First designed in 1978, the Proust was an icon of postmodernism: a rococo armchair decorated with impressionist brushstrokes; a collision of design and art history. Now, in the most unpredictable launch of the year, it's back as a mass-produced rotation-moulded plastic chair Photograph: Alessandro Mendini
These spotlights dangle like fruit on vines, giving them a more organic quality than your average hanging lamp. They began life as expensive leather gallery pieces but are now in production in plastic, with an LED light source Photograph: MACPRO
This stackable plastic chair was designed with schools in mind – it enables a gentle rocking that has been proven to improve concentration – but equally suits the dinner table. You tip forward to work or eat and back to relax Photograph: Barber Osgerby
A strikingly original collection of vases and other objects by a young Italian duo, Botanica reverts to a pre-plastic era. Plant-based polymers and resins are used to evoke an earthier civilisation parallel to our own Photograph: Luisa Zanzani
Aisslinger can lay claim to a first: a non-plastic "monobloc" chair (moulded into a complete piece). Following in the tradition of the Panton chair and other cantilevered classics, this one is made of hemp bonded with an acrylic resin Photograph: Milan Furniture Fair
Aisslinger can lay claim to a first: a non-plastic "monobloc" chair (moulded into a complete piece). Following in the tradition of the Panton chair and other cantilevered classics, this one is made of hemp bonded with an acrylic resin Photograph: Milan Furniture Fair
A shocking return to the beefy profiles of the 1970s, this is included simply to show how confident Grcic is in his own ideas Photograph: AVUS
This Design Academy Eindhoven graduate has found work for a retired robot from a Chinese production line, printing chairs out of plastic recycled from old fridges. The process mimics rapid-prototyping technology, building the chair one layer at a time Photograph: Milan furniture fair
While a blue tit favours a 28mm door to its house, a tawny owl won't enter anything smaller than 80mm. Eveline Visser, another Design Academy Eindhoven graduate, has designed a birdhouse complex that accommodates up to 33 species – a mixed community for our feathered friends
Photograph: Rene van der Hulst
