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

The 23 judges of this year's Homes & Gardens Classic Design Awards are experienced, conscientious, dedicated and highly critical, sharing decades of design expertise in varied capacities. In addition to designers there are manufacturers and craftsmen/women, store buyers and shop/gallery owners, college lecturers, engineers/technicians, museum/exhibition curators, and more.

Initially, we at Homes & Gardens and the judges extensively trawl recent launches with a wide-ranging net that yields Award possibilities of the very highest calibre. These are then sifted through at highly focused group discussions, and a shortlist is drawn up. These selected products are then submitted for voting to category judges who mark products using specified criteria. To preserve impartiality, the judges do not confer.

The shortlisted contenders for this year's Homes & Gardens Classic Design Awards included the names of several design heavyweights who have deservedly gained celebrity worldwide. Some of their products achieved high plaudits within a short time of being launched. And it is in this context that makes the winner of our 2009 Judges' Award even more remarkable. Jason Heap is only 23 years old, and his winning piece of furniture, the enchanting Infinity + 1, was initiated while he was still at college. Since graduating in 2007, he is making it himself on the Isle of Wight – “but I've progressed from a garage to a workshop, and
I now have some help”.

The judges chose Jason's striking table for many reasons. It is technically brilliant and truly innovative. Its shape is beautiful, poetic even. How could anything so slender be so strong? Yet its robust construction and stability could see service in a family living room or hotel lounge. Jason has worked steadily to perfect his methods of manufacture and the price, though not cheap, is good value for a piece of 21st-century “designer-maker” furniture. We believe it will be an investment. But, above all, Infinity + 1 embodies the excellence of Britain's design talent, resources and education and is an inspiration for all of us.