Ross Lovegrove

1958 Cardiff



Born in Cardiff, Wales, in 1958, the industrial designer Ross Lovegrove studied industrial design at Manchester Polytechnic until 1980 before transferring to the Royal College of Art in London, where he remained until 1983. Ross Lovegrove worked for several years for Frogdesign, Hartmut Esslinger's design agency in Altensteig, Germany, where his projects included collaborating on designing the Sony Walkman and computer chassis for Apple. Then Ross Lovegrove became a designer at Knoll International, for whom he developed the bestselling Alessandri Office System.
As a member of Atelier de Nîmes, the design studio to which Philippe Starck, Jean Nouvel, Martine Bedin, and Gérard Barrau also belonged, Ross Lovegrove worked as a design consultant for Louis Vuitton, Cacharel, Dupont, and Hermès. In 1986 Ross Lovegrove returned to Britain and opened a London practice jointly with Julian Brown. In 1990 Ross Lovegrove founded a practice of his own, Studio X, also in London.
As an industrial designer, Ross Lovegrove has worked for numerous internationally important manufacturers and is regarded as one of the most important contemporary industrial designers. Ross Lovegrove's works are often inspired by forms from nature; in addition, he is an expert on ergonomy, using cutting-edge materials and manufacturing techniques. Ross Lovegrove's designs are supposed to arouse user emotions.
In addition, Ross Lovegrove is an adherent of Green Design, which seeks to combine ecological awareness with the designing process. The entire life cycle of a product is to be taken into account, which means that the designer must always keep in mind environmentally friendly manufacturing and the durability of the products he is designing. In 1996 Ross Lovegrove designed "Crop", an armchair with a soft seat in organic forms. Another 1996 Ross Lovegrove design is "Bone", a chair with a maple frame, a wood that really does, in its natural state, recall bone shapes.
In 1997 Ross Lovegrove designed "Magic", a startlingly innovative chair with a seat that seems to be hovering in space with no support as it is only fastened to the back by the top of the apron to the back. In 1990 Ross Lovegrove and Julian Brown co-designed the "Basic" thermos jug for Alfi - it may well be the most copied design in the world. In 1993 Ross Lovegrove was commissioned to assemble and organize the first London Design Museum collection.