QDaily Annual Design Awards, Part Two: Which Designs Did Designers Find Remarkable This Past Year?

We asked working professionals from design and the creative fields to recommend their favorite designs of 2015, taking stock of the year's products so that genuinely good design reaches a wider audience.

Designers are a hard crowd to impress — which means any design that wins a designer's approval has to have something unusual about it. Yesterday we published our annual roundup of "remarkable designs." This time, QDaily asked designers to recommend the best designs of 2015, both as designers and as users.

A few of them couldn't resist nominating a classic design they cherish, and we've kept those too, because we found them just as interesting. If readers want more, we could follow up with a feature on "classic designs that designers love."

Here are the products and studios they singled out:

Recommended by: Anna Glansén, designer and co-founder of the Swedish studio Tomorrow Machine

Flic Button by Shortcut Labs, designed by People People

Flic is a smart button from the Stockholm startup Shortcut Labs, designed by the People People team and the digital studio TOPP. Shaped and colored a little like a macaron, Flic doesn't have to be fixed to a device the way an ordinary button does — you can stick it almost anywhere you can think of. It works like a small wireless remote: a single touch can play music, take a photo, place a call, and more.

Why it's recommended: Flic is a smartphone accessory for a new era — a wireless shortcut button that pairs with your phone over Bluetooth. It can reproduce almost anything you'd normally do on your phone, letting you control it in more inventive ways.

Lix 3D-printing pen

The LIX is the world's smallest 3D-printing pen, and it looks the part: sleek, thoroughly futuristic, in black or white. Its one-piece aluminum-alloy body weighs just 34 grams, no thicker than a fountain pen. The Lix runs on USB power, so it needs no separate power source. Holding it feels exactly like holding a pen; at the tip is a 3.5mm port you use to connect it to your computer. Priced at US$139.95 (about 911 yuan), click here to try buying it.

Why it's recommended: This is one of the most user-friendly 3D-printing pens on the market, and it puts creative 3D printing within everyone's reach.

The Rag Bag by Uniforms for the Dedicated

"Out with the old, in with the new" is the best way to describe this design. To get people to recycle their old clothes, the Swedish fashion startup Uniforms for the Dedicated created the Rag Bag, a shopping bag that doubles as a clothing-return mailer. No matter the brand or the price — luxury label or street stall — clothes come with one of these bags. When you're ready to give clothes away, you simply turn the bag inside out, put in whatever you want to donate, and mail it off.

Why it's recommended: A simple, clever idea. It nudges shoppers toward an environmentally responsible choice — what you might call next-generation eco-friendly design.

Recommended by: Gao Yiqiang, founder and chief designer of Riyong Zhidao

Bradley Tactile Watch

The Bradley tactile watch was designed by the Eone Timepieces team. Priced at 2,380 yuan, click here to try buying it.

Why it's recommended: The watch is named after Bradley Snyder, who lost his sight defusing a bomb in Afghanistan and then won two swimming gold medals at the 2012 London Paralympics. Unlike the talking watches or analog-hand watches usually made for blind users, the Bradley tells time with two ball bearings: one on the face for the minutes, one around the rim for the hours. Both are linked to a Swiss Quartz movement by magnets, so if you nudge a bearing out of place by hand, it snaps back as soon as you let go. The Bradley isn't only for blind users — it works for sighted people too, in dim settings like a cinema where you'd rather not pull out your phone. On a date, you can check the time with a discreet touch.

We've always read the time with our eyes. This watch lets us feel time by touch. I love the watch, and I love the philosophy of Nick Gu (Gu Liheng), founder of the EONE studio and of the Bradley Timepiece brand for blind users: Designed for Everyone.

"From Siberia" birch-bark home objects

"From Siberia" is the latest work by the Berlin-based maker Anastasiya Koshcheeva. It comprises three pieces — "tuesa," "taburet," and "svetoch" — each a different use of birch bark in household objects. Marrying traditional Siberian craft with contemporary design, "From Siberia" is Koshcheeva's own: she taught herself the art of birch-bark work and refined it.

