Ron Arad was born in Tel Aviv, Israel in 1951. He is the son of a painter mother and a photographer father.
Arad studied at the Jerusalem Academy of Art from 1971 till 1973, than he moved to London.
In London he attended the Architectural Association, the prestigious avant-garde school for architecture and design. He studied under Peter Cook, the founder of Archigram. Among his fellow students were Peter Wilson, Nigel Coates, and Zaha Hadid.
In 1981, together with Caroline Thorman, Ron Arad founded "One Off Ltd." in London. Being a design studio and a showroom in one, "One Off" became the laboratory in which Arad conducted his design experiments. However, the works of other avant-garde designers such as Tom Dixon, Danny Lane, and Tom Lynham, were also featured at "One Off".
In 1981 Ron Arad created the "Rover Chair", with a seat from a four wheel drive car.
Early, Arad used steel polished to a high gloss for his seat furniture. Later, he also used wood, aluminium and plastic. Seat furniture Ron Arad created for Moroso includes "Big Easy" (1988/89), "Little Heavy" (1991), and the "Victoria & Albert" chair (2000).
Ron Arad attached great importance to the one of a kind character of his works. Through his choice of materials, labor-intensive techniques of manufacture, and unusual forms, Rod Arad has purposely distanced his objects from mass-produced furniture, which has also made them quite expensive.
For Kartell Ron Arad has created some commercially very successful designs, including the "Bookworm" bookcase (1997) and, in 1998, the chairs "Tom Vac" and "FPE" (fantastic plastic elastic). Ron Arad designed several objects for Vitra in the 1980s, including the "Well Tempered Chair" (1986/87).
As an architect Ron Arad designed amongst others the new Tel Aviv Opera and a showroom for the Italian carmaker Maserati in Modena.
In 1989 Ron Arad opened the "Ron Arad Associates" studio in Chalk Farm, London. In 1993
"One Off Ltd." was incorporated into "Ron Arad Associates".
Since 1994 there has also been the Ron Arad Studio in Como, Italy to continue and expand on the production studio pieces as previously produced in the London workshops.
From 1994 to 1997 Ron Arad was a visiting professor of product design at the Kunsthochschule in Vienna.
Since 1994 Ron Arad has been professor of furniture and product design at the Royal College of Art in London.
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