2019 Best Design: sinking Venetian furniture, rippling benches and tech-crafted chairs

Acqua Alta series by Virgil Abloh @ DYSFUNCTIONAL exhibtion - Image by Carpenters Workshop Gallery.

2019 Best Design. A chair made from 100 % recycled plastic from fishing nets in the Arctic, a floor-to-ceiling luminous belt and violently psychedelic benches are among our favourite furniture designs of the year.

Sophie Thomas’ Broken Ocean glassware series turns ocean plastic waste into bespoke crafts

Broken Ocean by Sophie Thomas and Louis Thompson - Photo by Ester Segerra.

The ‘Broken Ocean’ glassware series by Sophie Thomas and Louis Thompson captures the ominous and chaotic beauty of entangled ghost nets being pulled out from the deep ocean. The duo has worked with hand blown glass, waste glass fragments and found ocean plastic from Hawaii and other beaches around the world.

“Brexit is among the main challenges of the thriving crafts sector” says Rosy Greenlees, Executive Director of the UK’s Crafts Council

Crafts Council's Executive director Rosy Greenlees on Brexit and the UK crafts sector’s tasks. Pictured: 'Node' by Claire Linder - Exhibited by Collection Atelier D'art De France, Collect 2019, photo by Sophie Mutevelian.

Low quality fakes sold online, the need for more crafts-related courses and Brexit. At the Collect fair in London, we interviewed the Crafts Council’s Executive Director Rosy Greenlees about the opportunities, challenges and risks of one of the UK’s most dynamic sectors.

Collect 2019: 4 trends at the London international art fair for modern craft and design

COLLECT 2019. Umberto Dattola's 'Invisible Cities' Cabinet made of plywood, natural wood, gold leaf - courtesy of Collect

Collect 2019: a bejeweled shawl hijab encouraging conversation about the role of the hijab today, blown glass visuals infused with fishnets and plastics addressing to the oceans’ pollution issue and digital technologies merging with bespoke creations. Isobel Dennis, Director of Collect – The International Art Fair for Modern Craft and Design, highlights some of the main trends to look out for in London.