2019 Jonathan Hindle Prize awarded to two Design Guild Mark recipients

The Furniture Makers’ Company is delighted to announce DGM 212 Ori Guest Bed, designed by Catherine Aitken, and DGM 233 Igneous, designed by Nathan Philipott and Jemma Ooi, as the winners of the 2019 Jonathan Hindle Prize.

The winners were announced at the Design Guild Mark ceremony, which took place on Tuesday 21 May at Allermuir/Senator’s new showroom as part of Clerkenwell Design Week.

The Jonathan Hindle Prize is awarded to the most outstanding of the year’s Design Guild Mark awarded pieces in both the furniture and 2D categories. Both winners received a stunning trophy, which was sponsored and made from solid surface Corian®, and a £1,000 cash prize.

Two further furniture entries were also highly commended –  DGM 214 William Lounge Chair and Ottoman, designed by Mark Gabbertas for Allermuir and DGM 217 Panel, designed by Lucy Kurrein for Capdell.

The Ori Guest Bed, designed by Catherine Aitken and manufactured by Another Country, is a day time sofa, a single ‘put me up’ and a pull out double bed all in one. A versatile piece, designed in response to, and in line with, Ekkist’s well-being principles; it’s made from solid ash with two slim mattresses manufactured by Naturalmat and filled with a combination of organic coir and wool.

Rodney McMahon, Design Guild Mark chairman, said: “The judges voted to award the Ori Guest Bed the Jonathan Hindle Prize as the best of the Design Guild Mark Furniture awardees, in a very strong field for 2019, as they were taken by the simplicity and versatility of the design, but were especially impressed that the holistic design process had eliminated environmental impact imposed by any of the materials – from fabrics to fixings.”

Igneous designed by Nathan Philpott and Jemma Ooi, is a design made from carbon powder. Custhom’s innovative process of hand-foiling wallpapers creates a uniquely distressed or highly polished finish in a wide range of metallic hues which imitates the crystallization of igneous rocks formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava. The pattern is non-repetitive down the length of the wallpaper.

Rodney added: “The Igneous Collection was named the best of the Design Guild Mark 2D awardees for 2019. The beauty of the product was an immediate standout and by bringing together intriguing processes, using recycled materials, thereby creating original and unique, non-repetitive, patterns using a handmade technique, in Britain, was very impressive.”