At an inspirational end of year awards ceremony at The Cass, London Metropolitan University recently, Anton Mikkonen was the outright winner of the Furniture Makers’ Company Award for best new furniture design with his Udon Stool design. He was presented with a cheque and Awards certificate by Dids Macdonald, Master of the Furniture Makers’ Company. He also received a free membership of Anti Copying in Design (ACID).

On receiving the award, Anton Mikkonen said, “It’s an honour to receive such a prestigious award, from The Furniture Makers Company, a charity that truly cares about the creatives within the industry. As excited as I am about starting out as a furniture designer and maker, I’m sure it’s going to throw some real challenges my way, therefore I’m extremely grateful for the added support and guidance on intellectual property issues with my ACID membership as I take this next exciting step in my career path.”

Dids Macdonald, OBE., Master of the Furniture Makers Company and CEO of ACID said, “Anton’s Udon stool exemplifies simplistic yet functional design that aims to bring aesthetic pleasure in something as basic as a stool using a variety of techniques and methods in design and making. I was delighted to also offer him complimentary membership of ACID. So often, when innovative designers like Anton create something that is original and innovative they can face certain IP challenges. The team are looking forward to supporting him to help build a proactive IP strategy to achieve growth through his designing.”