Collection: Ron Arad

Ron Arad was born in Tel Aviv in 1951. He trained as an architect, artist and designer. After attending the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, he moved to London to study at the prestigious Architectural Association, where he trained under Bernard Tschumi. At the age of thirty, in 1981, he founded the One Off studio with Caroline Thorman. In 1989, he established Ron Arad Associates and opened the Ron Arad Studio in Como in 1994. In 2008, he created Ron Arad Architects. His production lies between art and design, with research characterised by continuous experimentation with the forms of objects and the expressive possibilities of materials like steel, aluminium, carbon fibre and polyethene. In parallel with his work as a designer, he has been a guest professor at the Vienna Hochschule and the Royal College of Art in London. There, he directed the Design Product Department from 1997 to 2009 and was appointed Royal Academician in 2013.

After his beginnings and early successes with unconventional objects like the Rover Chair (1981), the Aerial table light (1981) and the Transformer Chair (1985), Ron Arad began working with the world's most influential brands. He designed the famous Bookworm wall-mounted bookcase (1997) and the sinuous stackable FPE (Fantastic Plastic Elastic, 1997) chairs for Kartell; the Spring Collection chairs (1991), the scenographic Victoria and Albert sofa (2000), the enveloping Ripple Chair (2005) and the modular system of chairs and poufs Misfits (2007) for Moroso. He designed the Tom Vac chair for Vitra in 1997, which was exhibited together with many other pieces in the Ron Arad: Yes to the Uncommon! show at the Vitra Design Museum. He designed the stainless steel Babyboop vase for Alessi and for Driade the small Clover polyethene armchair and the MT3rocking chair; for iGuzzini, the Pizzakobra desk lamp, for Venini precious blown glass vases and for Nude, several sets of crystal glasses.

In 1994 he designed the Foyer of the Opera House in Tel Aviv, where he also opened the Bauhaus Museum in 2008. In 2009, he designed the Médiacité shopping complex in Liège, Belgium, and in 2010, the Design Museum Holon in Israel, with Bruno Asa. Another memorable project is the Fiat 500 Couture, presented in 2014 under the name 500 Ron Arad Edition, produced in a limited series. His art and design works are in the world's most prestigious museums, such as the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. His work is widely published internationally in numerous books and magazines.