William Morris – Beauty of Practicality
2023-03-27
Morris believed his responsibility was “to revive a sense of beauty in home life, to restore the dignity of art to household decoration.Read More →
Paul Rand (1914 -1996) – Designer who led the way
2023-03-24
Paul Rand, was a seminal figure in graphic design who made innovative visual identities for some of America’s major corporations and book and magazine publishers
We all have seen the designs of Paul Rand at some stage of our lives. He had a career spanning nearly seven decades. There is the seminal logo for IBM and the logo for ABC. There is the Westinghouse logo, the logo for NeXT computers. There are posters and packaging, book covers, record covers and a multitude of magazine covers.Read More →
Bertel Gardberg (1916 – 2007) Finnish Jeweller and Metalworker
2023-03-19
Bertel Gardberg was a Finnish jeweller and metalworker. Between 1938-1941 he studied at Taideteollin Korkeaukoulu, Helsinki. He began his working life in Copenhagen. Gardberg moved to Helsinki where he maintained a studio between 1949-1966. He was responsible for stainless steel and silver designs produced by the Georg Jensen Solvsmedie; Galeries Lafayette department store, Paris and Kilkenny Design workshops, Dublin. Although he was known for his metal wares, he also worked in wood and stone.Read More →
Adrian Frutiger (1928 – 2015) Typographer – creator of widely used fonts.
2023-03-10
Adrian Frutiger was a Swiss graphic designer and typographer. Frutiger created some of the most widely used fonts of the 20th century, and they can be seen daily in airports on street signs and in subway stations. He was the creator of many internationally known and loved fonts such as Avenir, Frutiger, Univers and Vectora.Read More →
Gio Ponti (1891-1979) Italian designer, writer and teacher
2023-03-04
Gio Ponti was an influential writer, teacher, and practising architect who was one of the most influential figures in twentieth-century Italian design. In a long and illustrious career, he worked in a wide variety of design fields, from interiors to furniture and product design, understanding the value of craft traditions alongside creating a new aesthetic.Read More →
Tapio Wirkkala (1913 – 1985) Finland’s leading designer
2023-02-24
Tapio Wirkkala is widely regarded as one of Finland’s most influential designers. Wirkkala began hisRead More →
Million Mark Note – Design Classic
2023-02-20
The Bauhaus was the most well-known design school of the 20th century. Herbert Bayer created notes in denominations of one million, two million, and two billion. The designs exemplify the ideology of hardline Modern Movement graphics.Read More →
Serge Mouille (1922- 1988) French Lighting Designer
2023-01-10
Serge Mouille was a French Lighting Designer; he was born and active in Paris. Mouille studied silversmithing, École des Artes Appliqués, Paris to 1941.Read More →
Michael Taylor (1927 – 1986) – “California Look” 🌞
2023-01-08
Michael Taylor (1927 – 1986) was an American interior and furniture designer. He was known for the “California Style” and made his homes showplaces of the unexpected.Read More →
Robert Bonfils (1886 – 1972) French Graphic Artist
2023-01-05
Born in Paris, Robert Bonfils was a French graphic artist, painter, and designer. He studied at the École Germain-Pilon in 1903 and at the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1906.
He worked for Henri Hamm, a furniture designer. His work included paintings, bookbindings, ceramics for Sèvres, Bianchini-Frerier silk, wallpaper and interior design layouts. He designed the tea room at the Au Printemps department store in Paris. With depictions of the seasons, he decorated the wall.Read More →
Borje Rajalin (b.1933) Finnish Jewellery Designer
2023-01-03
Borje Rajalin is a Finnish Jewellery Designer.
Rajalin worked at Bertel Gardberg’s silversmith from 1952 – 1956. His design work included technical equipment, plastic fittings, cutlery, stainless steel table and cookware and with Anti Nurmesniemi in 1972 a train for the Helsinki Railway. They collaborated with station designers to make the metro stations modern and chic. Rajalin produced silver designs for Bertel Gardberg and jewellery for Kalevala Koru. He taught at Taideeteollinen Oppilaitos and was the director of Taidetelinen Ammattikoulu in Helsinki.Read More →
Clément Mère (1861 – 1940) French, designer and furniture maker
2022-09-26
Clément Mère was born in Bayonne and active in Paris. He was a French painter, table-builder, artist and furniture builder.
He studied painting with Jean-Léon Gérôme at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.Read More →
Helen Abson (b.1942) Australian Architect and Fabric Designer
2022-09-23
Helen Abson, who trained as an architect, is an Australian designer. She pursued architecture for five years; founded ZAB Design where she designed fabrics that exhibited a preoccupation for texture achieved through pattern and colour.Read More →
Frederic Goudy (1865 – 1947) – Typographic Genius
2022-09-22
Less dramatic accomplishments and contributions to the culture of modern civilisation by artists, artisans and designers have been but little publicised. It was in 1937 that a mild-mannered, quiet and kindly man was recognised as a real genius – Frederic W. Goudy, one of the most famous type designers in the world!Read More →
David Mellor (1930 – 2009) British metalworker and manufacturer
2022-09-21
Mellor specialised in metalwork, especially cutlery, and was regarded as one of Britain’s most well-known designers. He also built bus shelters and the traffic light system that is currently in operation throughout the United Kingdom, British Crown Dependencies, and British Overseas Territories.Read More →
Ettore Sottsass (1917-2007) Father of Anti-Design
2022-08-16
Although trained and active as an architect, Sottsass secured a permanent place in pop culture with his designs of everyday items. From 1957, he was a consultant designer at Olivetti, where he designed computers, adding machines, typewriters, and systems furniture. Read More →
Arata Isozaki (b. 1931) is a Japanese architect, urban designer
2022-08-14
Arata Isozaki is a Japanese architect, urban designer, and theorist from Ōita. He was awarded the RIBA Gold Medal in 1986 and the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2019.Read More →
Pierre Vágó (1910 – 2002) Hungarian Architect and Designer
2022-07-24
Pierre Vago was a Hungarian Architect and designer. He studied at the École Spéciale d’Architecture, Paris.
He settled in France in 1928, where he was editor-in-chief on three issues of the review L’Architecture d’aujourd’hui. After World War 2, he was active in reviving the journal and set up his architecture office. In 1948 he left the journal, and it was in 1948 that he became a member of UAM (Union des Artistes Modernes). He built the Basicila de Saint-Pi X (with architect Pierre Pinsard and engineer Eugéne Freysinnet) in Lourdes.Read More →
František Zelenka (1896 – 1942) – Czech architect and stage and graphic designer.
2022-07-22
František Zelenka (1896 – 1942) was a Czech architect and stage and graphic designer. He was born in Prague. Zelenka’s career in the theatre was initiated by K.H. Hilar, the National Theatre director in Prague in 1926.Read More →
Gino Valle (1923 – 2003) Italian architect, designer and town planner
2022-07-22
Gino Valle (1923 – 2003) was. Italian architect, designer, and town planner. He was born in Udine. He studied at the Instituto Universitario di Architettura, Venice, to 1948. From 1951, he was at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Read More →