Test your Design IQ
MANILA, Philippines - Who is the prolific Australian-born designer who designed the iconic furniture pieces Event Horizon Table and Orgone Chair?
He was born in Sydney, Australia in 1963 and spent his childhood traveling in Europe and Asia before studying jewelry and sculpture at the Sydney College of the Arts.
He started experimenting with furniture design as a student, and after graduating in 1984 was awarded a grant from the Australian Arts Council, and staged an exhibition featuring the Lockheed Lounge at the Roslyn Oxley Gallery in Sydney.
In 1987, he moved to Tokyo, where he lived and worked until 1991, designing pieces like the Orgone Lounge, the Black Hole Table, and Felt Chair, which were widely exhibited in Europe and Asia.
He set up a studio in Paris in 1991, and won commissions from prestigious European manufacturers including Flos for lighting, Cappellini and Moroso for furniture. He formed a joint venture, the Ikepod Watch Company, to manufacture watches he designed, and produced limited-editions of aluminum furniture.
In the 1990s, he also designed a series of restaurants — Coast in London, Mash & Air in Manchester, Osman in Cologne, and Canteen in Manhattan.
In 1997, he moved to London where he set up a larger studio capable of tackling more ambitious industrial projects. He has since designed mass-manufactured glassware for Littala; kitchen and bathroom accessories for Alessi; furniture, lighting, and household objects for Magis, B&B Italia, Idee, and Dupont Corian.
In 2003, he designed the Lever House restaurant in New York, and the Skybed for Qantas; a year later he designed the interiors for Qantas’s new A380 fleet and airport lounges in Sydney and Melbourne. In 2007, he completed the cabin design for the Sky Jet, an airline/rocketship (by EADS Astrium) planning to take passengers into space in 2012.
He is known to incorporate biomorphism in his various designs. This style uses smooth flowing lines, translucency, transparency, and the absence of sharp edges to create a beautiful and ergonomic design.
He has won numerous awards, including six Good Design awards from the Chicago Atheneum. In 2005, he was named one of Time magazine’s Top 100 Most Influential People in the World.
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Last week’s question: Who is the celebrated master chef and hospitality entrepreneur who has received critical acclaim for his signature Progressive American cuisine, a style that reinterprets classic European cooking using American artisanal products and small farm producers?
Answer: Charlie Palmer
Winner: Alexander Cristobal of Quezon City
Text your answer to 0905-3142614 with your name and address. One winner will be chosen through a raffle of texts with the correct answer. The winner will receive P2,000 worth of SM gift certificates for use at Our Home, SM Department Store, or SM Supermarket. They can claim their prize at Our Home in SM Megamall. Call the store manager at 634-1950, 634-1943. Bring photocopies of two valid IDs and a clipping of the Design Quiz issue in which you appear as winner.
