Designer & Products

This three-legged masterpiece single-handedly defined the essence of Alberto Alessi’s Italian homewares company. And not only has it come to define Alessi but also a certain brand of design that has been hugely influential – through wit and accessibility.

Designed by Philippe Starck in 1989, this iconic lemon squeezer is obviously a functional design, but also a moving and mysterious sculptural work. Alberto Alessi was himself surprised when he received the design for this lemon juicer – as he had asked Starck to design him a tray!

The Alessi Juicy Salif lemon squeezer is on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Taking inspiration from all that was around them, the Castaglioni brothers used the street lamp as their muse for their iconic Arco lamp. Arching eight feet from the floor - allowing it to be positioned in a corner with the light oriented over the dining table – the design reflects how a light hangs over the road.

Their designs were an exercise in pure functionality: even the huge block of Carrera marble at the base has a seemingly decorative hole, which is really for a broomstick to be inserted so you can move it around.

The Museum of Modern Art in New York dedicated an exhibition to Archille Castiglioni’s work in 1997, and today displays a dozen of his works, including the Flos Arco - possibly the best-selling lamp in the world.

“When we open our doors to designers they seem to fall under the spell of Baccarat and the material itself. Our aim is to become a source of masterly inspiration to designers.”

Designed by Philippe Starck as part of Baccarat’s Darkside collection, the Blue Angel highball glass represents an “aesthetic paradox - crystal is supposed to be the clearest material in the world, but in black it becomes something strange and dramatic”.

Though black crystal was initially introduced by Baccarat in the 1840s, Philippe Starck brought back this sultry material in his ground-breaking black chandelier for Baccarat and reworked the iconic Harcourt pattern from 1841 – generating a familiar shape infused with a very new feel.

It is generous and sensuous in its volume, demanding to be touched. Black crystal on the inside, with its dark shine and glow of onyx, contrasts with the clear, light-refracting crystal that contains it.

Barbie was unveiled at the New York Toy Fair in 1959 and took the world by storm. Over 351,000 dolls were sold in the first year alone and as the decades have passed, Barbie has remained an inspiration to millions of girls across the globe.

What began as a fashion doll has now evolved into a living brand that both mirrors and inspires cultural shifts and has celebrated girls and women over the years.

Barbie has had over 90 careers including astronaut, doctor and even presidential candidate and has represented over 75 nationalities. Over one billion Barbie dolls have now been sold with both adults and children collecting her in record numbers. Today she remains one of the hottest selling toys in the world.

Purchase this iconic product at Harrods.com.

It is perhaps Calvin Klein’s unique take on gender that allows him to blur the lines between the sexes with exceptional ease: "I always loved androgyny”, says Klein, “Putting women in men's underwear, then refitting men's underwear to be bold and sexy!"

Since 1982, it is exactly these qualities that have made Calvin Klein underwear the world’s finest designer underwear for men and women. Cutting edge design coupled with exceptional fit and quality has attracted top models and celebrities alike to the Calvin Klein underwear brand. Just like his selection of high profile models, Klein picks his fabrics with care, producing trendy, edgy underwear of the highest excellence.

And while Calvin Klein underwear brand advertising reaches 98 million people on the globe, it is rather his penchant for simple, sleek style that can be credited with making the biggest statement.

Purchase this iconic product at Harrods.com.

Louis Cartier must have been as stunned by the newly designed Allied tanks as enemy soldiers (who allegedly retreated from the battlefields in panic) were, so formidable their appearance.

But Louis saw the impeccable lines and rugged bulk of the Renault tanks as exciting and new, and incorporated the elements into his new watch design - the first for a modern man of action.

Designed in 1917, the Cartier Tank watch hit legendary status with its slim, refined look in a rectangular frame. Today, this watch’s iconic ranking remains as strong as it begun over 90 years ago.

To date, the Tank watch is the best-selling watch in the history of Cartier.

“I want to give women an artificial perfume,” Coco Chanel famously said. “Yes, artificial – like a dress, something that has been made. I don’t want any rose or lily of the valley: I want something that reflects my personality, something abstract and unique.” In an age of heavy mono-floral scents, it was revolutionary and changed the course of the fragrance industry.

Russian perfumer Ernest Beaux created five vials of fragrance for Coco; Chanel preferred the fifth scent and bestowed it with the name No. 5. She then set about designing a bottle that would also encapsulate her philosophy. At the time, ornate fragrance bottles were the norm, so Chanel chose a square bottle reminiscent of a men’s cologne. The stark black-and-white label and the mysterious name perfectly demonstrated Chanel’s less-is-more attitude.

