How we work
How our results are selected and ordered
Designheroes is a curated design reference, not a comprehensive index of products on the market.
Designheroes is published by Designstandard AG, the Swiss company behind the platform. Where both names appear below, the distinction is deliberate: editorial judgement belongs to Designheroes, while any commercial relationship entered into by a brand is with Designstandard AG.
This distinction is important because it explains what follows. We are not trying to list everything that exists. We are trying to gather what we believe is worth knowing about: authentic designs with a named designer, a distinct design idea, and the potential to stand the test of time.
Editorial selection
Designheroes independently determines which brands and products meet its editorial criteria. Editorial eligibility cannot be purchased.
A brand cannot buy its way past that judgement, and no fee changes it. We feature brands with which we have no commercial relationship, and we have declined brands that wanted one.
For new and currently produced products, we select designs we believe have the potential to become future vintage design classics.
That is a judgement, not a measurement, and we make it openly. It is the editorial premise of Designheroes: not everything in production, but the pieces we would expect to see in vintage galleries thirty years from now.
New and currently produced products
New and currently produced products are published only from brands that first meet Designheroes' editorial criteria and then enter into a commercial relationship with Designstandard AG.
Both conditions apply, in that order. Passing the editorial selection does not by itself place a current collection on the site. The commercial relationship is what makes it available here. We would rather state that clearly than leave you to infer it.
Payment does not change the editorial decision that comes first. A brand that does not meet the criteria cannot reach this stage by paying, and payment does not change what we write.
Vintage, pre-owned, sold and archived objects
These are selected separately on editorial grounds. They are not subject to the commercial condition that applies to new and currently produced products. Galleries and auction houses do not pay Designstandard AG for the inclusion or verification of vintage and pre-owned objects.
They are selected piece by piece rather than brand by brand, based on the individual object. This represents a large part of what Designheroes shows, and no money is involved in their inclusion.
We regard galleries and auction houses as cultural stakeholders rather than suppliers. They archive, research and evaluate historic and contemporary design objects. Much of what we reliably know about a piece, including who made it, when, in which edition and its subsequent history, is preserved because of that work. We list them for that reason, and we verify their claims in the same way as those of other sources.
How search results are ordered
Results are ordered according to factors including relevance to the search, availability and commercial status. Commercial relationships can influence both which products are included in the results and the order in which those results appear.
In plain terms, the relevance of your search, whether a piece is available, and a brand's commercial relationship with us can all affect the results you see.
We would rather state this explicitly than imply a level of neutrality that does not reflect how the service operates.
No personalisation
Results are not ranked according to an individual user's behaviour, profile or search history.
We do not change the order of results for you personally, and we do not build a profile of you in order to decide what you should be shown.
If the site does not match this page
Tell us: info@designstandard.ch. This page describes how Designheroes is intended to operate. If the site behaves differently, we consider that an error and will correct it.
Last reviewed: 25th August. Reviewed whenever the ranking or selection model changes.
How Designheroes Stories Are Made
Every Designheroes story begins with an editor, and ends with one.
An editor chooses the subject, decides why it matters now, and sets the angle: the questions the story must answer, the connections worth pursuing, and the claims that need to be supported. That direction is the creative act. A story about a Ming folding chair could be an auction report, a history of its craftsmanship, or an argument about where Danish modern actually comes from. Deciding which story to tell, and what evidence is needed to support it, is human work and stays that way.
We should also tell you who we are. Designheroes is made by design people — decades spent around furniture, brands, archives, and the industry itself. We are experts in design. We are not trained writers, and we won't pretend to be.
Knowing why a chair matters is one craft. Writing two thousand words that make you feel it is another. We were only ever apprenticed to the first. So we use technology to give us a voice: the knowledge, the connections, the opinions and the taste are ours, and AI helps us put them into prose that does them justice.
In practice, that means we use AI tools in the stages between the editor's decisions. Under our direction, they help us assemble research across sources, structure material, and produce drafts in the publication's voice. We treat the technology the way a designer's workshop treats any powerful machine: useful in skilled hands, and only in skilled hands.
What AI does not decide
AI does not choose subjects, form editorial opinions, or decide what is true.
Every draft is edited by a person. Every key fact, date, price, attribution, and quote is checked against verifiable sources before publication.
Wherever possible, we rely on primary and authoritative sources, including museum records, archives, historical documents, auction results, and information from the institutions involved. We do not rely on a model's memory or on confirmation from another AI system.
Claims we cannot sufficiently verify are not published as facts. Direct quotes appear only when we can trace them back to their original source. Where reliable accounts conflict, we make that disagreement clear in the story.
We scrutinise the sources we trust, too
We hold our own material to the same standard as anyone else's.
Even established sources can come with a particular perspective or a convenient narrative attached. That applies to auction houses and brands, as well as archives, publications, and our own tools.
It is the editor's job to question those narratives. Where that scrutiny matters to the story, we make it visible in the text.
A person is accountable
A named human editor is editorially responsible for every story we publish.
Every story carries that person's name, alongside a note when AI tools were used in its creation.
That name stands for something specific: a person has reviewed the story, verified its key facts, and taken editorial responsibility for its publication.
If we get something wrong, we correct it. Material corrections are made transparent.
Why we tell you this
Designheroes exists to be a trusted reference for design.
How a story was researched, written, and checked is part of whether you can trust it. That is why we believe the process behind it should be transparent.
Last reviewed: 25 August.
This page is reviewed at least annually, and whenever there are material changes to our tools or editorial process.