Why it's recommended: Many designers are searching for ways to fuse traditional craft with modern design seamlessly. "From Siberia" gives a fine answer.

"tuesa" food container

Why it's recommended: Every piece in the series has a distinctive, exceptional texture. The "tuesa" is ideal for storing food, spices, tea, and the like. Because birch bark is naturally antibacterial and has properties all its own, the "tuesa" keeps food fresh two to three times longer than a standard glass or plastic container. It is light yet sturdy, smooth to the touch yet non-slip, and easier to grip when wet than ordinary containers.

"svetoch" lamp

Why it's recommended: The "svetoch" lamp is cylindrical and casts a soft, diffused light. Koshcheeva joins it the traditional way, without glue, stitching only at the critical points. As a birch-bark object, it brings a warm, cozy feeling to a home.

"taburet" stool

Why it's recommended: The "taburet" stool pairs a steel frame with a three-dimensional birch-bark mesh seat. Stable yet springy, the seat is both decorative and a pleasure to touch — soft to the hand, though the birch bark itself is tough and won't sag. "From Siberia" is handmade by skilled Siberian artisans, using traditional knowledge and the finest birch bark.

Birch-bark "bangke" box by Liu Baixu

Why it's recommended: The Ewenki people of China also use birch bark to make a kind of box called a "bangke." It is handmade from birch bark, birch wood, and deerskin — the whole process uses not a single needle or thread. The Chinese designer Liu Baixu studied the tradition and designed a new version of the "bangke." Priced at 219 yuan, click here to try buying it.

Storage shelf by Riyong Zhidao

Why it's recommended: As children, many of us stacked the little square stools at home one on top of another, building something like a ladder or a set of shelves. Riyong Zhidao went back to that childhood impulse and stacked those small square stools into an offset storage shelf. Clean lines, a shape that is square and understated. A smart way to put a corner of your home to good use, isn't it?

Form follows function; beauty follows use. The more everyday an object, the more ordinary it may seem — as common as sunlight, air, and water. It is simply there, drawing no attention, yet quietly holding up our lives. That is the kind of thing Riyong Zhidao sets out to make.

Wuji handmade eyeglasses

Why it's recommended: At first glance they look utterly plain. Only with time do you find they suit you perfectly. What seems a simple pair of glasses takes a skilled craftsman thirty-six steps of precise handwork to complete. Natural ox horn, worked along the grain and hand-carved, creates a dialogue between nature and the spirit. Thirty-six-plus steps by hand; no more than nine pairs in a batch. Slow work yields not just fine craftsmanship but character.

In the days before the 2014 Lunar New Year, the designer Yan Lei was in a serious accident. Several bones in his face and skull were shattered; his nasal bridge and brow bone broke; his left eyeball sank into his cheekbone. The surgery succeeded, but recovery took nearly a year — and he needed glasses to protect his fragile, sensitive post-operative eyes.

The glasses had to be light, with as little pressure as possible on the injured nasal bone, and ideally with no metal touching the delicate, allergy-prone skin around the eyes — and no risk of magnetizing the metal implanted in his eye socket. No such glasses existed on the market at the time, so he resolved to make a pair himself. He tested, scrapped, revised, tested again, scrapped again, revised again — over and over — until at last he had a pair that was genuinely comfortable to wear.

Recommended by: Liu Kai, founder of RIGI Design

la kagu, a lifestyle store in a converted warehouse, by Kengo Kuma

In Tokyo's Kagurazaka neighborhood, a broad staircase dotted with trees leads up to what was once the entrance to a Tokyo book warehouse. The Kengo Kuma office turned it into a lifestyle store and café.

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Why it's recommended: "Lifestyle" is an overused word that has become a badge to flaunt rather than an experience to live. This site was originally a warehouse for the publisher Shinchosha. The architects started from the human and environmental character of Kagurazaka, worked through the whole building and its spatial plan, and arrived at the final mix of coffee, clothing, lifestyle goods, and public space — all of it forming one inseparable lifestyle whole. I've been three times. The architecture isn't the delicate refinement the Japanese are known for; instead it has an entirely different quality — easy, self-assured, confident.

