Ron Arad was born into a Jewish family in Tel Aviv, Israel in 1951 and studied architecture at the Jerusalem Academy of Art (1971–73); after graduating he moved to England to study at the Architectural Association in London (1974–79). In 1981 his first furniture design, the Rover Chair, combining the seat of a British Rover 2000 car with a tubular steel frame, brought him instant recognition. He became Head of the Department of Design Products at London’s Royal College of Art and a major series of retrospectives was held at MoMA, the Pompidou Centre and Barbican Centre in 2009–10.
Architect, industrial designer, and sculptor Ron Arad was born into a Jewish family in Tel Aviv, Israel in 1951; he was encouraged by his parents – his father was a sculptor and his mother a painter – to express his artistic vision from a young age, especially in the field of architectural design. He studied Architecture at the Jerusalem Academy of Art (1971–73) and, after graduating, moved to London to study at the Architectural Association (1974–79), where his mentors were the architects Peter Cook and Swiss-born Bernard Tschumi. Instead of submitting a portfolio to the admissions committee, he boldly stated, 'I don’t have a portfolio. I have a 6B pencil. What do you want me to do?' and this performance gained him a place at the school (cited in an interview with Artflyer). Upon graduating, he was apprenticed to a London architectural studio, until one day in 1981, after failing to return from lunch, he instead visited a junkyard which inspired him to design a 'sleekly aggressive postmodernist piece' of furniture, combining two readymades: a Rover 2000 car seat and a tubular steel frame. The so-called Rover Chair gained him instant recognition in the design world and now has the status of a sculpture, with some steel variants subsequently produced in a limited edition.
Arad co-founded the design studio One Off with Caroline Thorman in 1981; they have remained business partners and since collaborated on later projects. In 1989 they established Ron Arad Associates and, 19 years later, Ron Arad Architects. The offices are well known for their bold, innovative designs, winning worldwide commissions including the Tel Aviv Opera Foyer in Israel (1988), Maserati Showroom in Modena, Italy (2002), Yohji Yamamoto Flagship Store in Tokyo (2003), and the Design Museum Holon in Israel (2010). In the UK, Arad is best known for the Selfridges Technology Hall and the Belgo Noord and Belgo Centraal restaurants in London, but has also been involved in a project for Battersea Power Station and has designed private properties across London. In 2017 as a Memorial Architect, he won the competition to design the UK Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre, London in collaboration with leading studio, Adjaye Associates, and Gustafson Porter + Bowman as Landscape Architect. He has also contributed to exhibition designs and installations including the interior for Winning: The Design of Sports exhibition for Glasgow, the 1999 UK City of Architecture and Design. As an individual designer, he has collaborated with major global brands, including Kenzo, Swarovski, Cappellini, Adidas, Nestlé, Fiat, Samsung, LG and Bombay Sapphire. He is a regular designer with Kartell, Vitra, Moroso, Fiam, Driade, Alessi and Flos.
In addition to his practice, Arad began teaching design theory at the Hochschule in Vienna in 1994, before taking up a teaching position at the Royal College of Art, London and subsequently becoming Head of the Department of Design Products between 1997 and 2009. His main principle in teaching is to omit 'shoulds' in art practice and to unleash creative potential. In 2010 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Tel Aviv University in Israel and was elected as a Royal Academician (RA) by the Royal Academy of Arts, London in 2013. Arad's other accolades include the Royal Designer for Industry Award (2002) and the London Design Medal (2011). In 2009–10 a retrospective exhibition entitled Ron Arad: No Discipline was held, initiated by the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, touring to the Museum of Modern Art, New York a year later. Also in 2010, another major show entitled Ron Arad: Restless was held at the Barbican Centre, London. Arad has also created many works of public sculpture sited in cities around the globe, including: Big Blue in Canary Wharf, London (2000), Evergreen! in Roppongi Hills, Tokyo (2003), Kesher, in Tel Aviv (2011), and Vortext in Seoul, South Korea (2011). His work is represented in UK collections including the Royal Academy of Arts and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Ron Arad continues to work at his studio in Chalk Farm, London.