Tord Boontje is a Dutch-born, London-based product designer who
combines advanced technologies with artisanal techniques to create
glassware, lighting and furniture. Studio Tord Boontje produces
limited-edition pieces and develops designs for mass production. Tord
is professor and head of Design Products at the Royal College of Art.
Tord Boontje was born in Enschede, Netherlands, in 1968. He first
studied industrial design at the Design Academy in Eindhoven (1986–91), and followed this with a Master's degree from the Royal College
of Art in London (1992–4). Studio Tord Boontje was founded in 1996.
Tord Boontje lived and worked in London from 1995 to 2005, when he
moved his home and studio to Bourg-Argental, France. In 2009 he took up
his appointment as professor and head of Design Products at the Royal
College of Art and continues work at his own studio, which is now
located back in London.
Studio Tord Boontje works in the areas of product design, furniture,
textiles, installations and graphics. The nature of the
studio’s projects range from design for affordable industrial
production to handmade artisanal objects in developing countries such
as Guatemala, Colombia and Senegal. Tord Boontje’s work is in public
collections in the USA: at the Museum of Modern Art and Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, New York; at MoMA, San
Francisco; and at the Museums of Art in Indianapolis and Philadelphia. In
Europe, Boontje's work is in a number of public collections including
the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Groninger Museum, Groningen; and at the Victoria
and Albert Museum, London. Boontje is the recipient of many design
awards including Dutch Designer of the Year in 2005. His work is the
subject of a major publication Tord Boontje (Rizzoli, New York, 2007).