One of the stand-out pieces at London Design Festival was Arc designed by Marco Sousa for Bat Eye, an upscale Portuguese company that sits under the Emotional Brands umbrella (0035-1220925 597, Emotionalbrands.com.pt).

The satinwood sideboard is lacquered in mother-of-pearl and is covered with traditional hand-painted Portuguese tiles whose bas-relief doubles as handles to open the drawers.

It completely modernised one of Portugal’s most historic decorating motifs. The credenza is set on an iron base inspired by the landmark D Luis I bridge in Porto, which was designed by Théophile Seyrig, a one-time associate of Gustav Eiffel. The piece costs from €8,950.