Copenhagen waste-to-energy plant by BIG

This waste-to-energy plant in the city center will be a landmark in waste management and energy production, and a milestone on Copenhagen's industrial landscape. The budget runs to 3.5 billion Danish kroner — Denmark's single largest environmental investment. The new plant will replace the 40-year-old Amagerforbraending facility, using the latest integrated waste-treatment and environmental technology.

Why it's recommended: A clever idea turns a dull, dreary waste-to-energy plant into something captivating. Whether it's a smoke ring or a factory, every design begins with a need. Set aside the enormous difficulty of pulling it off, and design really should be fun.

Morioka Shoten

A bookshop in Tokyo's Ginza district. Unlike ordinary bookstores that pile their shelves with vast selections, this one is extremely narrow: it sells only one book at a time. The title changes once a week, and only that single book is on display. The shop also shows artworks, photographs, and other related objects. In a way it resembles a miniature gallery — but it is, unmistakably, a bookshop built around "the book."

Why it's recommended: We live in a world overflowing with meaningless options. People don't need to choose every day. Being out of control is no virtue. Right or wrong — one is enough.

Google's new logo

Google's new logo still has six letters, but it drops the serif typeface of the past 16 years for a more playful sans-serif, with the flat-design aesthetic that has dominated in recent years. It feels brighter, and the whole mark is animated. The small lowercase "g" icon is gone too, replaced by a four-color capital "G" in keeping with the new logo.

Why it's recommended: A brand's logo is more than a trademark, and what it carries can't be measured by looks alone. Google's 17 years — a spirit of relentless refinement, a character of approachable service, and the value of "don't be evil" — are now rooted deep in the brand. A new logo, upgraded for new devices and endpoints and applied across different products and platforms. I think it's enough to stand for the Google of tomorrow.

Fondazione Prada, Milan, by OMA

OMA, led by Rem Koolhaas, was commissioned by Fondazione Prada to convert a 1910 industrial complex in Milan into the foundation's new headquarters. The old site had seven warehouse and laboratory buildings around a single, isolated courtyard. OMA overhauled and reorganized the whole thing and added three new volumes — a temporary exhibition space, a cinema, and a ten-story gallery — bringing the total to 18,900 square meters, with 12,300 of public space and 6,600 of private areas.

Why it's recommended: Cultural, artistic, and heritage renovations are often cluttered with buzzwords like "restoring the old as old" and "harmony in difference." Culture means independence, conflict, openness, and drama — and the Fondazione Prada project says all of this in full, through the work itself.

Recommended by: the Japanese design studio Nendo

Camper Together with nendo sunglasses

If you've worn the same basic sunglasses too long, maybe it's time for a pair with some personality. These are a collaboration between the Spanish casual-footwear brand Camper and Japan's leading design studio, Nendo. Inspired by the fierce sunlight of Mallorca, where Camper was founded, and by the idea of a solar eclipse, the design pairs two lenses of different colors to make a single one.

Why it's recommended: The two lenses sit slightly offset, so a rhythmic, leaping quality emerges where the two colors play a kind of concerto at the edges. The lens elements were made specially by Kaneko Optical in Sabae, Fukui Prefecture, a firm with more than 60 years' experience developing and making specialty sunglass lenses. They perfectly captured the transparency the design called for, and not a single bubble crept into the joint between the lenses.

TSUYA skin for shu uemura

A compact Nendo designed for the Japanese skincare and beauty brand Shu Uemura, made to evoke smooth, luminous skin.

Why it's recommended: We understood Shu Uemura's wish to convey smooth, glowing skin. The package's flowing design is printed in the smallest gray type, spelling out with precision the product's idea of "making the face and body smooth and luminous." A rippling wave pattern traces an undulating surface, the lines drawn from within and spreading outward on every side, echoing the notion that "beauty comes from within."

Recommended by: Zhu Hui and Yang Xili, founders of the Shanghai original-furniture studio ZaoZuo

Dali bar table

Why it's recommended: Winner of a 2015 Golden Pin Design Award. An ingenious structure gives the Dali series a fluid mix of function and beauty.

