The Design Guild Mark Awards promote excellence and raise the profile of British design and innovation. They recognise and reward designers working in Britain or British Designers working abroad. The awards demand the highest standards in the design of furniture for volume production.
The Design Guild Mark is judged by a panel of leading industry professionals. Each member of the panel is from the furniture, hospitality, commercial, retail or media industry. Judges must ensure that each piece of furniture meets the criteria of: excellence in design, materials, manufacture and function.
Chaired by Alexander Gifford, this year’s eminent judging panel were: Simon Alderson of twentytwentyone, Jeremy Myerson of the Royal College of Art, Joanna Biggs of GA Design, Philippa Prinsloo of John Lewis, Barbara Chandler of the Evening Standard, Pernille Stafford of Resonate Interiors, Sebastian Conran of Sebastian Conran Associates, Paul Tanner of Marks & Spencer Furniture and Diana Monkhouse of SpaceInvader.
The Design Guild Mark 2016 award recipients are as follows:
The Loku range, designed by Shin Azumi for Case Furniture
Making good use of the efficient methods of three-dimensional plywood technology, the Loku collection is moulded into shape by heating and pressing thin plywood veneer into tight curves to stiffen the material.
The Flow Chair, designed by Tomoko Azumi for Ercol
This striking contemporary design reflects Tomoko’s aim of improving daily life through design, form and functionality.
The PILOT Chair for Knoll, designed by Edward Barber & Jay Osgerby
PILOT is a simple, comfortable and lightweight seating system designed for home, work and contract use. As spaces have to accommodate both work and play, the flexibility of the PILOT range will suit all the user’s needs and preferences.
Column Bookcases and the Magnus Chair, designed by Samuel Chan for Channels
The Column Bookcase is a series of three tall structures, each resembling a stack of building blocks. The Magnus Chair is built from basic forms with interconnecting pieces of wood.
The Sebastian Cox Kitchen by deVOL – a design collaboration between the deVOL design team and Sebastian Cox
The new kitchen is a mix of everything that both Sebastian and deVOL are passionate about. It’s a culmination of good taste, modern innovation, traditional techniques and true inspiration.
The Ashworth Desk, designed by Adam Daghorn for Conran, manufactured by Marks & Spencer
The Ashworth Desk was an attempt to showcase the best of the Conran brand, whilst still ensuring the product could appeal to the M&S customer.
Marino Chair and Sofa, designed by Dylan Freeth for Ercol
The Marino Chair, created in solid ash timber, references the qualities and features of Ercol’s design classics through considered design aesthetic.
Nuno Chair, designed by Mark Gabbertas for Allermuir
Nuno was borne out of a desire to approach a traditional design typology; the multipurpose stacking chair from a new perspective. The defining characteristic of the design is the use of the lamination itself as a structural component whereby the leg frame and the seat are integrated and interdependent, providing strength for each other.
William Dining Chair, designed by Mark Gabbertas for Gloster
This chair is designed to fit like a glove. Light, powder coated frames carry the signature with curved teak slats that define the design language of William. Where your hands meet the frame, soft teak provides the touch.
Eos range, designed by Matthew Hilton for Case Furniture
Eos is a contemporary, lightweight, literally and visually, smartly proportioned and very comfortable collection. Its slim, clean lines make it a versatile choice for gardens, patios or outdoor spaces.
Hardy Chair, designed by David Irwin for Another Country
Old Furniture, a poem by Thomas Hardy, is an ode to the beauty of furniture being handed down through generations and David Irwin’s Hardy chair is a classic in the making. Two chair typologies from the 19th century inspired its design. Firstly, the captain’s chair, originally a low-backed wooden armchair and secondly, the smoker’s bow, a low back windsor, often used in smoking rooms, public houses, barber’s shops and cottages.
The Planks collection, designed by Max Lamb for Benchmark
Planks is all about working furniture. Its roots lie in the humble carpenter’s workbench and 17th and 18th century English country furniture such as boarded chests, box stools and dough troughs. Common to all, is the additional function of storage to which legs are attached, providing easily accessible storage and preventing clutter on the working surface.
Quiet Bench hm 106, designed by Magnus Long for Hitch Mylius
The original idea for the cantilevered, linear Quiet Bench came from watching how people mark-out zones for themselves on benches with their bags or books. Magnus found it an obvious observation and interesting to see how people use large flat seating spaces, especially from above where you can look down and see the different ‘territories’ marked out.
hm221 collection, designed by Timothée Mion for Hitch Mylius
The hm221 collection allows a variety of working options; sitting at different levels and standing and leaning whilst using your laptop. The combination of the modular pieces offer both private, individual working options as well as socially interactive group working.
Kyoto Bench system, designed by Morgan Studio for Morgan
Inspired by Japanese gardens and bridges, this is a contemporary system of linear benches that interlock to create reception area seating. In Japanese gardens simplicity means the achievement of maximum effect with minimum means and asymmetry creates the impression of it being natural.
UNNIA chairs, designed by Simon Pengelly for Inclass
The Jonathan Hindle Prize and John Makepeace Prize was awarded to Simon Pengelly for the UNNIA Chairs, which is a versatile and extensive collection of chairs with a unique mix and match concept of colours and finishes. The chair design allows the combination of different finishes and colours for the seats, backrests and frames. This means that endless combinations can be made. In addition, the collection offers chairs with a range of bases and frames that increase possibilities for customisation and allow a broad spectrum of use in all kinds of spaces, settings and decorative styles.
My Ami Range, designed by Alexander White for Heals
Alexander White started this collection with simple geometry on paper. From these sketches ideas immerged which were then refined by further sketching. A rough scaled model soon followed to better understand the three-dimensional challenges of the folding mechanism.
The Core collection, designed by Jo Wilton & Mirka Grohn for &New
Distinctly modern with elegant lines, &New’s core steel furniture collection is recognisable by its minimal powder coated form. The airy designs combine an aesthetic of British wit and Nordic simplicity.