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Design Classics #27: Arco Light



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The original and the best: Arco Floor Lamp It was, in the end, perhaps the Lamp wot won it. Following the revelation that Samantha Cameron had bought a fake Arco for her new kitchen at No 10, Michelle Ogundehin, the editor of Elle Decoration, was outraged. Writing on her blog, Ogundehin called Cameron  "cheap, hypocritical and
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Design Classics #26: Bakelite Telephone



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  "Hello, Grindlethorpe 239 . . ." In 1951, the question "Are you on the phone?" meant did you own a telephone, not were you busy nattering, texting or tweeting on it. In those days a mere 1.5 million households could answer in the affirmative. By the end of the decade, half of the UK
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Design Classics #25: FAB Smeg Fridge



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Wallace and Gromit have a SMUG fridge in their kitchen. There's also one in EastEnders, a show not usually noted for interior design. But despite the gentle ribbing, the Smeg fridge is still an object of desire for many and is, without a doubt, a modern design classic. So widely recognised is it that it
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Design Classics #24: Lucienne Day’s Calyx Fabric



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  As we enter the week of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, Mad About The House launches a week dedicated to the Best of British Design. We begin with Lucienne Day who, along with her husband Robin, transformed British design in the post war era. He made furniture, she created stunning abstract designs for wallpapers and
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Design Classics #23: The Bestlite by Robert Dudley Best



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Designed in 1930, this classic desk lamp counts Winston Churchill among its famous users. His stood on his desk in his air-raid shelter beneath Whitehall and was presumably witness to many conversations about strategy while the sirens wailed outside. The Bestlite was created by Robert Dudley Best, heir to the largest lighting factory in the
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Design Classics #22: The Dualit Toaster



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Toasting bread began back in Roman times mainly as a way of prolonging its life, but it was to be hundreds of years before anyone came up with a machine that could do the job efficiently. The first electric toaster was invented in Great Britain in 1893, according to Mary Bellis, author of the About.com
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Design Classics #21: The Russell Hobbs K2 Kettle



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Think of a kettle and the chances are that something chrome and curved springs to mind. Probably with a red button sticking out of its black plastic handle. This is the Russell Hobbs K2. The world's second (the first was their K1) fully automatic kettle. A item which has achieved iconic design status and which
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Design Classics #20: The Chesterfield Sofa



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There's no doubt the Chesterfield sofa is a classic. No-one would dispute that it has earned its place as a design icon. But there is some confusion in how it came to be so named and why that has come to be a shorthand way of describing a deep-buttoned, leather-covered sofa. Paul Fleming, the fourth
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Design Classics #19: Arne Jacobsen AJ Lamp



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Admittedly it's a crowded field but the Danish architect and designer Arne Jacobsen is regarded as one of the most influential of the 20th century. Alongside Verner Panton (that moulded S chair), Hans Wegner (the wishbone), Poul Henningsen (the artichoke) and not forgetting (for the technology buffs) Bang & Olufson, Jacobsen is well known for
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Design Classics #18: The Anglepoise Lamp



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A staple of the student bedroom the Anglepoise lamp was, like many of the greatest inventions, designed by accident. Back in the Thirties, George Carwardine owned a factory in Bath that designed vehicle suspensions. He loved messing about in his workshop, even on his days off, and in the course of one such happy morning
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Design Classics #17: The Starck 2 Bath



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It's the classic free-standing tub. You might even have one that looks pretty similar. But this is a Philippe Starck and it costs around £5,000. The Starck 2 was the first contemporary free-standing bathtub. Before this, there was only the Victorian roll-top, which took your bathroom design in a retro direction. But this was double-ended,
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Design Classics #16: Marimekko Unikko Fabric



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It's probably one of the most recognised fabric designs in the world. Huge splashy poppies in a variety of colours adorning umbrellas, bags, tea trays and bedding. And yet Unikko, from the Finnish design company Marimekko, only came about when a designer dared to defy her boss. Armi Ratia, the creative vision behind Marimekko, bought
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Design Classics #15 :Duralex Glass



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Hands up if you drank from these at primary school? Thought so. These French glasses are a design classic found in French bistros and schools the world over. Rumour has it there is even a picture of Osama bin Laden holding a Duralex glass. The school version is called the Gigogne – slightly rounded and
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Design Classics #14: The Cafe Daum Coatstand



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  If you can tell a design classic by how often it is copied, then the Cafe Daum hatstand surely has the credentials. From its illustrious beginnings in 19th century Viennese cafe society, versions of it can now be found on Amazon for about 20 quid, which is actually rather sad. It is perhaps the
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Design Classics #13: The Ercol Butterfly Chair



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It might look like a fairly standard kitchen chair but the Ercol Butterfly was groundbreaking when it first launched. What's more, the clean, simple lines of postwar British design are still as fashionable today as they were 50 years ago. The chair's designer, Lucian Randolph Ercolani, arrived in London from his native Florence in 1894.
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Design Classics #12: The Chicken Brick



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They can be found in kitchens up and down the land. Most of them are probably lying forgotten at the back of a hardly opened cupboard. A few are proudly out on the work top - filled with paper clips and rubber bands and that bit of blue tak that you thought might come in
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Design Classics #11: The Tolix Bistro Chair



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  The Tolix chair, a favourite of cafes and retro kitchens all over the world, was designed in 1934. It was meant to be outside in all weathers, which is why there are holes in the seats - to allow the rain to drain off. It was immediately popular, not just in cafes, where right
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Design Classics #10: The Eames Hang It All



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  Its brightly coloured lollipop balls grace many a hallway although they are often obscured by the coats they were created to hold. The Hang-It-All is a classic set of hooks by those masters of modernist design Mr and Mrs Eames. In the mid 1940s Charles and Ray began designing products for children, including their
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Design Classics #9: The PH Artichoke Light



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  It has not escaped Design Classics' notice that there is a certain fascination with all things Danish at the moment. The jumpers, The Killing, Borgen, the interior design (that's Lego for the small ones) so in an attempt to blatantly jump on the bandwagon, we bring you the Artichoke Lamp. Designed by the Dane
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Design Classics #8: The Bubble Chair



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It's a bit space age, a bit glamorous, a bit indoor hammock. The Bubble chair was built to swing lazily on a landing by a picture window or to be suspended in a room full of books but always within reach of a Martini. The chair is so perfectly designed that it comes as a
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