We are delighted to announce that we have been awarded the prestigious Design Guild Mark for both the Narin folding chair by David Irwin, and the Tri-Space stool by Terence Woodgate and John Barnard. Now in it's ninth year, the Design Guild Mark is awarded by The Furniture Makers' Company, the furnishing industry's charity, to drive excellence and raise the profile of British design and innovation. This award recognises the leading standards in the design of furniture in volume production by the best designers working in Britain, or British designers working abroad.
Design Guild Mark 2017 from Design Insider on Vimeo. “Hosted across our own Furniture Makers’ Hall and Carpenters’ Hall, this year’s Design Guild Mark saw another record number of applicants, reflecting the high quality of entries we had hoped for. Once again, the entries were equally diverse, from contract to retail, from residential to hospitality and workplace, as were the applicants themselves. Chairing the judging process for the third year was a great honour, and watching the great minds in our industry critique the great output of British design was a real pleasure.”- Alexander Gifford, Chairman of the Design Guild Mark.
The Tri-Space Stool by Terence Woodgate and John Barnard
The Tri-Space Stool is as much an engineering accomplishment as it is a stunningly simple design. Using lightweight materials to create a stool weighing less than 10kg/22lbs, Woodgate and Barnard achieved something incredibly simple, yet complex in design construction. The stool pairs soft, warm leather with the elegance of the industrial stainless steel tripod legs, with the seat perfectly balancing on top of a single point where the legs meet the leather pad. Two Royal Designers for Industry, one from the world of furniture design, and one from the world of Formula 1 racing car design, collaborated to create the Tri-Space Stool, a super-slim three-legged counter and bar stool. "The design is a blend of precision engineering and minimal design" says designer Terence Woodgate about the Tri-Space Stool he designed with Formula 1 race car designer John Barnard. "The concept for the rotating stool came about after seeing the neat rectangular stainless steel section tube. We realised that it would work really well structurally and aesthetically as the legs for a stool. We then set about designing a simple bearing based on PTFE discs. A leather upholstered injection moulded foam seat pad make a beautiful contrast to the brushed stainless steel.
Terence Woodgate and John Barnard receive the Design Guild Mark Award,
The Narin Chair by David Irwin
Inspired by the constantly adapting nature of modern spaces the lightweight Narin folding chair is both easy to collapse and move around, and can be stored in condensed stacks that occupy minimal space. David Irwin’s re-imagining of the classic folding chair gives a modern update to a concept that dates back to the ancient worlds, imbuing it with a resounding sense of quality and aesthetic appeal. The elegant design features a smooth sweeping transition from the turned legs into the formed backrest, which also doubles as the mount for the pivot from where the back leg rotates. The seat and back are formed from layered birch ply with a clear lacquer oak veneer and brass fixings. The fixings contained on the underside of the chair slide along the grooves within the back legs to create a graceful silhouette with clean flowing lines, which looks as good folded away for storage as it does when in use. “While practical, traditional folding chairs can be pretty boring. Designer David Irwin took a look at the design and gave it a beautiful, modern update.” Design Milk
David Irwin receives the Design Guild Mark Award, 2017
Previous Design Guild Mark Awards
The Loku Chair was awarded the Design Guild Mark in 2016
The Eos Range by Matthew Hilton was awarded the Design Guild Mark in 2016.