Category: Design and Interiors

If you’ve visited the V&A’s Cold War Modern exhibition, you might have seen a strange film by a radical Italian architecture/design collective – Superstudio. The group left plenty of bold statements and ideas behind in the 60s and 70s, but very actual design – with the exception of the Quaderna range for Zanotta.

And this Superstudio Quaderna 710 console table and bench is part of it. The idea was to create a ‘neutral surface’, free of influence from all that has come before, which you certainly get here. Both pieces feature a honey-comb core structure coated with white plastic laminate, that check design screenprinted onto that surface.

Hard to describe it as eye-catching, but as design with a story, this is hard to beat. Yours from £1,620.

Find out more at the TwentyTwentyOne website

A design classic that’s still catching the eye over 80 years on – the Bolich ceiling light.

This is the original Bolich ceiling light, first introduced in the Germany in the 1920s and still oozing that modernist cool. The reflector is made of black powder-coated sheet steel, attached to the ceiling by the cast-iron mushroom-shaped hanger and nickel-plated chain.

If you don’t like black, there’s also a white, with both selling for the same price – £112.

Find out more at the Manufactum website

Remember the Quasar inflatable furniture range? it was the original 60s inflatable furniture, designed by Quasar Khanh and recently reissued by Branex. For authenticity, it can’t be beat, but for price…well, it could be a little cheaper. Around the price of the Homebase 60s-style inflatable seating ideally.

Yes, this is a high street take on the 60s classic, offering a choice of armchair or two-seater sofa in blue or pink, both complete with a puncture repair kit, because accidents will happen.

And it’s very cheap. The armchair sells for £14.69, while the sofa is yours for £19.59.

Find out more at the Homebase website

Maharam has issued a number of cushions featuring classic mid-century designs, the work of Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson, Alexander Girard and Verner Panton to name just four of the designers.

All the cases are sized around 17 x 17 inches, with the filling made of a mix of goose feather and goose down. Two of those designs are pictured above, the 1947 Dot pattern by Charles and Ray Eames on the left and the 1950 China Shop design by George Nelson on the right.

Check out Nest Living for the full range, each selling for $150. So far we haven’t found a UK-based retailer.

Find out more at the Nest Living website

We’re big Aalto fans here – and every bit as stylish as his furniture is his lighting. And that includes the Alvar Aalto Golden and Chrome Bell pendant lights.

Designed back in 1939 for the Savoy Restaurant in Helsinki, these are bell-shaped steel light shades, with a choice of two finishes – a chrome plate or a brass plate – both giving off that distinctive mirror-driven shine, as well as the concentrated light from within.

No matter what finish you go for, the price is the same – £193.

Find out more at the TwentyTwentyOne website

Over 70 years old and still looking as unique as ever – the Cassina Utrecht armchair.

Designed by Gerrit T Rietveld back in 1935, the Utrecht is built around a steel frame with polyurethane foam and polyester padding combining to give the impression of a ‘floating’ chair, even though it’s as solid as any chair on the market.

Take your pick from a leather or fabric finish, with prices starting around the £1,700 mark.

Find out more at the Nest website