That show featured Cecilie Manz and the carefully crafted pieces she so often creates in aluminium and other metal materials.

Manz, who founded her own studio in 1998 after graduating from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, presented a collection that included "Gâteau." The series of aluminium rings and wooden trays, stacked or as a single display platform, are meant as a pedestal for foods (yes, cake) to take center stage. The stacked platforms, with rings available in different colors, also work for interior décor items.

All of the show pieces were made of four materials: raw wood, leather, glass and aluminium. The metal is a familiar friend for Manz, who has worked with Bang & Olufsen Play to design M3 wireless speakers featuring pearl-blasted aluminium covers, as well as the P2 portable Bluetooth speakers in the same option. Both audio equipment designs reflect her minimalist sense and associated material selection, as does the larger standalone M5 with its smooth, circular aluminium top and premium textile wrap. The A1, designed for B&O in 2016, also uses aluminium in a simply round, lightweight portable speaker.

Manz also has designed lamps in aluminium. The Mingus series – named for the American jazz musician – was created for the Danish brand Lightyears and offered an array of six colors in the pendant style.

A striking minimalist approach is taken with "One Cup Coffee," which uses a 3-millimeter aluminium thread coiled around a can holding a cotton cloth filter, and nothing more, for a perfect cup of coffee. "The time it takes the water to run through should be seen as a small gift rather than an action to rationalize," says the artist of the 2014 design experiment. "One cup at a time, the joy of anticipation."

One gets the sense that it's the same philosophy that infuses all of Manz' designs, including the larger furniture pieces. Last year, for the British company Gloster, she created outdoor furniture using teak – as requested by the firm – and aluminium. "I find teak a bit heavy-going and therefore wondered how to infuse the wood with a touch of lightness," she said in a 2017 interview. "Without falsifying the beautiful texture and natural material." So the Atmosphere collection of outdoor tables, chairs and chaises, and matching benches highlights the teak in a sophisticated style that's balanced with aluminium framing.

Yet Manz has turned her hand to creative projects across materials, including wash basins, mirrors and bathroom furniture that rely on porcelain, stone and solid wood. An outdoor seating collection called Trædesten, on exhibit last year at the Design Museum of Denmark, used only Swedish granite to make seating cylinders that blend into a garden setting as if they were stones or rocks. With fabrics, the artist chooses timeless materials and simple lines, as in last year's linen tea towel collection for Georg Jensen Damask. Her wooden "Workshop Chair" is made entirely of Oregon pine, while Compile shelving is in steel. For Fritz Hansen, it was earthenware pottery she used for candlesticks, plates, bowls and glasses.

Manz demonstrates a virtuosity in her work that makes clear why she was chosen for this year's Paris show award – but what's most compelling about the pieces is the warmth they bring to a home and the simplicity with which they're designed and used.