The Judges Awards

02.2 James Irvine

James Irvine is a British designer based in Milan, having upped sticks as soon as his mortarboard hit the floor following his graduation from London’s Royal College of Art in the early 1980s. Starting out as a consultant to Olivetti design in 1984, Irvine established his practice in 1988, counting Cappellini and SCP among his first clients. Irvine and his five-strong studio have since developed an unshakeable reputation for elegant, functional work. Among his numerous achievements, Irvine today finds time to act as creative director of bent-wood furniture company Thonet, as well as being a design consultant to Japanese design house Muji. Ever efficient, Irvine recently engineered a collaboration between the two and launched a series of chairs supported by a single, bowed panel, and equally simple tables. Last year, he was behind the multifaceted 'Casino' shelving system for Galerie Kreo and the wonderfully simple ‘Irvine w082’ desk lamp for Wästberg; this year will see a pop-up shop for Phaidon in London’s Piccadilly. Technically sophisticated and aesthetically unfussy, Irvine’s work is about good design, not the sound of bells and whistles.

Company: James Irvine Furniture and Industrial Design
Established:1988
Based: Milan
Key project 2009: Masterminded a collaboration between bent-wood furniture company Thonet and design house Muji, creating the ‘Muji Thonet’ chairs
Other work: Is creating a pop-up shop for Phaidon in London; designed a city bus for Hanover in 2000; has worked with B&B Italia, Cappellini, Magis, MDF Italia, Olivetti

View gallery of work
www.james-irvine.com

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