Manhole covers and gratings win the 2014 Compasso d'Oro design award

Founded in 1954, the prestigious Compasso d'Oro design award has been awarded this year to the Sfera collection of manhole covers and gratings, designed by Giulio Iacchetti and Matteo Ragni.

World's 50 Best Restaurants 2014: winners announced

Noma

The World 50's Best Restaurants announced its 2014 winners last night, with Copenhagen-based Noma returning to the top spot.

Lights cameras action! Milano Design Film Festival 2014 and its awards

From the boundary of the usual by Toni Meneguzzo

Sustained by last year's success, the Milano Design Film Festival has tripled the seating capacity for its second edition in Milan on October 9-12 and planned an international tour, which sees it touching down on 19 June at Italian Cultural Institute in Paris, for three dates in July at MAXXI in Rome and 24 - 30 September at Beijing Design Week.

Highlights of the festival will include From the boundary of the usual, a short film on Piero Fornasetti’s world by Toni Meneguzzo, and REM, a feature-length documentary by Tomas Koolhaas about his father Rem.

Nahm tops Asia's 50 Best Restaurants

A restaurant in Bangkok that serves dishes sourced from Thai memorial books has topped S. Pellegrino's list of Asia's 50 Best Restaurants. Headed by Australian chef David Thompson, Nahm has moved up from second place last year, replacing Tokyo's Les Creations de Narisawa in the top spot.

See the full list here.

Alba Vase by Massimiliano Adami nominated for Designs of the Year 2014

The London Design Museum has announced the nominations for Designs of the Year 2014, which include the Alba Collection of Vases designed by Massimiliano Adami and produced by Italian brand Serralunga. The collection of polyethylene vases are enriched with a soft colour change, giving the object a feeling of lightness.

PearsonLloyd wins three Focus Open awards

Business Class Seat by PearsonLloyd for Lufthansa

London-based product design studio PearsonLloyd has won three Focus Open awards: the Business Class Seat and Cabin project for Lufthansa was awarded Gold, while the Docklands office system for Bene won Silver and the Bay chair (also for Bene) received a Special Mention.

Saint-Gobain Archinovo Awards 2013: winners announced

Maison L

The Architecture de Collection agency and the Saint-Gobain group have annouced the prize-winners of the second Saint-Gobain Archinovo 2013, a French architecture competition devoted to individual houses.

Best of Italian design: ADI Design Index 2013

Pachamama - Master’s degree dissertation in Ecodesign by Mauricio Carvajal, Tatiana Martínez and Andrés Naranjo

The products selected for this year's ADI Design Index - which selects the best of Italian design to be put into production each year - are currently on show in the exhibition Design|Opera at the Triennale Design Museum in Milan, which runs until November 3.

Up-and-coming designers showcased at La Rinascente

Adobe desk tools in terracotta by Ilaria Innocenti

Eleven SaloneSatellite 2013 participants have been selected from over 700 designers under the age of 35 to be have their work sold at department store La Rinascente's Design Supermarket in Milan in the run-up to Christmas.

Dark chocolate nails: Brocche Fondenti

Brocche 2.0 is a competition to find new ideas for the Brocca, a typical nail that is traditionally made by hand in Valle di Ledro in Italy, and is most often used in mountain boots. The winning project, Brocche Fondenti, is a nail made of the finest dark chocolate.

Hallmark Creative Studio announces the winner of the Hallmark New Designers award 2013

Nottingham Trent University graphic design and illustration graduate Gemma Luxton is the winner of the Hallmark New Designers award 2013. The inspiration for Luxton’s hand crafted work stems from food illustration, travel and her personal collection of antique maps.

Rose of the Year 2014 at Hampton Court

Lady Marmalade (Hartiger) has been announced Rose of the Year 2014 at the Rose and Floristry Vintage Festival held at Hampton Court. The sweet scented cabbage-style blooms are bred by Harkness Roses.

W Hotels Designers of the Future 2013

Criss Cross by Bethan Laura Wood

W Hotels has announced the site-specific installations made by the three winners of W Hotels Designers of the Future 2013. Launched at Design Miami/Basel this week, each is based on the theme of Making Connections.

The three winners, Seung-Yong Song, Jon Stam and Bethan Laura Wood, were asked to respond to the regional context of a particular W Hotel, with the results ranging from Aztec-inspired lighting to furniture inspired by Bangkok's street food culture.

LUC Series by Rossin

LUC chair by Rossin

The LUC series by Italian brand Rossin has won two Red Dot design awards and will be showcased at Salone del Mobile this week.

Time to Design: new talent award 2013 by Normann Copenhagen

An initiative that started six years ago, the annual Time to Design - new talent award by Normann Copenhagen opened for submissions yesterday. The competition encourages designers from all countries, with a prize including three months residency at The Danish Art Workshops, 50.000 DKK to cover material costs, individual career coaching by OeO and a two week exhibition in the Normann Copenhagen flagship store.

Deadline for entry is June 14th 2013 and the winner will be announced by the end of August at a special press event.

Designs of the Year 2013: Homebuildlife highlights

Child ViSion Glasses by Centre for Vision in the Developing World

London's Design Museum has today opened the doors to its annual Designs of the Year exhibition, which presents each of the 99 nominees for visitors to explore.

Our highlights from the engrossing showcase include glasses with flexible prescriptions, a $25 computer board that teaches kids how to code, and a corporate yearbook that communicates through colour.

Innovative door handle by PBA

Italian company PBA has received the Red Dot Design Award 2013 for its stainless steel Elica door handle, designed by Jérôme Brunet. Original, elegant and functional, it provides an excellent grip for people with reduced hand mobility. Its flat upper part with a generous surface area also makes vertical movements easier for people in wheelchairs.

WGSN-homebuildlife subscribers can read more on door knobs and handles here.

Most Beautiful Object in South Africa 2013

Slice chopping board by Jonathan Fundudis/Snapp Design

The finalists for Design Indaba 2013's Most Beautiful Object in South Africa award include a steampunk-style mechanical bureau for storing laptops, a function-driven cutting board and a bicycle made of wood and carbon.

Bocuse d'Or 2013 winners

The Bocuse d'Or is the world's most prestigious culinary competition, which takes place at culinary tradeshow SIRHA in Lyon every year. For this year's event, chefs were challenged to create a meat platter, 14 fish plates, and an improvised side dishes featuring produce they had gathered the night before.

2013's winners are French chef Thibaut Ruggeri (gold medal), Danish chef Jeppe Foldager (silver) and Japanese chef Noriyuki Hamada (bronze). Hamada's victory marks the second time in the event's history that a non-European has made the final three.

Homebuildlife subscribers can see our full coverage from SIRHA next week.

BarberOsgerby: Maison & Objet Designers of the Year 2013

Following their unmissable success in 2012 - designing the London Olympic Torch as well as a new £2 coin - British designers BarberOsgerby are Maison & Objet's Designers of the Year for 2013.