With a degree from the Design Academy Eindhoven, tutelage by Tom Dixon, a collaboration with Hermés and commissions for Cubique Fair and Vienna Design week this year under his belt, Canadian designer Philippe Malouin's is set to go very far indeed.

In his third serious display of works at NextLevel Galerie he reveals new designs from his Gridlock 2series, among other projects. An industrial designer in the truest sense of the word, Malouin's latest expansion of Gridlock has taken furniture back to the most basic and necessary components of construction: concrete and metal.

Shelves, lights and a desk take form in a world that is seemingly free from physics - the weighted concrete floats above the delicate lattice; the lattice traces the edge of something more solid but is in fact hollow.

Following in the footsteps of works by other concrete connoisseurs - think Arad's Concrete Stereoand Amanda Levete's Drift Concrete, the pieces seem to evoke Brutalism at its best (or worst depending on your line of thought). Gridlock is where furniture meets architecture, reminding one that every object, no matter how simple or complex, shares the same principals of structure and design.

And while Malouin's pieces seem to have been built in situ, Gridlock is entirely assembled by hand, solidifying the young Québécois' belief in the durability and adaptability of an object. The thoroughness of thought Malouin has placed in to his products cover ever base, from assembly to purpose.

Other works displayed include the highly-praised YachiyoMetal Rug, again showing the designer's esteem for geometry and the simplest of building elements, and large scale installation Time Elapsed, a collaboration with J. and L. Lobmeyer glass-makers revealed during Vienna Design Week in September this year.

NEW WORKS: GRIDLOCK 2

Until 24 January 2012, NextLevel Galerie, Paris

Without Ilse Crawford, doyenne of British design, many of us would be literally in the dark when it comes to great lighting.

One of a number of great talents designing for Swedish lighting company Wästberg, we were happy to learn that during the London Design Festival two new models were launched to grow her existing collection for the brand into a veritable family of characters - meaning the award winning design now comes as a floor lamp, a wall lamp, a table version and a desk lamp.

And they're all illuminatingly lovely. In addition to Crawford Wästberg has also collaborated with up and coming Alvaro Catalan de Ocon, Foscarini and Tomas Alonso.

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Freshwest's products make it hard to keep your hands in your pockets. The apparently rudimentary, seemingly cobbled together aesthetic seems to be achieved thanks to a healthy attitude towards hands-on experimentation, and it's infectious - it makes you want to muck in and make stuff yourself.

A typical Freshwest design is wrapped in playful structures and scaffolds, drawing the shapes of the objects in the space. See the solidly structural yet ethereal symmetry of the golden Scaffold Vase, or the rough sculptural essence of the Brave New World Lamp, apparently put together without any plan. Playfulness is a constant, as seen in the perspective warping mind games of the Pool Table .

Freshwest is Marcus Beck and Simon Macro, and their set up in Pembrokeshire, West Wales, affords them the luxury of perspective in their designs as well as space: every stage of creation, including development, prototyping and fabrication, takes place in their studio and workshop.

And their freshest project? The Tent Pop-Up Café Bar, the meeting point of Tent London at the Old Truman Brewery, conceiving and producing all of its elements. The Pink-Clip-Stick Chandeliercontinues their interests in the structure, a seemingly accidentally woven lamp with dowels and pink pins. The café was completed with the still unrevealed Angle Iron range of tables and chairs, a celebration of row aesthetics, low cost materials and playfulness. More please.

Text by Nuria Gregori

Images courtesy of Freshwest

Pink-Clip-Stick Chandelier

Brave New World Lamp

Scaffold Vase

Pool Table