Ron Arad
Arad in 2017
Born (1951-04-24) 24 April 1951
NationalityBritish-Israeli
Occupation(s)industrial designer, artist, and architectural designer
Design Museum Holon at 2010 opening in Holon, Israel

Ron Arad, RDI (Hebrew: רון ארד; born 24 April 1951)[1] is a British-Israeli industrial designer, artist, and architectural designer.[2][3]

Early life

The Big Easy Chair, chrome
Well Tempered Chair
Tom Vac chair (1997)
Windwand (Carbon fibre, 2000) by Ron Arad, located at Canary Riverside, Canary Wharf, London, Great Britain[4]

Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, to a Jewish family. 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 to 1979.[5] His brother is the violist and educator Atar Arad.

Career

Arad co-founded the design and production studio One Off in 1981 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.

Arad's career as a designer began with the Rover chair, a leather seat from a Rover P6 on a steel frame.

He experiments with materials and technology as well as the re-conception of objects’ form and structure. Ron Arad was awarded the Royal Designer for Industry (RDI) in 2002 and the London Design Medal in 2011. 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. In 2013 he was elected as a Royal Academician by the Royal Academy of Art in London.

Ron Arad has won numerous additional international awards, holds an Honorary Doctorate at Tel Aviv University, and is regularly published. His work features in public collections and has been exhibited in places such as at the MoMA (NYC), the V&A (London) and the Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris). He has designed for international furniture and design brands and collaborated with a variety of fashion, technology and luxury brands.

Under his direction, the architectural side of the practice has completed award-winning projects such as the Maserati Showroom in Modena, Italy (2002), Yohji Yamamoto Flagship Store in Tokyo (2003), the Design Museum Holon in Israel (2010) and the Mediacite retail centre in Liège, Belgium. The practice has been overseeing the construction of a 160,000 m² office development in Tel Aviv, and a new Cancer Hospital in the north of Israel due to be completed in 2021. Ron Arad Architects have also designed the UK Holocaust Memorial, due for completion in 2022.

Ron Arad was Head of Design Products Department at the Royal College of Art from 1997 to 2009.[6][7] Arad designed in 1994 the Bookworm bookshelf, which is still in production by the Italian company Kartell.[5]

In 2005, Arad designed chandeliers for the Swarovski crystal company which if one has the number, can display text messages that are sent to it by incorporating light-emitting diodes (LEDs) operated by SMS text messages.[6] He also has had tables that climb walls instead of being centered in the room. Arad's designs are often worked into biomorphic shapes and are created in steel.[8] He made plans to expand his studio in 2008.[9]

In 2008–09, Arad paired with KENZO to create his first perfume bottle. The bottle was on display in his exhibit No Discipline.[10]

He has also designed the Design Museum Holon together with Asa Bruno, which was opened in Israel in 2010.[11]

In 2010, Arad started his collaboration with New Eye London to design an eyewear collection.

Arad's installation “720 Degrees” opened at the sculpture garden of the Israel Museum in August 2012. It consists of 5,600 silicone cords that form a circle 26 feet above the garden. Visitors view projected images standing inside or outside the structure.[12]

Arad designed the ToHA office complex in Tel Aviv, the first phase of which was completed in early 2019.[13] The second phase which is currently in development will, once completed, be among the tallest skyscrapers in Israel.[13]

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.[14]

See also

References

  1. "Birthdays", The Guardian, p. 33, 24 April 2014
  2. "Ron Arad, artist, designer and architect". designboom. 5 October 2000. Retrieved 19 June 2012.
  3. Burnett, Kate (11 March 2010). "Ron Arad". idfx. Retrieved 19 June 2012.
  4. Ron Arad: Windwand Canary Wharf Art Trail. Canary Wharf Group. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  5. 1 2 BONLUXAT (14 June 2006). "Ron Arad Biography". BONLUXAT. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
  6. 1 2 Dezeen (9 August 2011). "Curtain Call by Ron Arad at the Roundhouse". Dezeen. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
  7. Haden-Guest, Anthony (24 April 2009). "Ron Arad". Interview. Retrieved 19 June 2012.
  8. Judith Gura (December 2008). "Curves Ahead". Art+Auction. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012. Retrieved 15 December 2008.
  9. Abrahams, Charlotte (3 August 2008). "My space: Ron Arad, architect and designer". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 June 2012.
  10. "Ron Arad has designed for Kenzo". Designophy. 17 April 2009. Archived from the original on 7 September 2017. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
  11. "Welcome to Design Museum Holon". Design Museum Holon. 2010. Archived from the original on 18 November 2018. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
  12. "Ron Arad to Bring a Levitating Circular Cinema to the Israel Museum". Archived from the original on 30 March 2013. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  13. 1 2 Mafi, Nick (13 October 2016). "Ron Arad Architects Unveils Plans for Israel's Tallest Skyscraper". Architectural Digest. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  14. "Adjaye Associates and Ron Arad Architects win UK Holocaust Memorial International Design Competition". gov.uk. 24 October 2017.
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