Five years ago Zaha Hadid's installation at the Venice Biennale (above) featured sculptural, shiny forms, which cropped up in a lot of designers' work around the same time.

Designers of the Olympic torch BarberOsgerby also created a sculptural piece that looked like the fluke of a whale to be displayed at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich during London Design Festival (above).

Industrial designer Michael Young unveiled his design for a sleek sex toy called Sabar (above).

Elsewhere, Philippe Strack created retro-looking, leather-upholstered sofas and chairs for Italian furniture brand Cassina (above).

To conclude, old tea sets found at a car boot sales were given a new lease of life by design graduate Christine Misiak (above).

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This week five years ago our readers were all talking about goldfish, as designer Roger Arquer presented a series of unusual bowls including one with a plug (above) and another that makes a fish share water with a plant (below).

After claims from many readers that the bowls were "cruel" and would surely kill the fish, Arquer assured them that the ones living in his were still alive and quite content.

We featured a few other glass and ceramic projects, including a pendant lamp made from wine glasses (above) and a collection of hand-beaten brass vessels by Tom Dixon (below).

Meanwhile, Jaime Hayón presented his latest collection of vases, which featured mosaic patterns and ear-shaped handles (below).

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Five years ago this week woven materials and netting featured heavily in architecture and design, as Thomas Heatherwick completed an undulating facade of woven steel around the entrance to a London hospital (above) and graduate designer Sarah Moucher presented a light made from removable ceramic links (below).

Meanwhile, Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka used laceration to transform a single piece of fabric into a net that could be draped over the steel frame of a chair (below).

On Dezeen we also featured a pair of jelly shoes and matching bag with an open-weave effect by the Campana Brothers (below), as well as a chain link fence with intricate lace patterns woven in (bottom).

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Five years ago designers were injecting an element of fun into their projects: Nendo created a climbing wall of picture frames (above) at a fitness club, while architects BIG designed a winter resort hotel where guests could ski down the roof (below).

The hotel was never constructed, but the idea has reappeared in a couple of BIG's projects since then, including another hotel and an energy plant.

Meanwhile, plumbing hardware made an appearance in a few designers' projects, as Joana Meroz launched a collection of plates with drains and rubber plugs (above) and Nick Fraser used pipes and taps to create a wall-mounted coat and shoe rack (below).

And finally artist Lisa Rienermann was applauded by Dezeen readers for photographing an alphabet formed of shapes buildings make against the sky (below). One commenter described the project as "beguiling, intelligent and very cute".

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Museums, galleries, exhibitions and installations were in the news this week five years ago, as Coop Himmelb(l)au's extension to the Akron Art Museum opened in Ohio (above) and the winner of a competition to design a museum dedicated to the ice age (below) was announced for Siberia.

In Helsinki, an exhibition of traditional Finnish design and manufacturing (below) took place at contemporary art museum Kiasma.

We also featured an installation by Amanda Levete that experimented with Corian (below) and one by Atelier van Lieshout that was based around a fictional, dystopian prison-city (bottom).

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