Thirty years after its creation, sales of the fragrance rocketed when Marilyn Monroe told a journalist who inquired about her night-time attire that all she wore to bed was “a few drops of Chanel No. 5” – and Andy Warhol elevated the bottle to iconic status in a series of screenprints.

In 1959, a bottle of Chanel No 5 appeared in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

“The Famous Coca-Cola bottle is more than just a packaging,” Stephen Bayley once said. “It’s a genuine modern icon: an image of faith for a global civilisation committed to pleasurable consumption, not just of delicious drinks, but of favourable imagery too”.

There are various myths over the inspiration for the design of the Coca Cola bottle – one including Marilyn Monroe.

However the truth behind the design hails back to 1915, when an unknown designer Alexander Samuelsson was briefed to design a new bottle. His design took inspiration from the curvature of the cocoa bean – which in turn produced the ergonomic silhouette we recognise today.

Not only is the Contour Bottle a house-hold name but has even been painted by artist Andy Warhol who has described the bottle as “the design icon of the decade”. And it wasn’t like him to understate.

Dyson is all about making things better and Dyson’s DC24 cleaner certainly proved to do just that. This lightweight, bagless vacuum cleaner uses the Dyson’s innovative Ball technology.

“I've always been intrigued by how things work,” says inventor James Dyson. “Inventing is just an extension of this curiosity. I’m inspired by frustration.”

Dyson’s first frustration was a clogging bagged vacuum cleaner – and his answer was his ground-breaking cyclone technology. “It took 15 years - and a lot of mistakes - before the first Dyson machine rolled off the production line,” he says.

James Dyson continuously looks to pioneer industry-leading designs to make everyday life that much simpler.

And his latest frustration? “Wheels. All vacuum cleaners have fixed wheels that can only go in straight lines. However, a ball can turn on a sixpence... I think balls render wheels obsolete."

Frenchman André Cassagnes conceived his Ecran Magique ('magic screen') while working in an industrial factory during the 1950s, and displayed the rudimentary picture sketcher at the International Toy Exhibition in Germany in 1959. Here it caught the eye of Ohio Art principals H.W. Winzeler and WC Killgallon who instantly realised its potential for a generation of children raised on television: the devise was television-shaped with two prominent dials, but the big difference with it was that children held the controls.

In 1960, Ohio Art launched the toy – renamed it Etch a Sketch – and sent out a television campaign ensuring its overnight success.

The Etch a Sketch Club includes over 35,000 members, aged 2 to 82, some of them professional artists in their own right.

Every now and again, a new must-have handbag pops up that gets the mouths of fashion’s elite watering at the mere sight of it. However, no bag has had quite the same effect than the introduction of a certain Fendi bag.

“Fendi has always made beautiful leather handbags,” says Fendi designer Sylvia Venturini Fendi. “But during the 1990s I realised that a handbag was more than just a way of carrying things around, but an extension of a woman's personality!”

Designed to slip neatly under the arm, with the nonchalance of French women when carrying a loaf of bread, the Baguette bag took the fashion world by storm. Often referred to as ‘the fashion bag that invented the fashion for bags’, during the past 10 years over 1,000 versions of the Baguette bag have been produced.

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Fendi’s Baguette, the 10+ collection has been created, with ten intense and pure colours in different sizes. A white canvas version, complete 10 Pantone colouring pens, offers the opportunity to create your own bespoke Baguette.

The Groundpiece is hailed as one of Flexform's most popular sofas, and it’s not difficult to see why. With a wide range of components, the innovative design offers a range of unique qualities, and comes as a fixed or sectional sofa with different sizes and depths.

Designer Antonio Citterio pulled out all the stops when constructing his masterpiece. From luxury fabrics to classic, quality wood accessories Citterio focused on flexibility. Unique shelves have been given a multi-functional purpose, doubling up as an armrest, backrest or even coffee table.

The Groundpiece is not only a modern take on the traditional sofa, it is rather an ordinary object passionately morphed into a work of art.

The classic Heinz ketchup bottle was first created as a mark of trust, when Heinz decided it was time to preserve his product in full view of his consumer. It’s understandable that in the 1870s, when the food processing industry was in its beginning stages, consumers were wary of products they couldn’t see. And with good cause; Manufacturers often tried to trick the public by using leaves, wood fibre, or turnip filler to pad out their products, concealing it in a bottles and jars made of dark green.

