Daniel Weil unconventional industrial designs

Daniel Weil is an Argentine architect and designer. He was born in Buenas Aires and is based in London. Weil has always questioned the conventions of product design, and his approach has made him a controversial figure in the design world. Many have referred to his products as art objects, but Weil has maintained that he is an industrial designer and that his designs could be mass-produced.

Education

He studied architecture, at the University of Buenos Aires, to 1977. Between 1978-81 he studied industrial design, at the Royal College of Art, London. 

Biography

From 1981, he designed a series· of digital clocks, radios, and lighting for his own firm Parenthesis. His 1984 Andante deconstructed radio was executed with colourful separate parts housed in a clear plastic bag to be wall-hung. It was part of the Anthologie collection for Quartett. They were viewed as art and utilitarian objects. Various radio designs screen-printed in colourful motifs and exposed wiring and electronic components were sold both as inexpensive production pieces and as limited-edition items in galleries. Weil believes that design should be not only technical and stylistic but also intellectual.

He corroborated with Gerald Taylor and founded the design and manufacturing firm Parenthesis. In 1985, he formed a design partnership with Taylor. He became a partner in the Pentagram group. From 1991, he was a professor of industrial design, Royal College of Art. Parenthesis work included the 1981-83 Bag Radio, 1982 Walking Radio, 1982 Cambalache Radio, 1982 China Wall Radio, 1984 Walter flower vase, 1984 Small Door Radio, and 1984 Claire fruit bowl. 

Exhibitions 

Work is shown in London, Milan, San Francisco, Dallas, Philadelphia: Hanover, and Venice. Andante radio included in 1983-84 Design Since 1945′ exhibition, Philadelphia Museum of Art. 

Sources

Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing.

Capella, J., & Larrea, Q. (1988). Designed by architects in the 1980s. Rizzoli.

Mallard Press. (1991). The illustrated dictionary of 20th-century designers.

More Industrial Designers