---

As British design courses look to become an endangered species, the Design Guild Mark Awards were established to promote excellence in British design and innovation.

---

Words by Emily Martin

With graduate season in full flow, hundreds of students up and down the country are preparing for one of the most terrifying challenges of their professional lives: getting a job.

Poon desk by Tony Portus and Simon Pirie for Makers' Eye

Cross Leg Chair by Magnus Long for The Conran Shop

675 Chair by Robin Day (d.2010) for Case Furniture

Traditionally the ratio of creative graduate to creative job has been favourable to employers, with many companies seeking out the cream of the crop and sparking fierce competition among graduates. Yet with an increasing number of educational institutions closing degree programmes that are costly to run, British design sectors such as the furniture industry face ever-increasing uncertainty about what the future will hold with a drying talent pool.

CoCo by Mark Gabbertas for Oasiq

 

Omstak stacking Chair by Rodney Kinsman RDI for OMK Design

It was a subject touched on as part of a talk organised by the Furniture Makers' Company, on the eve of the eighth Design Guild Mark Awards, chaired by Jeremy Myerson, the director of Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design at the RCA, during this year's Clerkenwell Design Week. The 'Is there still such a thing as British design?' talk presented a panel of industry representatives - photographer and journalist Barbara Chandler, British designer Sebastian Conran, and chief design purchaser for John Lewis Philippa Prinsloo. The lively discussion questioned the commercial values of British design.

Stix tables by Magnus Long for The Conran Shop

Flite by Rodney Kinsman for OMK Design

The Design Guild Mark Awards were established to promote excellence and raise the profile of British design and innovation, and for 2015 were awarded to 21 products. In doing so they hightlighted a UK design industry that is still worthy of investment.furnituremakers.org.uk

Now in its eighth year, the 2015 design guild Mark award recipients are:

• Poon desk by Tony Portus and Simon Pirie for Makers' Eye
• Cross Leg Chair by Magnus Long for The Conran Shop Winner of The Jonathan Hindle Prize - a new award launched this year
• Henray by Henry Gurney for Ocee Design
• 675 Chair by Robin Day (d.2010) for Case Furniture
• CoCo by Mark Gabbertas for Oasiq
• Omstak stacking Chair by Rodney Kinsman RDI for OMK Design
• Stix tables by Magnus Long for The Conran Shop
• Flite by Rodney Kinsman for OMK Design
• Frame sofa by Ian Archer for by Archer & Co
• Radius range by Simon Pengelly for Habitat
• Balance Coffee table by Sir Terence Conran for Content by Terence Conran
• Timba table by PearsonLloyd for Bene
• Kerning Bookcase Collection by Samuel Chan for Channels
• Kerning Cabinet Collection by Samuel Chan for Channels
• The Cubrick Cabinet by Cairn Young and Ian Spencer for Harrods
• Pollyfox Bench by Henry Swanzy for Henry Swanzy Limited
• Pollyfox trestle table by Henry Swanzy for Henry Swanzy Limited
• Svelto round stacking stool by Lisa Sandall for Ercol Loki sofa by Charlie Fowler for John Lewis
• Edge table by PearsonLloyd for Modus Furniture
• Ba3 Chair by Ernest Race (d.1964) for Race Furniture