You’ll have String to thank when all your books, pot plants and knick-knacks are neatly in order. Few shelving companies can rival this Swedish firm, which was launched in 1949 when its founders, Nisse and Kaisa Strinning, won a bookshelf-making competition. Sixty years on, its unfussy, Swedish-made designs are still leading the pack. This hand-oiled oak unit is easy to assemble mercifully, there’s no doorstop-like instruction manual – and boasts an olive powder-coated steel frame and engraved. The shelves are 20cm deep: the perfect size for the latest issue of Monocle.