Joyful by design: 5 objects to bring some personality to your home or studio

I'm going to level with you here. I'm a sucker for a beautiful accessory for my home or studio – even if it serves no function whatsoever, other than to brighten a corner or make me smile. I'm talking an unusual lamp that stands out. Maybe a ceramic piece that swells your heart. It's what being a creative person is all about. You want to be surrounded by gorgeous things made by artists and designers you admire and want to support.

It's a sentiment I know illustrator Malika Favre and creative George Wu will understand only too well, as they run their own curated marketplace, I Can't Afford This But Maybe She Can. But beware: money will be spent. Oh yes. How do I know this? It's the whole point of the duo's side venture, which began in 2020 as an Instagram account and has since become a respected catalogue of the most delightful things the design world has to offer.

It now features more than 500 handpicked objects we can't resist – from over 125 indie brands and makers around the world. Everything from homeware, tableware and lighting to art, fashion and the occasional glorious oddity. Everything is chosen with their impeccable taste, humour and a healthy disregard for boring.

For the creative who loves a well-made thing but hasn't got the hours to go hunting for it, this part of the Internet is a gift. Here are five we can't stop thinking about – equal parts useful, beautiful and faintly (dare we say it) absurd.

1. Delta Tapestries by Alice Guillier

If you're thinking of updating a room to make it stand out, one safe bet is to decorate your walls with something special. With Alice Guillier's series of tapestries, you'll definitely feel like you have something no one else has.

Made through her studio Safareig, each piece takes a simple geometric framework and gives you a composition that offers plenty of interest to your home or studio. Hang one above a desk, and you'll smile every time you look up at it.

There's something really clever about this work. It reads as bold and minimal from across the room, then rewards you the closer you look. Magic.

2. Franklin & Presley Candleholders by Atelier Toit

Who doesn't love candles? They add atmosphere. A certain cosy charm. They're perfect for summer evenings, and they help add ritual to the darker, colder nights. If you're looking for a centrepiece for your dining table or living room sideboard, Atelier Toit offers stunning candleholders made from solid wooden blocks on asymmetrical pedestals, all in a happy array of bright colours. It's playful function at its best.

As you'd expect from such an art form, each one is made to order in the studio's Amsterdam atelier, and no two come out quite the same, so that yours will be entirely unique. But let's be honest, who needs a candle when the holder itself alone is so nice to look at?

3. The Mesh Lamp by Tilt

Here's a surprising bit of softness from an industrial material, but a whole load of satisfying colour for your home. Brussels studio Tilt builds this oversized pendant from translucent 3D-printed mesh, so it seems to hover in mid-air, catching the light and throwing delicate, lattice-like shadows across walls and ceilings.

Better still, it shifts as the day goes on, its colour and transparency moving with the light so the lamp never looks quite the same twice. Light as texture, rather than just illumination. This is a design piece guests won't be able to stop admiring.

4. Hand Shelf by Tadashi Studio

Yes, they're shelves shaped like hands. Your eyes do not deceive you. And no, you don't need a reason. Tadashi Studio moulded this surreal little pair from the exact measurements of the designer's own hands, landing somewhere between sculpture and storage. Ready to cup your keys, your rings, your phone or whatever you like to keep close while you work.

They're sold as a pair because one hand on its own would look a touch lonely. Equal parts useful and slightly uncanny, in the best possible way.

5. Arise limited edition figurine by Marylou Faure

Having bumped into Marylou Faure at Pictoplasma in Berlin, I want this figurine even more. It's a small celebration of curves in object form. Crafted by the French illustrator known for her bold, colour-saturated work and her joyful, unapologetic take on the female form. She's translated her signature style into a glossy, sensual figurine, released in a limited edition of just 100.

One to proudly place on a mantelpiece, giving a whole room some personality. Collectable, characterful and very much a "she can" rather than an "I can't". Marylou, if you're reading this, I'll be purchasing this next.