Alex Hellum

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"Nobody needs a dressing table" says furniture designer Alex Hellum. "It's not like a chair or a table - it's not about function. It's all about glamour. You have to want it."

So he has created Palette - a sleek, black table whose kidney shape hints at the 1930's. The accompanying stool is pert, daring you sit up straight. This is not occasional furniture - it's furniture that demands an occasion. We want it.

"I made it from beech" says Alex, a native Norwegian now based in Bucks where he teaches Furniture Design. "Wherever possible I use local timber because it has a vernacular quality that somehow comes through in the final product. Beech is very good for turning and this piece has lots of turning."
The most eye-catching turn is the ring tree - a motif from the Peg chair he made for Heal's last year.

Palette is feminine without being fussy. Lift the ring tree and you will find a plush bag, perfect for stashing jewellery and other treasures. No wonder Ercol, champions of tradition, were keen to make it exclusively for Heal's.

Palette is the sort of thing you really need but just can't find in the shops.