Borrowing the rolled, folded form of traditional bamboo slips, the Dali design sets up a playful interplay between table and wall. Through some clever thinking — using entirely standard processes and parts — we gave the table a tail that rolls and folds; and through careful structural detailing, the folded section still bears weight even when the top is fully extended flat. This distinctly ZaoZuo form lets you adjust the bar table's length to fit the space. When two tables meet, the fold-out panels can join against the wall and naturally form two separate workstations. A bar table in everyday life can double as a casual work surface — versatile and easygoing. Priced at 1,998 yuan, click here to try buying it.

Balance lamp by yuue studio

"Balance" is a reminder to restore your inner equilibrium. The lamp takes its cue from a scale and a seesaw. When the lamp head droops, the bulb goes dark. When you set your phone into the slot at the short end of the arm, gravity tips the head up and the bulb lights automatically. At that point you face a choice: focus on your work, free of the phone, or give in to the urge to check it and sit in the dark. Priced at 1,199 yuan, click here to try buying it.

Why it's recommended: We met yuue studio at Design Shanghai 2015. Their ingenuity strikes a real chord with us.

Studio recommendation: Nendo

Why it's recommended: Nendo's prolific, consistently high-quality output has probably made it the most talked-about studio in design these past few years. In 2015 it kept turning out a wide range of products and installations, all of them interesting and beautifully made.

Recommended by: Lin Wei, partner at United Design Practice

NUDE coat rack by Yiban Studio

A few wooden sticks, a simple assembly — and you can put together a fresh, natural solid-wood coat rack yourself. Tired of the tedium of assembling flat-pack furniture and drawn to classical pieces, Yiban Studio founder Shen Wenjiao took her cue from the mortise-and-tenon joinery of traditional Chinese furniture to design this minimalist rack, shaped like a campfire. NUDE is made entirely of solid wood, using a patented metal-free mortise-and-tenon structure.

Bamboo lamp

An interactive woven-bamboo lamp unlike any before it: a table lamp, a pendant lamp, or both — one lamp that does the work of four, hence the name "Four Joys Lamp." Priced at 195.92 yuan, click here to try buying it.

A piece of cross-cultural craft: the work of a Chinese apprentice to Keizo Yagisawa, a Japanese national master craftsman. Priced at 1,680 yuan, click here to try buying it.

Why it's recommended: A product-design company I deeply admire, and currently the Chinese studio with the most Red Dot Awards. Its male founder was once a creative director at Ogilvy. None of the products use nails — everything slots together. They look deceptively simple on the surface, but achieving that simplicity takes craftsmanship and mechanical thinking that are anything but.

AURA respiratory mask

The AURA team built a light, rechargeable, modular AIR-COOL ventilation unit that solves a key flaw of conventional masks: the heat, moisture, and carbon dioxide that build up during long wear and leave you stuffy and uncomfortable. With the AIR-COOL module, the AURA mask lowers the humidity and temperature inside, so even during vigorous exercise the wearer never feels stifled or damp. Crowdfunding price: 99 yuan, click here to try buying it.

Why it's recommended: Founder He Wenbin is a Singapore-born advertising professional based in Beijing. The mask packs in many user-experience innovations, including its detachable module system.

Recommended by: Shu Wei, founder of ZaoZuo, a direct-to-consumer original home-furnishings brand

Silk Chair by Luca Nichetto

Why it's recommended: A bold piece of innovation from the master designer Luca Nichetto. Lines that vary yet hold together as one — soft, but not without strength. Multi-directional curves follow the body, and a light, grounded structure sets your posture fully free. The matte surfaces on both faces of the seat play against the high-gloss edge: one color throughout, yet with a contrast of material sheen, the edge line tracing a bright, crisp highlight. Priced at 699 yuan, click here to try buying it.

1959 Grid shelving by Studio Inma Bermúdez

Why it's recommended: A tribute to the Braun radio born in 1959. Its free-form structure suits small spaces — a 3×2 living-room storage-and-display cabinet, or, laid on its side, an audio-visual unit. Alone in a room or shown in multiples, the clean lines of "1959" always add a sense of quality. The open and closed grid combinations are entirely yours to arrange.

