Traditional French crystal maker Baccarat and Spanish designer Jaime Hayón are working together to create a body of work combining the old and the new – including a 170-year-old goblet design that now has Mickey Mouse ears.

As London Design Festival approaches, Icon goes behind the scenes to visit the factories where glossy products are prototyped and manufactured. In this issue we travelled all over Europe to see the places and meet the people responsible for these complicated and fascinating processes.

Designers have found inspiration in everything from knitting needles to Japanese rock gardens for the pick of this year’s exhibits.

The Spanish designer is on a mission to rescue the bathroom from dismal functionality and turn it into a place to linger. His art-deco inspired range for Bisazza is just the start.

The London Design festival was back on top form in 2009.

"We are absolutely crap decorators,"admits 
Mattias Ståhlbom, one half of the interior architect and furniture 
designer TAF.

Never a dull moment in Cape Town. It's a sun-splashed jamboree of some of the world's most impressive design talent, and the kind

Jaime Hayon has been in many different tribes.