Mallett has hitherto been famous for one thing only – antiques. It’s one of our most illustrious dealers, with showrooms at New Bond Street (No 141, to be precise) and on New York’s Madison Avenue (No 929). But come the annual furniture fest in Milan, commonly known as the Salone, Mallett Antiques will unveil, with much fanfare, a new face to the world – as a commissioner of cutting-edge new designs from some of the world’s most avant-garde designers.

What, one wonders, has brought this about? Hazarding a guess, I would say it’s hard times in the antiques trade. Not so long ago, the interiors of the world’s most prestigious addresses would have been filled with Chippendale dining tables and Sheraton sideboards. Look at them now and the transformation is extraordinary; new young money – the market Mallett is presumably aiming at – has very different tastes from the rich of yesteryear.

New young money is into the fresh and the adventurous, whether it be design/art, fine art, installations or just simple furniture. But what is incredible about Mallett Antiques’ venture is that it has not put just a tentative toe into the water – it has leapt in with a huge splash. It has formed a new company called Meta, corralled some of design’s biggest names – Tord Boontje, BarberOsgerby, Matali Crasset, Hani Rashid (brother of Karim, and a designer in his own right) – and given them the licence to indulge in “blue sky thinking”. Since Mallett has always been known for selling very distinguished antiques, the company took the view that there wasn’t much mileage in doing something middle of the road when it came to modern. As Giles Hutchinson Smith, Mallett’s MD, puts it, “We decided what was lacking in the marketplace was really high-quality materials fashioned into furniture with the sort of love and care that used to be lavished on furniture-making in the 18th century. That was the gap we thought we could occupy – to marry exciting modern design with very high-quality materials and the sort of careful skills and workmanship that we used to find in earlier times.”

It’s worth issuing a warning: nothing is going to be cheap. But even though most of us will never be able to afford them, I would guess most design lovers would savour merely seeing them. Take Asymptote’s coffee table in cut steel, designed by Hani Rashid. It’s been made in an old Russian factory just outside the city of Tula. There, craftsmen used to make fine pieces in steel and gold for the Russian royal family. Most of those pieces featured a diamond pattern which causes a strange blue halo to surround them. Now produced in the same factory, Rashid’s table is a work of art with the very same diamond pattern and strange blue halo.

Then there is Tord Boontje’s wondrous wardrobe. It’s made out of bronze and enamel, and those familiar with Boontje’s lyrical approach to design will not be amazed to discover that it looks like an open tree. Some 616 two-dimensional leaves have been hand-painted in different shades of green enamel. The tracery for the inside of the cupboard was taken from a real tree. Smaller pieces include Matali Crasset’s version of the cheval mirror, BarberOsgerby’s glass lamps and Crasset’s delicate lanterns.

Mallett could have gone the route of limited editions, currently so fashionable, but instead it has chosen to make these pieces to order. Anybody who wants a piece (and can pay the price) may have one. The company anticipates, though, that most of the pieces will be made only in smallish batches. Prices are still being finalised, but will start at about £15,000 for the BarberOsgerby lamps. After the Milan Fair, the pieces will go to Mallett’s New York showroom for another splendid launch. In June, they’ll come back to 141 New Bond Street, London W1, where they may be seen and ordered.

Mallett Antiques, 020-7499 7411; www.mallettantiques.com

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