The Furniture Makers’ Company is delighted to announce DGM 284 The Brutalist Collection, designed by Claire Canning & Lindsey Hesketh for Granite & Smoke, and DGM 309 AD11 Lounge Chair, designed by Huw Evans and Campbell Thompson for The Conran Shop as the winners of the Jonathan Hindle Prize for outstanding design.

The winners were announced at the Design Guild Mark ceremony by Deyan Sudjic OBE, British writer and broadcaster on design and architecture, and former director of the Design Museum, London. The ceremony took place on Tuesday 23^rd May during Clerkenwell Design Week.

The Jonathan Hindle Prize is awarded to the most outstanding of the year’s Design Guild Mark awarded pieces. All winners receive a stunning trophy, which was made from solid surface Corian®, and a £1,000 cash prize.

The Design Guild Mark is awarded by The Furniture Makers’ Company, the City of London livery company and charity for the furnishing industry, to drive excellence and raise the profile of British design and innovation.  It recognises the highest standards in the design of furnishings in volume production across three categories - Furniture, Lighting Design, and Interior Design Elements. The award is open to designers working in Britain or British designers working abroad and emphasises how innovation of materials and creativity remain at the forefront of British design.

The Design Guild Mark is judged by a panel of leading industry professionals. Each member of the panel is from the furniture, textile, lighting, interiors, hospitality, commercial, retail, academic, or media industry. Judges must ensure that each design meets the criteria of: excellence in design, being innovative, function, form, brand and environment.

Jonathan Hindle, President E.M.E.A, KI, commented: “The Design Guild Mark was founded to recognise excellence in the design of furniture for volume production. To be awarded a Design Guild Mark is a great honour in itself, but to be recognised as having produced the most outstanding design for the year by such a distinguished panel of judges is something to be extremely proud of.”

WINNERS

DGM 284 – The Brutalist Collection, designed by Claire Canning & Lindsey Hesketh for Granite & Smoke

The Brutalist Collection of blankets and cushions, inspired by London’s bold and graphic brutalist architecture and modernist colours, are made with premium and sustainable materials from ethically sourced cashmere to recycled wool, hand finished by British specialists to the highest standards. Woven in Scotland and England on Jacquard looms in short runs; each creation tells an uplifting story influenced by our backgrounds in art, architecture and fashion, in carefully considered and unapologetically optimistic colour combinations. Our Scottish

lambswool/cashmere blankets are woven using contrasting yarn weights and thickness to create a soft, yet graphic irregularity. A specialist double sided weave technique was used adding depth and gives the fabric a three-dimensional quality, as though it was hand quilted. Our recycled wool is made with 100% recycled post-consumer textile waste from the fashion industry. Our ethically sourced lambswool/cashmere uses non-toxic dyes, is 100% natural and renewable and is certified to meet the highest standards of animal welfare, environmental care, and social sustainability.

Granite & Smoke commented,

“We were pleasantly surprised and honoured to receive the Johnathan Hindle prize for the Brutalist collection. It really means a lot for our work to be recognised & praised by the judges. Thank you and well done to all the other awardees!"

About the Designers
Granite + Smoke is Lindsey Hesketh and Claire Canning; life-long friends and design professionals. The studio founded in 2019, draws from their multi- disciplinary backgrounds, Lindsey is an architect who runs an award-winning RIBA practice in Aberdeen, and Claire in London, has a Masters in Textiles from the Royal College of Art and works in interiors and fashion textiles, previously for Paul Smith & Alexander McQueen.

Together they create contemporary enduring homewares that are part of history and future inspired. The aim is to create joyful products, which are consciously crafted with minimal impact to the environment. Granite & Smoke works with partners committed to supporting local supply chains and prioritising communities and worker well-being. In addition, waste is limited by weaving short runs and collecting all excess weaving salvage to transform into other products.

DGM 309 – AD11 Lounge Chair, designed by Huw Evans and Campbell Thompson for The Conran Shop

Architecture and furniture unite in the AD11 Outdoor Lounge Chair, designed by and exclusively available at The Conran Shop. Made from oak-veneered marine plywood, the AD11 is available in three vigorous hues of yellow, blue, and red, each featuring a discrete bottle opener for the ultimate spring-summer relaxation.

Brand new for 2023, AD11 is our modern interpretation of the classic Adirondack chair typology. The two independent backrests provide ergonomic comfort, while generous armrests promote lounging.

About the Designers

Huw Evans - As a material led designer based in London, Huw’s work combines materials with a diverse heritage of processes to enhance not only the material but also accentuate the making method.

Having adopted a hands-on approach to design during his early studies, Huw continued this a designer-maker while studying 3D Design at the University of Plymouth. The rounded knowledge of materials and making he gained helps to inform his current design process. Huw’s work won the RADO Star Prize 2019 and the inaugural The Conran Shop Design Award in 2019 for his graduate collection from which the Iris Lounge Chair was developed and later launched in 2022. He continues this working relationship as Product Developer at The Conran Shop.

Campbell Thompson - Campbell is Head of Furniture & Lighting for the Conran Shop. He graduated with a BSc in Product Design and since then has gained over 15 years’ experience in Home retailing working for various brands including Skandium, Harrods and Heals. Campbell joined the Conran Shop in 2016 and oversees the buying edit across furniture and lighting, working with brands on exclusive collaborations and developing Conran Shop own brand furniture and lighting with prominent UK and international designers.

Rodney McMahon, chairman of the Design Guild Mark, commented:

“The great pleasure of the Design Guild Mark is having British designers appraised and approved by such eminent judging panels.  When those judges choose to honour one outstanding design, from all of those submitted, with the Jonathan Hindle Prize, that ought to be a source of enormous pride to the winner.”