Design Classics Every Man Should Own

We all want a nice home - or at least something that doesn’t look like the ‘before’ photos of a renovation show. Like your wardrobe, you could throw money at every interior design trend and hope for the best, but you’d soon have to remortgage your house before you’d filled it with furniture.

Undeniably, the best approach is to go after the true icons: design classics with enduring style and lasting practicality. The stuff that looks good, feels good and does good.

What you should always focus on are items that will outlast trends. From timeless kitchenware to cameras, this is the stuff no man should be without.

Lets begin:

Eames Lounge Chair

When designing the Eames Lounge Chair (and its companion ottoman), trailblazing husband-and-wife design duo Charles and Ray Eames were said to have taken their cue from a well-used baseball mitt. Thankfully, while it’s undoubtedly as comfortable as one, it’s a hell of a lot better looking. You can still buy the chair, and ottoman, from Herman Miller, the company the Eames designed it for, parking in one of 20th-century furniture design’s most memorable home runs in the process.

Anglepoise 1227 Lamp

Ever been looking down at your watch, caught sight of your arm and thought ‘that’d make a great lamp’? Of course you haven’t, because you’re not George Carwardine. More than 85 years ago, the British automotive engineer devised the Anglepoise 1227, the world’s first four-spring balanced-arm lamp (which you’ll know either from the opening credits of Pixar films); a mechanism that’s still the gold standard today.

Leica Camera

Sure, your smartphone suffices for amateur endeavours, but serious shutterbugs need something that works as well as it looks. Leica was the camera manufacturer behind the first viable 35mm camera (the Leica I, which changed photography forever) and some of the photographers of modern history’s most iconic portraits (including that Che Guevara shot you had on your wall as a spotty teenager). Today it continues as the market leader in developing gear that’s as functional as it is beautifully formed.

The Penguin Donkey By Isokon

Designed in the late 1930s, the original Donkey was so-called because of its four legs and two side shelf compartments (their form resembling the haul carried by an animal). But don’t worry, no fury creatures were harmed in the making of this bookcase, redesigned by Ernest Race in the 1960s with a more modern, linear form. The talking point in owning one? They’re all still handmade using traditional woodworking methods in an East London workshop.

Bialetti Moka Pot

There are times in a man’s life when he has to do the right thing, and choosing how to make his coffee in the morning is one of those times. So ditch the palm-itchingly expensive, kitchen counter-swallowing Sage by Heston Blumenthals and Nespressos of the world and go back to basics with Italian inventor Luigi De Ponti’s macchinetta, or ‘small machine’. Acquired by Alfonso Bialetti back in 1933, it’s still capable of producing a cup of joe far superior to one that drips from a machine so pretentious it expects you to go shopping for pods in specialist boutiques.

Roberts Revival Radio

Yorkshire may (historically speaking) be better known for its rice-based desserts than its trend-setting design, but Mexborough-based Roberts Radio is the noteworthy exception. The Royal Warrant-holding brand’s R66 model – a simple, box-shaped radio with a front-facing speaker, carry handle and top-mounted dials – turned a piece of everyday electronics into a compact and aesthetically pleasing household essential. Today, invest in the Revival – Roberts’ modern interpretation of the R66, which teams a throwback look with state-of-the-art sound.

Waring Pro Classic Blender

Typified by its distinctive beehive base and 40oz cloverleaf carafe, Waring Pro's blender is a stonking piece of US engineering. Sure, the commercial grade two-speed motor is more powerful than you strictly need in the kitchen, but without that you'd never be able to obliterate ice cubes in an instant, and make killer smoothies and cocktails.

Braun Alarm Clock

The original AB1 design from Braun design chief Dietrich Lubs dates from 1971, was reissued in 1987 and has insprired countless knock-offs ever since. It offers the simplest and biggest possible analogue face set in a cube of injection-moulded plastic, plus a whackably large 'off' button.