One of the pleasures of attending the Salone del Mobile in Milan is to discover intriguing new designers in unexpected settings. 

Over the past few years designers have been delighting in pushing the creative possibilities of unusual and mixed materials - first there was copper, then marble.  

Dining tables are too often either a messy depository of detritus from our daily lives or an expressionless blank slate in the middle of our living rooms.

A stable table needs three legs, so why not put a table top on each leg and turn a necessity into a source of enhanced functionality?

London-based designer Michael Anastassiades has created a series of occasional furniture for Herman Miller every bit as sculptural and minimalist as his well known designs for lights.

Daphne Laurens is a young Dutch designer best known for designing the Sofalamp and Fruitlamp for Cappellini.

Most people would see folds and creases as undesirable for rugs, but not for London-based Italian architect Alessandro Isola, who has created a coffee table out of a fold in a rug.

The annual design pilgrimage to Milan, otherwise known as the Salone del Mobile, is almost upon us and one of the most eagerly anticipated events is the exhibition of 50 Manga Chairs designed by Nendo for Friedman Benda gallery. 

Small can be exquisitely beautiful, as this writer's cottage at the end of a suburban garden shows.

On a quiet residential street in the Japanese city of Utsunomiya sits an unexpected house.

The ski season may be over but fun can still be had on the slopes, especially at a ski resort as exclusive as Courchevel 1850, in a chalet as palatial as the Petit Palais.  

Heritage is a common source of inspiration for product designers, but it takes extraordinary sensitivity to incorporate heritage into contemporary designs in a creative and pastiche-free way.