Drop Chair by Arne Jacobsen

Why the Drop Chair? Supposedly because it looks like a teardrop — its lines flow elegantly, and the back wraps around you like a warm embrace. In 1958, Arne Jacobsen was commissioned to design the architecture and the interior of Room 606 at the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen, and he created for the hotel the Drop Chair, the Swan Chair, the Egg Chair, and the 3300 sofa, among others. At the time the Drop Chair was made in a limited run of just 200 for the SAS Royal Hotel's exclusive use, with market prices climbing as high as US$30,000. The good news: just last year, the Danish furniture classic Fritz Hansen put the chair into official production for the first time, at 847 euros (!!).

Why it's recommended: Modern and elegant.

Recommended by: Xu Tianyu, designer at 8 Hour Studio

WOWdesign (Scream Design)

WOWdsgn.com is an online showcase, community, and sales platform for original home-product design, gradually building into an integrated, multi-channel experience — online and offline — that brings well-designed products into every home.

Why it's recommended: Before founding WOWdesign, its founder Bo Xi already ran an architecture firm with more than 2,500 employees and over ten subsidiaries. Crossing over from the cool, heavily commercial world of architecture into e-commerce and product design was itself a bold move, and that leap made WOWdesign worth watching from the start. Following it is also a way of following the broad industry shift now under way.

Children's Pavilion at the Shanghai Museum of Glass

The new children's pavilion that opened at the Shanghai Museum of Glass in 2015. Address: 685 Changjiang West Road, Baoshan District.

Why it's recommended: A rare Shanghai space that has real substance and real quality and is genuinely designed from the point of view of the people it's for — children — as a place to explore science and play. It lets kids learn about glass in wonderfully engaging, surprising ways.

Starbucks milk bottle

After its release in Japan last year, stock started reaching China this year.

Why it's recommended: A Starbucks cup is never just a cup. This milk bottle's design is clean and simple. I've used mine constantly this year.

Nike Roshe Run, all black

Why it's recommended: I started working out this year, and being someone who cares a lot about looks, I'm always one pair of sneakers short. Nike's all-black Roshe Run goes with everything — light and practical for running, training, or just walking around. It holds its own against almost any outfit.

HAY "Paper Porcelain coffee cup"

Why it's recommended: Tableware is your main weapon for pleasing yourself alongside food — a beautifully designed coffee cup can lift your whole mood. This HAY cup combines the lightness of a paper fold with the crispness of architectural lines.

Recommended by: the Japanese designer Mitsuhiro Shoji

Sarphatistraat Offices, Amsterdam, by Steven Holl

Why it's recommended: A visual effect that feels as if it leapt into the world straight off a sketch — I admire Steven Holl's work from this period enormously. The sensory richness of the detailing makes you feel time passing.

The strikingly beautiful silhouette reflected in the river at night — beyond "beautiful," there are no words left. Its handling of materials and its three-dimensional spatial thinking have had a profound effect on my own design.

1970 Volkswagen Beetle

The first car I ever bought, as a student: a 1970 Volkswagen Beetle. The body is rebuilt almost entirely to an original design — to me, there's no more appealing way to drive than to give something old a new life. The products of an earlier age had a refined simplicity that could keep going indefinitely with minor changes. That singular elegance is something modern design has lost. Isn't that exactly what contemporary product design should be thinking about?

Recommended by: Zhang Lei, founder of Pinwu Design Studio

Y-Bench by Chen Min

A modular furniture design, with parts joined by gold-brass fittings of a uniform size, that assembles into a bench in two configurations — high or low. Add more elements and the combinations multiply: side tables, beds, and beyond. The European white oak lends a touch of warmth to an otherwise modern, minimal design. Priced at 1,700 to 2,900 yuan, click here to try buying it.

Why it's recommended: The modular design is beautifully conceived — you can build it into different heights and configurations to suit your needs.