Considering himself an honest businessman, Heinz bottled his product in clear glass, putting his customers’ minds at ease, and putting his business clearly on the map. Heinz also insisted on using fresh vegetables, which made his condiment richer and tastier than its competitors.

Today, Heinz is the largest distributor of tomato ketchup in the world, manufacturing enough tomatoes each day to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

By the end of last year, over 119 million iPods had been sold since its inception in 2001 - and that number is sturdily ticking on. The fastest selling music player in history, it is the brainchild of Apple’s Senior Vice president of industrial design, Jonathan Ive.

With millions of fans around the world using the player to download their favourite tracks, some high-profile users have credited it with single-handedly reviving the business of digital music storage. Mary J Blige famously gushed about her favourite music invention, saying: “iPod is more than just a music player; it’s an extension of your personality.”

iPod is not frightened of mingling, working seamlessly with iTunes software and Apple’s online store. With its inventor now hitting Time Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world, it’s not likely that the iPod will fade from the limelight anytime soon.

The creator of the pop-classic Astro ‘lava’ lamp – Edward Craven-Walker – was inspired to create the pop classic Astro lamp after seeing the germ of the idea that became the ‘lava-lamp’ in a pub in the New Forest. It was an egg timer designed by a Mr Dunnet in which a blob of liquid rose when the egg was ready. Craven-Walker then spent years developing a formula for a lamp based on this principal.

The designer believed the lamp represented the cycle of life – it grows, breaks up, falls down and then starts all over again. It is accessible, throw away, populist, shows no respect for the past but a great optimism about the future. And whether you love it or hate it, its design is integral to the ethos of the 1960s and 1970s culture.

Before Owen Maclaren’s ground-breaking 1965 design, prams were huge pieces of hardware that were difficult to manoeuvre and at odds with a new, informal era when women worked and few people had servants.

The first Maclaren B-01 buggy was inspired by a visit from his daughter and her baby. Wheeling around a clumsy, bulky pushchair made Owen consider his background in designing aeroplane undercarriages – lightweight but load-bearing structures capable of folding neatly – and apply it to baby carriages.

Using modern lightweight materials, Maclaren developed a structure that could comfortably carry a child and then fold into a space only a little bigger than a folded umbrella. The beauty of the new design was its light aluminium frame that weighed only six pounds and its 3-D folding mechanism that collapsed the buggy. He invented a new generation of baby transportation and revolutionised the industry.

The book Century Makers lists the Maclaren buggy as one of the hundred clever things we take for granted which have changed our lives over the past century.

Purchase this iconic product at Harrods.com.

The heritage pack – the Tetra Classic carton– created by Swedish entrepreneur Dr Ruben Rausing was born out of a vision that “a package should save more than it costs”.

Giving the carton its unique geometrical shape, Dr Rausing developed a packaging system that was formed, filled and sealed in a continual process. It resulted in packages completely filled, without air, and oxygen that have a damaging effect on milk and juice.

This not only transformed the way we package our food, but the way we look at the world around us. This innovatively designed product went on to become the world’s leader in the sphere of packing liquid food and drink products and is already featured in the New York Museum of Modern Art.

The carton package is made mainly from a natural, renewable resource: wood. As trees lock up carbon when they grow, this means that cartons have a lower carbon footprint. Tetra Pak are committed to ensuring their wood is sourced from responsibly managed forests to ensure that this holds true.

Whilst continuing to protect the products they package, cartons are still evolving. They are not just a packaging system, but a canvas for great designs!

The hippy movement of the 1960s and 1970s was responsible for Ligne Roset’s best-known design; the famous deconstructed Togo sofa. The 1968 French student revolution started in the streets, and everybody at the time was anti-conformist and anti-bourgeois, trying to change the world. This reflected in furniture, where designers were experimenting with new ways of stitching, organic, simplified shapes and bright colours as well as informal low seating which reflected relaxed attitudes, giving you feelings of cosiness, cuddling up, comfort, sensuality and, of course, freedom.

Combining these new trends resulted in the Togo, the very first sofa to be constructed entirely in foam without the support of any other internal structure. It uses 10 different densities of foam to create its supreme comfort and rounded shape. Its unique stitching technique was a complete revolution, influencing subsequent designers across the world.

Each gold nib of the Miesterstück fountain pen is forged, welded, ground, rounded, polished and inlayed in platinum in a 100-step process – just as it was in 1924.

