Dean Brown's furniture helps you fulfil your domestic potential

I’ve not got much experience when it comes to furnishing a house or flat, as my accommodation arrangements thus far have never allowed much creative freedom in choosing the objects that fill the spaces I inhabit. If the landlord likes a fake leather sofa then I’ll put up with it, if she’s a huge fan of ornately patterned net curtains then heck, maybe I like them too (I don’t).

One thing I do know for sure is that when I finally amass enough cash to buy a place of my own (I’ve got a 40-year plan) I’ll be filling it with the kind of functional furnishings created by Dean Brown, a Scottish industrial designer with a gift for creating beautiful objects. His traditional form-follows-function approach to design has seen him create a variety of beautiful works for his own studio and latterly for Fabrica, Benetton’s international research centre.

Favourite amongst his projects is Plate Life, a functional light source and objet d’art that draws inspiration from a photographic umbrella and a household dish rack that positions “two ceramic bowls and a light-source in a state of interdependency – the larger silvered plate directing the light source back upon itself.” Mark my words, one day I’ll have one of these in my living room and there’ll be not a single net curtain in sight.