘Eat your Drink’ and who has recently taken his ‘gastronomy in a glass’ to new levels with his Mon-Li 12-course liquid tasting menu at Malibu’s Calamigos Beach Club. From the menu, we’ve selected the Caesar salad with romaine-infused Dolin Blanc vermouth, parmesan-infused dolin Blanc vermouth, a nest of roasted onion sprouts and a quail’s egg, and the St Lucian sea moss-infused Cráneo Mezcal. Writers: Emma Moore, Carole Dixon

‘Enigme a Tics’ gaming table, £30,650, by Jean Nouvel, for Bottega Ghianda. ‘Yoko’ tiles, from €1,525 per sq m, by Leonardo Sonnoli, for De Castelli. Photography: Gustav Almestål. Interiors: Amy Heffernan

Best brew
A beauty treatment that’s just our cup of tea

Things aren’t always what they seem at the kitchen table; keeping skincare fresh and effective means a facial routine occasionally infiltrates the cooking zone.

Oway’s Winter and Summer Solstice tea blends are designed not to be drunk but splashed onto skin to enhance masking or cleansing regimes. An Italian organic hair and skincare brand, Oway boasts zero-miles biodynamic extracts and micronised plants among its ingredients, grown for the most part on its estate in the hills of Bologna.

And we didn’t have to go too far from there to find our kettle, designed by Milan-based Michele De Lucchi for Alessi. Our favoured brewing carafe, by Nendo for Zens, we had to fly in from China, while the patterned porcelain cup is an international effort from Dutch designers Scholten & Baijings, Japanese ceramicist 1616 Arita and US textile specialists Maharam.

Our bronze tea scoop came from Danish designer Alexander Hinnerskov and the cloth is a stunning new release from the Anni Albers archive, by London’s Christopher Farr. Writer: Emma Moore

Tray, £45, by Lex Pott, for Hay. ‘Stone’ carafe, £33, by Nendo, for Zens. Winter Solstice blend, €38 per 30g, by Oway. Cup, $33, by Scholten & Baijings, for Maharam. ‘Plissé’ kettle, £79, by Michele De Lucchi, for Alessi. Tea scoop, €93, by Alexander Hinnerskov. ‘Orchestra’ fabric, from £150 per m, by Anni Albers, for Christopher Farr. Photography: Gustav Almestål. Interiors: Amy Heffernan

Best iridescence
We take a shine to two dazzling shows of brilliance

Known for sculptural furniture, Hervé Van der Straeten is a dab hand at creating what he calls ‘visual intrigue’. And there is no shortage of that in the Paris-based designer’s ‘Borderline’ console, which features a rainbow-hued coating with an oil-slick sheen created using the complex process of metallic vaporisation. Its wall-mounted, fragmented elements create a kaleidoscopic effect, an optical tease that questions function and physics, or in the designer’s words, edges ‘a step further in the deconstruction of structure’. Another outbreak of riotous colour was spotted on Prada’s A/W18 women’s catwalk. This oversized nylon coat is decked with electric pops of fluorescence that bleed into a more sombre base colour. The digital print was inspired by city lights distorted through a window on a rainy night. Writer: Harriet Lloyd-Smith

‘Borderline’ console, price on request, by Hervé Van der Straeten. Coat, £2,690, by Prada. Photography: Jonas Marguet. Set design: Eleonora Succi

Best meal on wheels
We’re big fans of culinary contrivances that move with the times

While the will to eat well may be there, the time and space to whip up a nutrient-packed feast may not. Here to help is Italian fine cabinetry expert Giorgetti, which has designed the ‘Alfred’ kitchen to make things compact, ergonomic and mobile for the home chef. Made from Canaletto walnut with wheels and a marble top, the drawers swivel or slide, offering ample storage in a compact package. London’s Harrods has provided our time- and nutrient-efficient food component. Its overhauled, expanded food hall now includes a souped-up greengrocery department with a vegetable butchery service that is part educative, part timesaving, part show-off. Whether you wish to try a new vegetable and need chopping guidance, want your sides sliced and freshly seasoned (anyone for aubergine and miso butter or panch phoran cauliflower?) or simply need your carrots julienned, waste-free craft-cutting is on hand. Writer: Emma Moore

‘Alfred’ trolley, £12,961, by Giorgetti. ‘Mesh’ knives, from £35 each, by Normann Copenhagen. ‘Monolithic’ casserole, $200; frying pan, $140, both by Naoto Fukasawa, for Jia Inc. Vegetables, from a selection, from Harrods. Photography: Benedict Morgan. Interiors: Olly Mason