"Bing" (Ice) bookshelf by Christoph John

China's traditional latticework windows have flourished since antiquity in endless variety — geometric patterns, plants and animals, figures and stories, auspicious characters — each one distinctive and exquisitely made. Pinwu's lead designer, Christoph John, has a particular love for the geometric patterns. Perhaps it's the German inclination toward precision and functionalism, or perhaps a deep affection for traditional Chinese craft — but in John's hands, the lattice window underwent a spectacular transformation. And so the "Bing" (Ice) bookshelf was born.

The bookshelf is modular: each hexagonal wooden cell is one basic unit, and you can assemble them into different shapes and heights to fit your space and taste. With enough room and imagination, the bookshelf is like a transformer — endless, endlessly variable. Yet its strict geometric proportions mean it has to hold stable geometric ratios in both the horizontal and the vertical. Masterful woodwork and perfect joinery make "Bing" both useful and beautiful. It's named "Bing" (Ice) because the module shape looks so much like an ice crystal. Priced at 7,000 yuan, click here to try buying it.

Why it's recommended: The concept draws on traditional latticework windows; built in solid wood with modular assembly, it's beautifully ingenious and can be configured into different heights and forms to suit your needs.

"Xue" (Snow) lamp by Wang Shenghai

Silk is an elegant, weightless, subtle, and tranquil material. The inspiration came from winter — the soft, backlit glow seen faintly through a frost-covered window, offering a quiet warmth and a calm strength. Using an innovative technique adapted from the ancient art of papermaking, the silk — otherwise a notoriously difficult material — becomes relatively controllable. By mastering the silk, the design realizes that quality of serene, peaceful beauty.

From cocoon to raw silk, and then into a lamp — the dreamy, ethereal quality of silk speaks directly to the ink-wash character of Hangzhou. The materials come from Hangzhou's traditional natural sources, yet the piece speaks an international design language.

Why it's recommended: It draws on the natural properties of raw mulberry silk and the traditional hand-lifted papermaking technique to achieve something luminous and alive.

Recommended by: Huang Guodong, founder and chief designer of Yiwai Design

Emergency kit by Nendo

"MINIM+AID" translates roughly as a minimal first-aid kit. Unlike a conventional one, it's a long cylinder five centimeters across, holding what the designer judged the most essential items. A single shoulder strap is included, so you can wear it across your back or carry it by hand. Small as it looks, the kit holds a hand-cranked radio, a raincoat, an emergency light, a cup and packaged drinking water, medicine, and other small tools. Genuinely useful when an emergency actually hits.

Why it's recommended: Designed out of an awareness of how often natural disasters strike Japan — when an earthquake hits, you just grab it and go. The whole thing is exceptionally well thought out, with a complete, coherent formal unity. Beautiful and functional in equal measure, it's a rare example of genuinely great design.

Recommended by: Yuan Yuan, designer and founder of Ruyi Home

Phoenix Fan Chair

The folding fan — elegant in its simplicity — has long been a cultural symbol of the refinement and taste of China's classical literati. The Phoenix Fan Chair takes its inspiration straight from that graceful tradition. Its rounded, dignified form expresses the Confucian ideals of uprightness and gentleness while also achieving real comfort, inviting a posture that is naturally elegant and relaxed.

Why it's recommended: Simplicity, comfort, and traditional Chinese aesthetics in one.

Recommended by: Wang Lei, founder of Jizhi Shengfang

Jinzhi USB drive

The Jinzhi USB drive treats the drive itself as a design canvas, fully infused with the designer's love of traditional Chinese culture. Each product in the series draws on a different traditional motif — Taihu rocks, ice-crack patterns, latticework patterns, coiling-dragon patterns, and waterfall-cloud patterns — and uses 3D printing's strength at rendering complex, intricate structures. Paired with jewelry-grade finishing, these small objects distill, recreate, and extend the spirit and charm of traditional culture.

Why it's recommended: We keep asking ourselves: does a USB drive have to look ordinary? Human beings have never stopped chasing beauty, yet manufacturing limits have long held back unconstrained design thinking. Three-dimensional design and 3D printing open up endless room for innovation. A USB drive isn't only something you use — as a carrier of data and files, this most ordinary of office objects should also meet a standard of beauty and be given real elegance.