Collectibles are taking over the toy box – but now the grown-ups are playing too
Manga and anime brands are now revealed as some of the biggest sellers in the £510m sector
January 2025
Design news: a vertical forest, cat robots and Midlands craft
The profound documentary on building, a celebration of Milan’s Bosco Verticale and a Czech museum dedicated to Mucha
December 2024
Many happy returns: sustainable startups are turning a profit from your unwanted clothes
Now that half of our clothing purchases are sent back, reverse logistics – or the returns industry – has become big business, with companies finding ways to reduce waste
Lord of the ringtones: Nokia celebrates pop-culture status by opening design archive
The mobile phones we loved then lost are honoured by an online archive which reveals history of bestselling brand
Wedgwood Collection still revealing new treasures a decade after it was saved for the nation
From a royal dolls’ house tea set to a plate from a shipwreck, the V&A’s ceramics trove is full of gems from history that still inspire artists today
November 2024
November design news: modernist graphics, a football shirt for Grenfell and tiles made of corn cobs
Return of the green fairy: once-notorious absinthe enjoys UK revival
‘We don’t need fashion’: Sewing Bee host criticises British brand Burberry
UK student invents repairable kettle that anyone can fix
October 2024
October design news: a teeny tiny toffee, rag rugs and $1 watches
Sculptors take part in the 10gram Challenge, arty Instagram and creative director Ramdane Touhami’s textiles
‘It was to make bank managers less uptight’: the toy that put Newton’s law on executive desks
The eccentric British design firm behind Ballrace, the bestselling shiny 1970s Newton’s cradle, is celebrated in a new book
White mulled wine is on its way this Christmas, but is the UK ready for it?
With public taste shifting, retailers are hoping an unfamiliar form of the festive favourite will be this year’s big hit
September 2024
Design news: adult Lego, dissolving plastic and Brad Pitt’s jeans
A new book about Hollywood favourite Palace Costume, a trailer for the frontline and a British artist’s obsession with the American highway
UK public washing their clothes too often, says major laundry brand
Ecover, backed by activist model Lily Cole, calls for fewer washes to reduce microplastics and other sources of water pollution
From straw hats to milk bottles: why genius design doesn’t need to be expensive
Experts were invited to pick their hero products for London Design Festival show that redefines ‘well made’ for today
August 2024
August design news: puppets, a moveable monument and how to combat a heatwave
‘Strange and exciting’: Japanese food sculpture goes on show in London
July 2024
July design news: 50 years of Casio, an iPod revival and mending as an art
Stronger, stinkier, softer: how Britain fell in love with cheese beyond cheddar
June 2024
June design news: forgotten modernist gems, wonky watches and inside Noma’s kitchen
Fresh talent at London’s graduate design show, the history of Parisian flea markets and innovative talent in Copenhagen
