This year's ecoRunway show was held in April and saw eight teams of students from the Bermuda High School for Girls' senior school taking part in the fashion design competition which is loosely based on the American reality show Project Runway.  The girls were again challenged to come up with two designs - one conventional and one avant garde - using repurposed and recycled materials.  We saw the creative use of newspaper, trash bags, water bottles, cardboard roll and string and, after much deliberation from the judges, the Golden Stiletto was awarded to the team 'Spiders from Mars' who paid tribute to the late musician and fashion icon David Bowie.

Another popular piece at Milan were the Qeeboo rabbits by Stefano Giovannoni which showed up everywhere.

The idea of using a rabbit came from the fact that the shape of the animal mimics a chair as the ears can be substituted for the chair's back and the body of the rabbit for the seat.   Made of polyethylene they are available in two sizes - standard and small - and in several colours including violet, white, three shades of grey, light green, pink, orange and gold.  In addition to the two sizes of chair, the rabbit also comes in a version that lights up so it can be used as a lamp.  Instant classic.

We thought we'd feature some of the designs we liked from the recently concluded Milan Design Week.  This year, Kartell's "Talking Minds" exhibition at the Salone del Mobile paid homage to the well-known designers the company works with, including Patricia Urquiola, Piero Lissoni, and Antonio Citterio.  Several of these designers created pieces for children and, while each design was unique, the common theme of transparency acted as the unifying element.

Nendo were responsible for creating the H-Horse, a stylised version of a rocking horse made from lucite and the Smile seating.  Philippe Stark created the Airway swing with its invisible seat and colourful ropes, and the height and pattern of Clip Clap table by Ferruccio Laviani can be varied by changing its lucite legs.

This pendant light called Crash is inspired by the idea that a broken item can create two or more functional and beautiful pieces.  These two complimentary articles consisting of lamp and bowl, were made by Matteo Uggolini for the Italian designer light specialists Karman.

Image  |  S'well

The popularity of these bottles doesn't seem to be waning!  We like this collaboration between S'well and Mara Hoffman featuring Hoffman's abstract tribal designs.

Image :  Nettleink

In recognition of the upcoming Mother's Day holiday, why not treat that special mother in your life to one of the these irreverent cards from Nettleink available exclusively at Urban Cottage.

Trinidadian design studio By Making had several entries in Milan this year including an updated take on the Peera bench and the multifunctional Verb bench/table/bookcase/sculpture shown here. Like the Peera, the Verb was given an upgrade in terms of its materials, details and colours for its showing at the Meet My Project design Fair.

We love star prints, so this tribute capsule collection from Valentino which is a homage to the DC comic superhero and icon Wonder Woman is really appealing to us, particularly the non-literal reinterpretation of Wonder Woman's costume. 

Up next on this Musical Monday are these eye-catching speakers called OLi which are designed by Joshua Han for appart_.  Perched on a single stand with a pull switch mechanism for turning it on and off, the slimline, free-standing Bluetooth speaker is designed to create an immersive experience.  The speaker can easily be moved and positioned in a room and is designed to take up as little space as possible in the home.

We are having a musical day today.  Up first: the spare, geometric Caruso music cabinet by Italian designer Paolo Cappello for Miniforms.

The cabinet is made up of a high definition bluetooth speaker (handmade by Italian masters in Meolo, Venice) and a simple, boxy storage unit. The design combines elegant, traditional finishes such as lacquered wood, Canaletto walnut and precious Italian oak from the 1700s with modern auditory technology and the resulting piece of furniture is both stylish and functional.