In conversation with Ron Arad

Ron Arad was born in Tel Aviv educated at the Jerusalem Academy of Art and later at the Architectural Association in London. He co-founded the design and production studio One Off with Caroline Thorman in 1981 and later, in 1989, Ron Arad Associates architecture and design practice and in 2008 he set up Ron Arad Architects. Ron was awarded the Royal Designer for Industry (RDI) in recognition of his ‘sustained excellence in aesthetic and efficient design for industry’ in 2002, and was awarded 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. In 2013 he was elected as a Royal Academician by the Royal Academy of Art in London. Ron Arad’s constant experimentation with the possibilities of materials such as steel, aluminium or polyamide and his radical re-conception of the form and structure of furniture has put him at the forefront of contemporary design.