Ron Arad | |
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Ron Arad (2004)
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Born | 1951 (age 65–66) Tel Aviv, Israel |
Nationality | Israeli |
Occupation | industrial designer, artist, and architect |
Ron Arad (Hebrew: רון ארד; born 24 April 1951) is an Israeli industrial designer, artist, and architect.
Arad was born in Tel Aviv. He attended the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem between 1971–73 and the Architectural Association in London from 1974–79. In 1989, with Caroline Thorman, he founded Arad Associates, an architecture and design firm, in London. His brother is the violist and educator Atar Arad.
Arad was described in 1999 as a "big, gruff, bovver-booted sort of bloke; cropped hair roughly the same length as the mannered facial stubble".
Arad's career as a designer began with the Rover chair, a leather car seat of a Rover V8 2L anchored on a tubular steel frame. He was Head of Design Products Department at the Royal College of Art from 1997 to 2009. Arad designed in 1994 the Bookworm bookshelf, which was still produced in 2011 by the Italian company Kartell.
Arad's work has been described as "scary", considering its "macho concrete and cut metal; tense sheets of tempered steel and guillotine edges".
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. He also has had tables that climb walls instead of being centered in the room. Arad's works are often worked into distinctive biomorphic shapes and are created from his medium of choice, steel. He made plans to expand his studio in 2008.
In 2008–09, Arad paired with KENZO to create his first perfume bottle. The bottle was on display in his exhibit No Discipline.