Category: Design and Interiors

It might look like a DIY project, but the Santa & Cole Cometa hanging lamp is a piece of high-end 70s design.

It actually dates back to 1975 – Charles Dillon did originally make it as a home project for his wife Jane, the light being refined for commercial use. For your money, you get a white kite-like cloth shade that hangs from a ceiling, with a hidden aluminium cone operating as a reflector and a red cable holding the on/off switch.

Just tell your visitors it’s an art installation, they’re sure to be impressed. Yours for £293.

Find out more at the Nest website

We thought we’d seen the end of the Keep Calm and Carry On craze, but still new products come – and this Keep Calm and Carry On handmade rug is probably the classiest of the lot.

It keeps that same classic design, offering it as a handmade rug from 100% New Zealand tufted wool & 100% cotton backing, produced in Uttar Pradesh, India.

Both are sized at 183cm x 122cm, with a choice of red or navy blue, selling for £445.

Find out more at the Pedlars website

Everyone needs a chair to kick back into – and this Miss Behaving armchair from Sofa Workshop looks as comfortable as anything out there.

Very much in a 50s/mid-century style, the tight-covered armchair offers a choice of colour for those angled legs, as well as a choice of covering from over 2,200 fabrics (the one above is Nina Campbell Amazonas).

Prices do vary depending on finish, with the one pictured here officially selling for £930, although there is a 30 per cent discount available right now.

Find out more at the Sofa Workshop website

Ok, we’ll admit right now that this isn’t a retail piece – but this Kartell space age Colombo Phone Table could be yours with a little work and money.

It’s actually the work of one of our regular readers (Andrew), who has fitted the base of a Colombo phone into the lid of a Kartell modular unit (the lip on the phone’s base allowing it to be recessed), adding the classic Guzzini Sorella lamp (from 1972) to complete this space age telephone table.

If you’re working towards that Space 1999 look (and don’t mind getting your hands dirty with a bit of DIY), it’s well worth trying yourself. More close-up images over the page.

Find out more about the Colombo phone

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A strange design, the Oluce Colombo ceiling lamp can add a quirky and slightly industrial look to a room.

Dating back to 1972 and designed (as the name suggests) by Joe Colombo, the Colombo lamp offers both direct and indirect light from adjustable aluminium reflector, with a chrome-plated stem and lacquered ceiling fixing finishing things off.

Not his best, but certainly a talking point – and yours for £331.

Find out more at the Panik Design website