Alexei Cowan has been appointed as the new head of trends at Argos and Homebase owner Home Retail Group.
Ms Cowan will be responsible for product and trend development across the group, and, having trained as a furniture designer, she has supplied designs to high street retailers including Heals, Marks & Spencer, Laura Ashley and Designers at Debenhams. For the past eight years, she has worked at Next, both designing products and helping coordinate the look and feel of ranges.

Group commercial & supply chain director Maria Thompson said: "We're delighted to welcome Alexei to our team. She is incredibly passionate about design, and focused on delivering great products for customers that are on trend."