Ron Arad is a daring innovator with industrial materials and technology

Ron Arad belongs to those creatives whose work is hard to categorize. Primarily recognized as an industrial designer, this British-Israeli artist is also an architect whose legacy can be appreciated on a larger scale in buildings and public art pieces or into the realms of fashion and art.

For a good part of the 80’s and 90’s, Ron Arad worked on his own terms with a hybrid practice that combined found-objects and spare materials using a reckless approach to form and structure that industrial mass production could not scratch. Thanks to the Rover Chair, his most iconic piece, Arad was catapulted onto the international stage inspiring ever since a new generation of boundary-breaker designers.

Rover Chair – 1981

The Rover Chair is Arad’s first piece of furniture. It combines two ready-made elements: a piece of tubular scaffolding and a car seat found in a dump. An 80’s icon beloved by environmentalists, it was first produced by his first office ‘One Off Ltd.’ and later in 2008 by Vitra, in two different models.

Bookworm bookshelf – 1994

This is the “most revolutionary bookcase ever designed” and the reason is very simple: not only the structure is flexible and curvy, but the shelves are not parallel. This radical design idea has been produced by Kartell since 1994 and its innovative spirit lies in the power conferred to the owner, who has the final say on the aesthetic of the piece when deciding the shape of the bookshelf.

Victoria and Albert Sofa – 2000

When Ron Arad met Moroso, the Italian furniture company, they managed to translate the designer’s anarchic technique into a high-end mass-produced sofa: The Victoria and Albert. This collaboration is a synthesis of design and sculpture, a hymn to eternal recurrence as the shape of the sofa emulates the symbol of infinity.

MT Chairs – 2004

“MT”, the acronym defining this collection designed by Ron Arad, in English is pronounced “empty” which is the key concept of this molded mono-bloc polyethylene in which the alternation between concave and convex reveals once again Arad’s sculptural inclination. Designed for Driade, the collection includes a rocking chair, which is a rarity in the contemporary design world.

Holon Design Museum – 2010

Intended as a long-standing commitment to culture and as a platform for the showcase of Israeli design, the Holon Design Museum is itself an architectural icon with five spectacular steel bands in the colors of the surrounding desert. Its shape forms a curvaceous external envelope that guides the visitor from the external plaza to the internal court and beyond the exhibition rooms.