Profile: Eleanor Pickin – Only Natural Design Competitions

Eleanor Pickin

The Royal College of Art

Eleanor Pickin is a holistic designer whose practice bridges sustainable design, and emotional storytelling. She began her design journey at Plymouth University, where she explored modular, multifunctional furniture that blended function with form, researching ‘why should we design?’. After gaining hands on experience in the industry, Eleanor became acutely aware of the vast material waste and the often overlooked relationship between people and the materials that shape their environments. This sparked a shift in her design language, and refuelled her love of creating with intention and responsibility. Having completed a Design Products Masters Degree at the Royal College of Art, Eleanor’s work has evolved into a tactile exploration of marquetry, using reclaimed and waste materials to reimagine the value of what is often discarded. Her furniture pieces serve not only as functional objects but as vessels of cultural narrative, environmental awareness and emotional resonance. At the heart of her practice is a simple yet powerful mission to create ‘Value in Values’, designing work that connects people to materials, stories and more sustainable futures.

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The Ocean Screen

Category: Furniture

Competitions: Home Competition 2026

The Ocean Screen is both functional object and storyteller, a vessel for cultural narrative, environmental consciousness and emotional resonance. By day, intricate marquetry recalls the overlooked ocean floor, reminding us of the need to protect fragile ecosystems from deep-sea mining, over farming, and pollution. By night, the reverse shifts into a rotated seascape, suggesting that what is unseen is still vital, and that what we dismiss as “pest” may instead be misunderstood or culturally reframed. Whilst it visually transforms into a darker toned shifting seascape, altering mood and space. Each screen is unique, crafted from industry offcuts and discarded veneers, revaluing materials usually deemed waste. Unlike traditional marquetry, its beauty lies in imperfection, in making visible what we overlook. Modular and adaptable, it invites touch, movement, and conversation. It brings unseen stories into the home while reminding us that ownership can evolve into stewardship of what we cherish.