Functional & beautifully designed things for your home & office

As a (web) designer it is important to design websites that don’t only look great and appeal to the client’s target audience but that also work well and are easy to use. So it’s not surprising that many designers also enjoy having items around them that do the same: they’re great to look at but also serve a distinctive purpose. In this blog post I’ve collected several online vendors that offer great things for your home or (home) office. This isn’t a sponsored post, instead I’ve simply gathered brands, artists and other suppliers who offer products I enjoy as a designer. Here we go (in no particular order)...

Ugmonk

Ugmonk was started by Jeff Sheldon, a designer from the US. Jeff designs not only clothing such as t-shirts and beanies, but has also expanded into product design with his desk organisation system “Gather”, ceramic speakers, coasters, mugs, and so much more. All of the designs are quite minimalist and fit pretty well into most offices or homes.

My favourites: Black Mountains Mug & Minimize Women’s shirt (black)

https://ugmonk.com/

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Plyroom

Plyroom sells their own living room, kids room and bedroom furniture as well as other bits and pieces. Most items are made of wood and have a really scandinavian, minimalist aesthetic (maybe that’s why I like it so much). Yes, their stuff isn’t cheap. But if you’ve got some spare cash laying around and enjoy functional and well designed furniture pieces, check them out.

My favourites: Peggy Pegboard & Hanging Bookcase

https://www.plyroom.com.au/

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Gayle Mansfield Designs

Need a new print for your office wall? Look no further! I discovered the UK based design studio Gayle Mansfield Designs (run by designer Gayle Mansfield of course) prints on Instagram and fell in love with their products. Many of the prints on offer feature big typography in bold colours and look great on white walls. Gayle also sells wall planners and cards - and be sure to check her out on Instagram where she reposts photos from some of her customers, showing their purchase on their own wall. Can’t wait until I’ve got a suitable wall to hang one of her prints!

My favourites: Magnifique (coral/pink) print & blah blah blah (yellow)

https://www.gaylemansfield.co.uk/

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Anya Brock

And there’s more art! Be sure to check out Western Australian artist Anya Brock. Anya is a Fremantle (port city close to Western Australia’s capital Perth) local and produces large scale paintings, murals, homewares and prints. Really love her bold and vibrant colours!

If you ever come to Fremantle (and you should! ), you can see several of her artworks on walls around town. Or simply take a look at her site and browse through her work. By the way, when you get to her homepage you can see an auto-play video of her creating artworks in her studio. Great idea for an artist’s website!

My favourites: Obsolete Reality (original painting) & Can I follow through (canvas print)

https://www.anyabrock.com/

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