Behind the scenes of the 2017 Design Guild Mark judging

When the Design Guild Mark was conceived almost a decade ago, we had one goal: to recognise the highest standards in the design of furniture for volume production, by the finest designers working in Britain, or British designers working abroad.

To our knowledge it is the only awards programme where the judges – all experts in their fields – not only get to inspect the submitted piece in person – sitting on the chairs, opening the drawers and exploring every inch – but also get to probe the designer in a Dragons Den style.

This is to ensure the piece meets the Mark’s criteria:

• Are the materials appropriate?
• Are they from sustainable sources?
• Does the piece show new thinking?
• Does it represent value?
• Does it solve a problem?
• Is it fit for purpose?
• Will it last?

This year the judges vetted 60 pieces and 34 of them were awarded the coveted mark, bringing the total up to 196. The full gallery of successful Design Guild Marks is available here. Happy Monday.