---

At the interior design show Decorex, held in London, designer Mark Gillette selected a product worthy to be the recipient of this year’s FX Best Contemporary Design. We report from the event in Chelsea

---

The great and good of interior design gathered at Decorex International to see interior designer Mark Gillette pick the best in show to win the FX Best Contemporary Design Award.

The striking and handcrafted Serpent Occasional Table, designed and manufactured by exhibitor Cox London, was selected as winner from the many hundred of items on show in the four-day event.

At the heart of the design community for more than 35 years, luxury interior design show Decorex International remains in a league of its own. Every year the event surpasses itself to provide an even better collection of suppliers and designs as well as an inspirational array of speakers and features.

Launched in 1978 as a small, exclusive and targeted exhibition of high-end interior design merchandise, with 39 exhibitors, in a central London hotel, it has grown to nearly 300 exhibitors, and is now housed in purpose-built temporary structures at the Royal Hospital Chelsea.

All exhibitors are hand-picked to ensure that only the most innovative, inspirational and highest-quality products in flooring, textiles, furniture, lighting, wallcoverings and accessories are shown.

Feature area designers this year included Rabih Hage, Christopher Guy, Floriture and The Royal Warrant Holder Association.

Cox London is a British company founded in 2005 by Christopher and Nicola Cox. The pair met while studying sculpture at the Wimbledon School of Art, London. They lead a team of designers and master craftsmen at their London workshop and are committed to producing highly original work of strong sculptural style and good classical proportions.

Mark Gillette said of the Serpent Occasional Table: 'This beautiful little table has a very personal feel to it as it is so obviously handcrafted rather than machine made and I love the mix of materials - bronze and partridge feathers. It is a timeless piece - totally contemporary but it could also be 150 years old.

'It is simple, elegant and functional, both as a piece of furniture and as a sculpture, and would enhance any room: it would bring a touch of luxuriousness to a minimal interior or sit very comfortably in a period setting.'

Mark Gillette trained at the Inchbald School of Design and established Mark Gillette Interior Design in Chester in 1994. Among
current projects he is working on is the conversion of a medieval fortress in Salzburg into a comfortable and stylish domestic dwelling, the interior design of an apartment in Vienna, the refurbishment of a wing of an 18th-century stately home in Rutland, the
refurbishment of a luxury apartment in St Moritz, a modern apartment in The Lancasters in London, and the redesign of the Formby Golf Club clubhouse.