Designers to watch: what we saw at this year's iconic design events in Paris and London

This month has been a design crash course, first with the giant autumn Maison et Objet show in Paris, then Top Drawer for homewares and gifts at Olympia, followed by the multiple events and fairs of the nine-day London Design Festival, which ended on Sunday.

Here’s our edit of what we saw.

1. Laura Gonzalez

Laura Gonzalez was Designer of the Year at Maison et Objet in Paris.

At 37, she has become the Paris go-to for glamorous restaurants and stores. “My style is classical with a quirky twist,” she says.

At Maison she launched an extensive product range, including lovely lacquered chairs in shiny brights, and lavish hanging lights in pretty fabrics (lauragonzalez.fr).

2. Henning Stummel Architects for Nomad

Created specifically for “Generation Rent” and British made are these new flat-pack plywood pieces designed by Shepherd’s Bush-based Henning Stummel Architects for Nomad.

An armchair costs from £280 and a sofa from £480 (nomad.london). Seen during London Design Festival at designjunction.

3. McKinney & Co

Free-style blown glass finials come in gorgeous jewel colours at bespoke window and door furniture store McKinney & Co at Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, SW10.

Priced £560 a pair (mckinney.co.uk; mckinneydirect.uk) are the ones seen below. Seen at the Design Centre’s Focus autumn décor fest.

4. Kristjana​ Williams

Icelandic-born London-based artist Kristjana Williams is loved for her depictions of exotic animals and botanicals on stunning murals that are created painstakingly, layer by layer, physically and digitally.

The Snow Leopard mural costs £425 (kristjanaswilliams.com; 020 3567 1369). Seen at London Design Fair at the Old Truman Brewery.

5. Ercol

The iconic furniture label that everybody loves, from those favourite covetable vintage styles to the assured elegance of its pieces today.

Latest looks for autumn include the intriguing “puzzle pieces” Verso sideboard at £1,895; the Corse medium dining table at £1,450; the Corse bench, £665 and the agreeably chunky Tenon side table at £545 and £795 (ercol.com). Seen at Ercol pop-up shop during London Design Festival.

6. Melanie Abrantes

Melanie Abrantes came all the way to the East End — to Brick Lane and the Old Truman Brewery to be exact — from Oakland, California to teach a class at London Design Fair in making “responsibly created objects for the home” and exhibit her inspirational Marais vases made in cork and wood.

Scraps gleaned from Abrantes’ workshop are laminated together and sculpted on a lathe to fit individual glass vessels mouth-blown in the US by Jason Stropko. These pieces, below, are in numbered limited editions, and their prices are available on application (melanieabrantes.com).

7. Soroush Pourhashemi

Based in Hackney, designer-maker Soroush Pourhashemi, founder of handmade minimal modern wooden furniture workshop Lozi, has created a new range of plywood furniture “with small interiors in mind”.

Pourhashemi has also recycled sawdust waste into a strong waterproof sheet. Sustainability is of the essence, with “traceable” materials for each piece.

Sideboards are priced from £800, with shelving from £300 and storage boxes from £250 (lozidesigns.com). Seen at London Design Fair.

8. Harriet Caslin

Harriet Caslin designs and makes textured porcelain lighting and tableware in delicate pastel shades at her studio on Mersea Island off the Essex coast A small bowl and cup are £28 each, with a planter priced at £36 (harrietcaslin.com). Seen at designjunction.

9. The Art of Ping Pong

From The Art of Ping Pong, mini fold-up ping-pong tables serve a dual purpose. When you’ve finished your game, simply fold up the table and hang it on the wall, where it becomes a piece of art. Single-colour fluro-laminated tables cost £495, with two-tone designs priced at £550. Fabulous posters based around the sport are also available.

Coming shortly are artists’ limited editions (theartofpingpong.co.uk; 07977 178778). Seen at London Design Fair.

10. Reiko Kaneko

Reiko Kaneko studied design at Central Saint Martins but it was the joy of working with specialists in The Potteries in Stoke that led her to concentrate on ceramics.

She is consistently innovative, tapping into two centuries of craftsmanship, and her beautiful “reactive” glazes ensure no two pieces are exactly alike. For the Wave bowls and plates, blue glaze layers are applied by hand. Plates, £17-£68; cereal bowl, £25; Christmas baubles, £25.

These are surely collectors items (reikokaneko.co.uk). Seen at Top Drawer.