Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/65912
Meet the three young designers who took home this year's W Hotels Designers of the Future Award. BY TALI JAFFE On the Horizon Markus Kayser After receiving his master's in Product Design from the Royal College of Art last year, Markus Kayser wasted no time in founding his eponymous de- sign studio in London. While exploring themes like natural energy, Kayser is adept at bringing a bit of levity to his designs, such as his Apple + Pear lights, at left. Pick one of the hanging fruits from its socket, and you have a portable light; when it begins to dim, just plug it back in for a charge and watch it glow. Philippe Malouin With a fondness for objects that are handmade but don't neces- sarily appear to be, Philippe Malouin's designs range from chainmail rugs to hand-sewn stools made of coiled Kvadrat fabric (which debuted at Salone Internazionale del Mobile) to the brass-and-concrete Luder Shelves at right. The designs for the Gridlock series were influ- enced by some of the great Bru- talist structures in London, where the Montreal native made his home after graduating from the Design Academy Eindhoven. Tom Foulsham Equal parts inventor, engineer, architect and designer, UK- based Tom Foulsham likes to keep things in the balance. And while that may be a state we all aspire to, Foulsham's balancing act is more likely to include a chair, stack of books and lamp, as is the case with his Big Bird Book Shelf Read- ing Light (at left). Foulsham, a Thomas Heatherwick and Ron Arad alum, often makes his work interactive; the angle of the Big Bird reading lamp is adjustable—depending on how many books its owner stacks on its shelves. 46 CULTURED