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Mirror, mirror, on the wall, what are the prettiest Etsy finds of them all? This year it’s actually the mirror itself. For the third time, the platform is spotlighting up-and-coming talent to watch out for with its Design Awards, and the grand prize winner is a decor item: the glitzy Glissando mirror by Candice Luter Art + Interiors. The Iowa-based artist adds texture by hand to clear, smoke-, or bronze-tinted glass, then hand-gilds it in gold or silver to create an abstract wave. 

mirror with a gold textured wave
Courtesy of Etsy

Activist and entrepreneur Meena Harris and interior designer Leanne Ford were among the judging panel that selected four winners out of 100 finalists, and Ford had a couple unexpected tips for how to put the winning designs to use. 

Still thinking about adding a bit of life to a blank “Zoom wall”? Look no further than the Glissando. But even though it’s super-decorative, Ford would still display the mirror over a sink. “I would hang it in a powder room, where you need to get a glimmer but you’re not really doing your makeup in it,” she explains.

Of course, an Etsy design contest would not be complete without a niche vintage find. Vintage Terje Ekstrom chairs from Catch My Drift Vintage, run by a Wisconsin-based family, won the bronze award (a foldable clutch took home silver). And again, Ford suggests that you can break the status quo. For the designer, these chairs don’t have to be in a formal setting: “I’d put them in a very casual space, in my garage, or in my office studio and funk them up by having a looser backdrop.” The family acquired them from a woman in Miami Beach who displayed them at her “stunning mid-century waterfront estate,” but you don’t need a mansion to make those chairs stand out.