That said, the pen has been modified internally to adapt to modern-day life, for instance, constructing it so that it can be carried on a plane without the pressure causing a flood of ink.

It’s interesting that we hear all the time that computers would kill off the pen, just as 20 years ago people said that the VCR would kill off movie theatres. However to this day, 10 million people write with the Meisterstück every day.

With the three gold rings, black casing and the famous white star, emblematic of its namesake’s snowy peak and code for ‘best take me seriously’.

The Montblanc Meisterstück is part of the permanent design collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Paul Smith muses that his design direction stems from his love of craftsmanship, tradition and Britishness – with a dash of his love of humour. These qualities are certainly evident in Smith’s sartorial pieces, which all inhabit his self-proclaimed 'classic with a twist' style.

Paul Smith’s first collection in 1976 proved troublesome for the designer with a lack of inspiring fabrics for men, specifically in shirting. However by the early 1980s Smith had experimented with every combination of stripes possible; “but at last I was in a position to design my own exclusive fabrics,” he says.

With this in mind, Paul Smith created a 'definitive stripe' using a myriad of colours. This vibrant, multi-hued creation was an immediate success and has continued to be the brand’s signature to this day.

Paul Smith’s multistripe signature can now be seen dotted all over his collections, from the lining of his cuffs to the packaging and carrier bags.

Purchase this iconic product at Harrods.com.

Harry Roberts was only 21 when he brought a sample receiver to Harrods during the ‘30s. Portable radios at the time were so heavy they couldn’t be moved around, and he immediately saw the potential in being able to carry music and news around easily.

It took him thirty years to develop the model which used the newly invented transistor – his first customer, appropriately enough, was Queen Elizabeth II, who was impressed with such good sound coming out of such a small box.

The Revival came about after a buyer showed interest in an old advertisement showing the R200. Designer, Gerry Thorn, recreated the 1950s model and a small number went into production – but demand was overwhelming. Originally produced in red, the radio is now available in over 20 colours, and the DAB version is the world’s number one selling digital radio.

Over the years, the Roberts Radio Company has produced portable radios covered with mink, ponyskin and even solid gold, along with a children’s model that was hand-painted with nursery-rhyme characters.

Rubik created the cube to demonstrate theories about 3D designs to his students, challenging them to experiment by manipulating shapes. The original 3x3x3 design has 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 different possible configurations, but only one solution.

His original prototype used an elastic rubber construction that threaded its way through all eight moving elements, but this could not cope with the complexity of the different junctions and movements. However, when Rubik noticed some pebbles whose sharp edges had been worn smooth over time. He replicated the same rounded architecture on the cylindrical interior of the Cube, allowing the mechanism to move smoothly. And it worked.

As he says, “Nobody has ever been able to improve on the basic design, which pleases me as a designer, or on the engineering, which pleases me as an engineer.”

The Rubik’s Cube is still considered the world’s most popular toy. To date, approaching 350 million have been sold worldwide – with at least 12 million sold during 2007. The current world record holder is Frenchman Edouard Chambon, who can solve the Cube in just 9.18 seconds.

The Sony VAIO is a little slice of heaven served with elegance and distinction, and fulfills Sony’s vision to bring out the best through mechanical sophistication and chic styling in all details.

Developed by mastermind designer Shinichi Ogasarawa, the VAIO was carefully constructed to the specifications of Sony’s simple philosophy: “ It has to be a joy to behold, but more importantly it has to be a pleasure to use.” The end product is user-friendly, from the design of the lid hinges right down to the magnesium alloy framework.

With their star designers and techonolgy guru’s on board, Sony invested energy and expertise in creating the perfect look, feel, keyboard position, cooling system and battery life.

According to Sony, the VAIO makes an effort to stand out, but never looks out of place, and is a unique and necessary addition to your office, living room and lifestyle.

The first Swiss Army Knife was designed in 1891, when Karl Elsener put together a knife that would supercede the product being distributed by German Manufacturers to the Swiss Army.

With the aim of keeping the knife to a compact unit, Elsener added as many useful features as possible such as a cutting blade, a screwdriver, can opener and punch. To distinguish his knives from fakes and copies, Elsener decided to use the cross and shield on all pocket knives.

Today, Victorinox produces 30,000 Swiss Army Knives per day in over 100 different models, and are part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the State Museum of Applied Arts and Design in Munich.

