Design Guild Mark 2017 – Awardees Announced

Design Insider had the privilege of being invited to film the judging process at this years Design Guild Mark which is awarded by the Furniture Makers Company and was hosted at the impressive Carpenters Hall, London.

Over the course of the day we managed to sit down with the majority of designers to discuss through the products they had put forward and the inspiration behind them and over the next 2 weeks we shall be exploring those products in a bit more detail.

Check out our video showcasing the products and designers behind them:

And the awardees are…

The ninth Design Guild Mark Awards have been announced for an unprecedented total of 34 award recipients.

The prestigious Design Guild Mark is awarded by The Furniture Makers’ Company, the furnishing industry’s charity, in order to drive excellence and raise the profile of British design and innovation. The award recognises the highest standards in the design of furniture in volume production by the finest designers working in Britain, or British designers working abroad.
Alexander Gifford, Chairman of the Design Guild Mark, commented:

“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.”

Design Guild Mark 2017 award recipients are as follows:

Silta – Designed by Allermuir Design for Allermuir
Series Four – Designed and distributed by Another Country
Holworth – Designed by Nathalie de Leval for Benchmark
Tailor – Designed by Nathalie de Leval for Benchmark
Multidrawer – Designed by Frederick Brown for Bisley 
Trinetic – Designed and distributed by Boss Design (Check our ‘step by step’ feature where Boss Design take us through what is involved in creating the Trinetic chair)
Narin Folding Chair – Designed by David Irwin for Case Furniture
Tri Space – Designed by Terence Woodgate and John Barnard for Case Furniture
Mr Knock 1- Designed by Samuel Chan for Channels
Mr Knock 2 – Designed by Samuel Chan for Channels
Caburn Bench – Designed by Wales and Wales for Joined and Jointed
Turner Carver – Designed by Charles Dedman for Sitting Firm
Diva – Designed by Jones & Partners for Thinking Works
TOR – Designed by David Irwin for Dare Studio
Waldron – Designed by Sean Dare for Dare Studio
Gifu Workstation – Designed by Sebastian Conran for Hida Sangyo Co Ltd
Pero – Designed by Matthew Hilton for Ercol
Modulo – Designed by Dylan Freeth for Ercol
Serac – Designed by Mark Gabbertas for Oasiq
Keyn Family – Designed by forpeople for Herman Miller (Read our Q&A with Richard Stevens about the inspiration behind the Keyn collection)
Robin Day Armchair – Designed by Robin Day for Hille
Robin Day Polyside Chair – Designed by Robin Day for Hille
Krusin Chair – Designed by Marc Krusin for Knoll
More Table – Designed by Simon Pengelly for Montis
Rio Table – Designed by Morgan Studio and studio INTEGRATE for Morgan Furniture (Watch our exclusive video with Studio INTEGRATE as they take us through the 3D printing process)
Valencia – Designed by Morgan Studio for Morgan Furniture
No.036 Dining Range – Designed by Charlie Fowler for John Lewis
Orbit Mirror – Designed by Rodney Kinsman for OMK 1965
Curve Chair (Zones Collection) – Designed by Pearson Lloyd for Teknion (Read our Q&A with Pearson Lloyd as they go through the concept behind ‘Zones’)
Leaf Seats – Designed by Nicolette de Waart for Design by nico
Floating Bench – Designed by Simon Pirie for Sitting Spiritually Ltd
Smile – Designed by Sarah Kay for Harvey Jones Kitchens
Bum Range – Designed by Paul O’Leary, Robin McLellan, Ben Creed, Michael Stevenson and Huw Janes for deVOL Kitchens
Tip Toe Range – Designed by Ted Jefferis for TedWood DGM 196

*All designs highlighted in blue are BCFA members

Chaired by Alexander Gifford, this year’s eminent judging panel were:

Simon Alderson – twentytwentyone
Diana Monkhouse – SpaceInvader
Sujata Burman – Wallpaper* Magazine
Jeremy Myerson – Royal College of Art
Joanna Biggs – GA Design
Philippa Prinsloo – John Lewis
Barbara Chandler – Evening Standard
Pernille Stafford – Resonate Interiors
Thomas Pearce – Sebastian Conran Associates
Jason Wilary-Attew – The Conran Shop

All judges with an interest in an entry stood aside when that entry was being considered.

Diana Monkhouse, Director of SpaceInvader Design:

“The Design Guild Mark has succeeded again, an absolutely stand out number of entries and quality again this year which was the subject of much debate amongst the judges. It’s a great opportunity to review, honour and reward excellence in British Design and Designers and meet the individuals so passionate and worthy of the mark, all entries should be extremely proud of their contribution to British design.”

Jeremy Myerson, Helen Hamlyn Professor of Design at the Royal College of Art:

“This year there was a marked accent in terms of design quality on furniture for the workplace, signalling a blurring of the lines between office and hospitality. Interesting!”

Pernille Stafford, Principal of Resonate Interiors:

“The submissions this year were wide-ranging in material, style and manufacturing. We enjoyed a huge variety of pieces from the traditional method of weaving to state of the art fabrication. The judging process allowed for a vibrant and lively discussion with the constant reminder that we are looking for ‘design excellence’.”