As part of the celebrations of London Design Festival, Paul Kelley, designer of the Magnetic Copper Cube and winner of the 2018 Jonathan Hindle Prize for Excellence (Furniture category) gave a special talk at 100% Design’s Forum on Friday 21 September.
The Design Guild Mark is all about celebrating and championing innovation in British design, and Paul’s Copper Cubes instantly magnetised the judges back in March.
But how did this product come to be? Well, it was back in 2006 when Paul first got the chance to work with copper when he was asked to design some drinks trolleys.
Paul instantly fell in love with working with the metal.
Copper is forgiving, malleable, easy to work with by hand, plus it has a character of its own and is always developing – so whatever you make from it is very unique.
He soon started thinking about how he could design a product intended for the mass market but, because of the copper’s properties, would lend each item a certain uniqueness.
The result was the Magnetic Copper Cube, a product as pliable as the material it’s made from, with users able to create tables, chairs, a wall divider – the options are endless.
During his talk, Paul spoke about the impact of being awarded both a Design Guild Mark and the Jonathan Hindle Prize.
Design Guild Mark founder Jonathan Hindle was also on hand to join Paul on stage and speak about the journey the Mark has been on over the past 10 years.
Commenting on the talk, Paul said: “People are impressed with what the Design Guild Mark stands for and my intention with the talk was to inspire the younger designers and makers so they understand the value of what being awarded a Design Guild Mark means, which will hopefully encourage more applicants.”
Stay tuned for news about other talks with Design Guild Mark holders in the future and let us know who you’d like to hear from on Instagram (@DesignGuildMark) and Twitter (@FurnitureMkrsCo) and remember to use the hashtag #DesignGuildMark.
