Brodie Neill is a young dynamic designer capturing the attention of the international design scene with his new and exciting use of form. Only recently having graduated the 28-year-old Australian has quickly built up an impressive collection of international exhibitions and prestigious clientele. Already, Brodie\’s progressive approach has resulted in the much-celebrated design E-turn (Kundalini) and the @ Chair; a design recently included in Time Magazine\’s most influential designs for 2008.
Emmanuel Babled was born in France in 1967. He studied at the European Institute of Design in Milan where he graduated in Industrial Design in 1989. In 1992 he founded Emmanuel Babled Studio, working independently.
Since 1995 Babled has developed much glassware and tableware, limited editions and unique pieces, for prestigious manufacturers like Baccarat, Covo, & Co. Ltd, Laurent Perrier, Rosenthal and Venini.
Throughout the years he has worked on industrial products, furniture and lighting for Magis, Vistosi, Kundalini, DuPont deNemours, Oluce, Outlook Zelco etc…
Johanna Grawunder began working for Ettore Sottsass in 1985, subsequently becoming a partner. In addition to her work in architectural design she has produced limited editions of lighting and furniture for various galleries in Europe and the United States. She also works with selected group of companies such as Flos, Boffi and Salviati. Her more recent commissions have included a permanent installation of outside lighting at the Museo di Arte Contemporanea of Syracuse. She has held lectures and conferences in Europe, Asia and the United States.
MARCUS TREMONTO, the artist/designer started his New York based design studio, Treluce studios, with wife and partner Monica Tremonto in 2002. He has received international recognition and acclaim for his innovative limited edition ‘Lightworks’ pieces. Following his 2007 one man show at Phillips de Pury in New York, he was chosen for the coveted Swaroski Crystal Palace in Milan 2008. He holds a Masters in painting and a BS in Mathematics and Physics.
The Getty series of designs focus on image, structure and illusion ; working with the materials to create dimensions and layers, carefully composing forms that seem as if they carry on into the space freelyand indefinitely. When off these pieces simply reflect the environment around but turned on they reveal a new world and dimension beyond both sides. Expanding on the architectural perspective of the paper Landscape series, first exhibited in Milan for Salone de Mobile 2009, the new series of work further explores the continuing use of light source as a material to express form and shape whilst utilizing new techniques and manufacturing processes.
Michael Anastassiades launched his studio in 1994 to explore contemporary notions of culture and aesthetics through a combination of product, furniture and environmental design. Positioned between fine art and design, his work aims to provoke dialogue, participation and interaction. He creates objects that are minimal, utilitarian and almost mundane yet full of a vitality one might not expect.
Anastassiades‚’s work is featured in permanent collections at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. His clients and patrons include Rosenthal, Swarovski and Hussein Chalayan. His pieces also feature prominently in landmark interiors including Soho House New York and the Grand Hotel Stockholm. Michael Anastassiades, the company, was established in 2007 to introduce Michael’s signature pieces, a collection of lighting, furniture, jewellery and tabletop objects. The company’s philosophy is a continuous search for eclecticism, individuality, and timeless qualities in design.
Michael trained as a civil engineer at London’s Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine before taking a masters degree in industrial design at the Royal College of Art. He lives and works in London.
PHILIP MICHAEL WOLFSON, born 1958 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, studied at Cornell University, School of Architecture Ithaca, New York and the Architectural Association, London, England. On graduation, he worked with Zaha Hadid at the outset of her career, leading design teams on numerous projects, and establishing a strong collaboration with her office which subsequently spanned some 20 years. Since setting up his own practice in 1991, Wolfson has worked throughout Europe and the USA prodominently on residential interiors and exhibition/gallery design pieces.
Ross Lovegrove, after graduating from the RCA in 1983 has seemingly worked with everyone in the design industry, from Apple and Sony to Driade, Cappellini and louis Vuitton. Lovegrove curated the first permanent collection at the Design Museum, London in 1993 and has had solo exhibitions of his work in MOMA New York. Winner of numerous international awards his work has been published and exhibited internationally including the MOMA NY, Guggenheim Museum NY, Axis Centre Japan, Pompidou Centre, Paris.
The GHOST collection by Studio DRIFT is a futuristic concept of a chair, a 3D image captured within the boundaries of its outer shell. But with today’s technologies the impossible can be simulated. The chairs are handmade with the best materials and specialists from Europe. Two different techniques were combined in a new way to form this first GHOST collection. We use an unique 3D technique to create unusual subsurface drawings inside the solid Plexiglas chairs. The inner ghost is made from over a million tiny air bubbles, the image is a reflection of light on air, therefore the name Ghost Chair. For the inner Ghost we generated the most extreme 3-Dimensional shapes possible that do not refer to any other shape known to us. It had to look new and ‘never seen before’ but also natural at the same time. Within the restrictions of the material we hand drew one chair per week, letting our emotion of the day determine the shape of the drawing.
Inspiration
During our shape research we stumbled upon our Dutch Queens chair collection and learned about a fascinating history we wanted to include in the collection. In the past only the King was allowed to sit down. The other guests had to remain standing as a sign of decency. Except during fancy dinners people were allowed to sit. All the chairs in the dining room were part of one collection, from the shape of the chair you could see the social position. Of course the King’s chair was the biggest and together with the Queens chair; the only chairs with armrests. The guests at the table were aloud to sit on chairs with a backrest. The waiters sat on stools against the wall if they needed to take a rest, ready to jump up to serve the King and his guests. We decided to use this concept in our collection.