Home decorating, interior design ideas, garden design - Homes and Gardens

Giles Wilson-Copp, 29, originally studied music at Nottingham Trent University before realising that he wanted to work, like his father before him, with wood and metal. So he embarked on a cabinetmaking apprenticeship and took a City & Guilds joinery course. Enthusiastically building on this practical groundwork, he went on to study furniture design and metalwork at the London Metropolitan University, from which he graduated last summer.

The incredibly clever Smartboard, which has already won Giles a prize at his students' degree show, is an answer to the shortage of space in so many of today's homes. Basically, it is a sideboard, with a sculptural-looking front from which you can pull out a table with drop-down legs and four sturdy chairs. This does not disturb the sideboard and its four generous drawers or their contents that are left behind. Further storage exists at the bottom in four cupboards which can be taken out and used as extra stools. The Smartboard is made from lacquered MDF, strengthened with steel supports and topped with glass. All timber-based components are FSC-certified and packaging is biodegradable. The Smartboard will be in commercial production this year as a launch product for a new brand called Studio Caparo.