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Ron Arad (industrial designer)
Israeli industrial designer (born 1951) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Ron Arad, RDI (Hebrew: רון ארד; born 24 April 1951)[1] is a British-Israeli industrial designer, artist, and architectural designer.[2][3] Arad is best known for his furniture designs, including the postmodern chair Rover.
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Early life
Ron Arad was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, in a progressive Jewish family.[4] Both of his parents were artists.[5] He studied at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem between 1971 and 1973, and at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London from 1974[6] to 1979.[7] After graduating, he briefly worked as an interior architect under Peter Cook.[8][9]
Career
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Arad co-founded the design and production studio One Off in 1981[10] with Caroline Thorman. Ron Arad Associates architecture and design practice was formed in 1989, and in 2008 Ron Arad Architects was established alongside Ron Arad Associates, with Caroline Thorman and Asa Bruno.[11][12]
Industrial design
Arad's career as furniture designer began with the 1981 Rover chair, a postmodernist armchair assembled from a scrapyard leather seat from a Rover P6 car combined with a steel frame.[13][5] Six copies of the chair were acquired by fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier the same year and made Arad famous overnight.[14][13][15]
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In 1993, he designed the Bookworm, a warped-metal bookshelf, mass-produced by the Italian furniture company Kartell.[16] In 1997, he created the Tom Vac chair, made from ribbed vacuum-formed aluminium.[17], and FPE chair.[18]
Arad's designs often involve experimentation with non-traditional materials and unexpected fabrication methods.[19][20][21][22] His style has been called "ruinism", a definition Arad rejects.[23][24]
In 2005, Arad designed chandeliers for the Swarovski crystal company that can display SMS text messages with light-emitting diodes.[25] He also has made tables that climb walls instead of being centered in the room. Arad's designs are often formed in biomorphic shapes and are created in steel.[26]
In 2008–09, Arad collaborated with KENZO to create his first perfume bottle which was on display in his MoMA exhibit No Discipline.[27]
In 2010, Arad started his collaboration with New Eye London to design an eyewear collection.
Arad's 2012 installation “720 Degrees” at the sculpture garden of the Israel Museum consisted of 5,600 silicone cords that formed a circle 26 feet above the garden. Visitors viewed projected images standing inside or outside the structure.[28]
Architecture
Under Arad's direction, the architectural side of the practice has completed projects such as the Maserati Showroom in Modena, Italy (2002),[14] Yohji Yamamoto Flagship Store in Tokyo, Japan (2003) and the Mediacite retail centre in Liège, Belgium.[29] In recent years he has been overseeing the construction of a 160,000 m² office development in Tel Aviv, and a cancer hospital in Afula.[30][31][4]
He has also designed the Design Museum Holon together with Asa Bruno, which was opened in 2010.[32]
Arad designed the ToHA office complex in Tel Aviv, the first phase of which was completed in early 2019.[33] The second phase, which as of 2025 is in development, will be among the tallest skyscrapers in Israel.[33][34]
In 2017, Arad won the competition to design the UK Holocaust Memorial as Memorial Architects, and part of a team led by Ghanaian British architect David Adjaye with Gustafson, Porter + Bowman landscape architects.[35]
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Honours
Arad was Head of Design Products Department at the Royal College of Art from 1997 to 2009.[25][36] He was Professor of Design at the Hochschule in Vienna from 1994 to 1997, and later Professor of Design Products at the Royal College of Art in London up until 2009, when he was made Professor Emeritus.
He was awarded the Royal Designer for Industry (RDI) in 2002 and the London Design Medal of London Design Festival in 2011.[37][38] In 2012 he was elected a Royal Academician by the Royal Academy of Art in London.[39][40] Arad holds an Honorary Doctorate from Tel Aviv University.[41] His work has been exhibited at the MoMA, the V&A and Centre Georges Pompidou.[6]
Gallery
Well Tempered Chair (1986)
The Big Easy Chair (1987), chrome
Tom Vac chair (1997)
Design Museum Holon at 2010 opening in Holon, Israel
Personal life
Arad lives and works in Camden, North London.[13] His brother is the violist and educator Atar Arad.
See also
References
Further reading
External links
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