“The Tizio lamp was born out of a personal need and a different way of looking at a situation,” muses Richard Sapper, on his ground-breaking creation that shattered the boundaries of design. “When I work or read, I like to have the light fall only on the sheet of paper in front of me, with the rest of the room in semi-darkness. I feel more undisturbed and can concentrate better.

“I needed to keep the reflector close to the paper, as a normal bulb would create a large and annoying volume close to your head – so I decided on a small, light halogen lamp that I could adjust with my fingertips.”

The result was a lamp with an articulation system, constantly balanced through counterweights, guaranteeing complete mobility with a minimum of friction. In essence, Sapper collected components which were light yet sturdy, and capable of transmitting currents.

“We wanted to combine noble materials”, says Frank Nuovo of his latest, most impactful design, “like leather, that age with grace, and work with ruby bearings, and use sapphire crystal in the display.” Now, while all this sounds like the makings of the latest luxury car, it is in fact the new mobile brainchild of Nokia’s techno-savvy Chief of Design.

Vertu is designed to withstand the daily wear and tear mobile phones are put through. Nuovo’s vision was simple – to create a phone that is worthy of being treated with value. His reasoning is straight-forward: “If it’s well made, you can keep it for 5, 10, 15 years, rather than trading it in. I felt the future for Vertu was to slow down change, to develop a brand that was authentic, with a passionate personality.”

Combining fashion and jewellery design with high technology, the Vertu is ground-breaking in its field. When you consider that a phone can be kept for 15 years, you have to applaud its environmental contribution too.

Joshua Wedgwood is remembered as ‘the Father of English Potters.’ He is also the father of international company, Wedgwood, which has been pioneering his vision for over two centuries.

In the 19th century, while many English Potteries were forced to close their doors, Wedgwood showed strength and lasting endurance, qualities which are still found in their pottery today. Wedgwood continued to innovate, and with new machinery and high-profile clientele, such as President Theodore Roosevelt, they delivered bone china tableware as far as the White House.

Since 1940, the Barlaston Wedgwood factory has increased to 4 times its original size, and now proudly holds the title as Britain’s most up-to-date factory.

Wedgwood’s classic white teacup and saucer are celebrated for their simplicity and untainted aesthetic.

While Wedgwood flourishes in age old qualities of innovative design and elegant simplicity, its ability to translate these into a modern context makes it the timeless powerhouse it is today.

The oldest surviving yo-yo goes back to 500BC, so tracking down the designer is a bit of a long-shot. However, one could say that Hans ‘YoHans’ Van Den Elzen is the expert on the matter of yo-yo’s, holding the Guinness world record for most yo-yo tricks in a minute - a staggering 51.

While Hans was cultivating a renewed interest in an ancient art, he was also doing a little intensive labour on the side. And the result is the F.A.S.T (Fully Active Starbust Technology) series of yo-yos.

Fit for any skill level, they require no replacement parts. What’s more, they also come with their own All Star team, and an Official F.A.S.T Challenge trick book. So you don’t have to be an expert on yo-yo’s to look like one.

Interest in yo-yo’s has been going up and down for years but now sits among the design icons of the 21st century.

For over 17 years now, this little gold wand has proved to be a daily essential that fashion-savvy women everywhere simply cannot live without. Much more than a concealer, Touche Éclat by YSL offers a touch of daily luxury down to its glittering gold casing.

Boasting a magical formula giving a light, soft and glowing finish, the ‘magic pen brush’, designed by Terry De Gunzburg, offers an unrivalled versatility that’s proved indispensable to celebrities and women worldwide.

Purchase this iconic product at Harrods.com.

The first LEGO bricks – Automatic Binding Bricks – were launched in 1949. The bricks were hollow and had slits in each end where you could attach windows and doors. In 1953 the name was changed to LEGO Mursten (the Danish word for ‘bricks’) and a long process to improve the LEGO brick and its features began.

LEGO’s fundamental belief in the unlimited possibilities of play, plus their desire to ensure anything can be built using LEGO elements, inspired the company to improve the ‘clutch power’ of their original brick.

Finally, in 1957, the solution was found: a brick with three tubes inside that had a perfect three-point connection. Godtfred Kirk Christiansen was well aware that this discovery might inspire others to find similar solutions. So he continued to search for alternative ways to achieve clutch power. This resulted in four different prototypes; including a brick with three crosses instead of tubes, which later was used in a LEGO product sold in Italy and Japan.