When we found this piece of burr oak, it was clear that this should be the key feature for our evolved take on a cooking island. Our vision for the piece began as a series of wonky-edge planks with gaps as cladding. Imagine looking across a field at night and seeing an old barn with gaps between the boards and light peeping through. The mystery of what lies behind and the darkness all around provides a comforting feeling as well as a desire to know more. We tried to capture that quality in this design.

The glass panels behind the burr panels are hand-cast, which blurs the impact of the concealed LED lights and creates a texture like captured water. The natural concrete is the same composition as that used in garden sculpture and incorporates the colour variations and natural imperfections found in the mix.

Leila Ferraby and Johnny Grey worked on this piece. It was made by Chris Thorpe and Adrian King.

Editor’s note: Each day this week, we will be unveiling one of the new designs in our collection, Five Easy Pieces, launched at Decorex interior design trade fair.

When we first started designing the modern cottage collection, we wanted to have each piece of furniture incorporate its own lighting, becoming a light experience itself. The dresser was the most serious attempt to do this. We felt that a modern version of the traditional Welsh dresser could use light to magnify the pleasure and experience of seeing this object.

We were inspired by the film 2001: A Space Odyssey where the walls of the space station glowed, the lighting being concealed in the surface and the effect close to enhanced daylight.

We created a dresser that celebrates light by situating a light box behind the back and the underside of the countertop.  The light dresser glows within the kitchen with the colour and brightness selected by remote control.

Miles Hartwell and Johnny Grey designed this piece with assistance from Leila Ferraby. Nigel Brown, an independent and distinguished cabinet maker made the Light Dresser.

This weekend, we will launch our new furniture collection at Decorex interior design fair in London (September 26-29). The Modern Cottage kitchen is a coalition of opposing aesthetic concepts and it has been about playing with new ideas. We decided to build four new pieces of furniture, each one designed by a member of our design team. Miles designed the light dresser, Matt took the the sink cabinet, Leila created the cooking island (she also deserves credit as the mastermind of the entire show), and I was responsible for the Tree Corner cupboard and overall artistic direction. All pieces are experimental.

‘The Tree Corner cupboard. I designed this when I was around 7 years old. It has taken a while to gestate. The Holly trunk comes from my garden at my home in Hampshire, England.’

I am nervous about the outcome, but this is an exciting step in taking our design thinking to the next level, as happened with past shows in San Francisco, New York and Chicago. (See more on our exhibitions here.) Will it all add up to a coherent whole or feel like a bit of a hodge podge? I paid an early visit to Chris Height, who is building the Tree Corner cupboard, and chuckled. It had a sense of humour, but will anyone really want it in their home? Seeing the early progress on the cooking island also made me realize we have created a piece of furniture might feel at home in the Lord of the Rings with its craggy burr oak panels and glowing textured glass inserts.  The Light Dresser could have almost come out of 2001, A Space Odyssey. Light glows through its curved Corian back seamlessly into the countertop.

All in all, there is plenty to think about. If you manage to visit Decorex, please stop by and say hello.