10 of the best product designers
1) Jonathan Ive, 1967, UK
If you’re Apple fan, you’ve probably heard of Jonathan Ive.
As the Chief Design Officer at Apple, Jonathan was responsible for creating some of the world’s favorite electronics.
Jonathan was with Apple when they launched some of their most iconic products like the iPhone and the iPad. In addition to having worked at Apple, Jonathan is the Chancellor of the Royal College of Art in London.
2) James Dyson, 1947, UK
Dysons is well-known for its innovations that helped vacuum cleaners and the air-blowing industry to a whole new level.
Responsible for inventions like the No-Blade Air Multiplier Fan and the world-famous Air Blade hand dryer, James Dyson didn’t only shape an entire industry but also created useful products for millions of people.
3) Charles and Ray Eames, 1907 and 1912, USA
With a grand sense of adventure, Charles and Ray Eames turned their curiosity and boundless enthusiasm into creations that established them as a truly great husband-and-wife design team.
Their unique synergy led to a whole new look in furniture. Lean and modern. Playful and functional. Sleek, sophisticated, and beautifully simple. That was and is the “Eames look.”
4) Dieter Rams, 1932, Germany
Dieter Rams has been leading the world-renowned consumer product company, Braun, while creating some of their most popular items.
Asides from serving as the head of Braun, Rams has always been an advocate of good functional design, having written the 10 principles for good design: a great rule set for any product designer.
5) Achille Castiglioni, 1918, Italy
Achille Castiglioni was a pioneer of Italian design and one of its most influential protagonists. Designing a wide variety of products, Castiglioni’s work remains a huge influence on contemporary design.
Famous for his elegant and playful lighting design, Achille Castiglioni’s pieces are considered design relics.
6) Marc Newson, 1963, Australia
Marc Newson is an award-winning designer with works that range from furniture to aircraft and luxurious yachts.
In addition to being one of the most influential industrial designers of his generation, Newson’s works are featured in many contemporary design museums all over the globe.
7) Arne Jacobsen, 1902, Denmark
Danish-born Arne Jacobsen is considered to be amongst the most influential architects and product designers of the 20th century.
Two of the standouts of Jacobsen’s prolific career are his Egg Chair and Swan Chair.
Even today, Jacobsen’s work manages to be historical, futuristic, and contemporary at the same time. He’s one of the reasons Scandinavian design is so popular these days.
8) Marcel Breuer, 1902, Hungary
Marcel Breuer is a champion of the modern design movement and protégé of Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer is equally celebrated for his achievements in architecture and furniture.
Breuer was a student and subsequently a master carpenter at the Bauhaus in the early 1920s. His work as a product designer embodies the driving Bauhaus objective to reconcile art and industry.
9) Giorgetto Giugiaro, 1938, Italy
In his career, Giorgetto has designed some of the most successful and influential cars in history, ranging from one-of-a-kind exotics to mass-market utility vehicles.
He’s designed over 200 cars for manufacturers around the world which collectively put over 60 million cars on the road. Furthermore, Giorgetto Giugiaro’s career as a product designer goes far outside the transportation industry, ranging from photography cameras to guns, chairs and even his own pasta design.
10) Philippe Starck, 1949, France
Philippe Starck is an advocate of democratic design and an iconic product designer whose works spans different disciplines.
Asides from creating beautiful, useful and democratic designs, Philippe Starck’s work is known for its political messages, which makes his work even more outstanding.
11) Zaha Hadid, 1950, Baghdad
Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid was a British-Iraqi architect, designer and artist. She was born in 1950 in Baghdad, Iraq and died in 2016.
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings or other large structures. Hadid was known as an architect who always pushed the boundaries of what architecture and design could be. Many of her buildings were inspired by curves and lines found in nature.
When Zaha Hadid was asked to design a building she would research the local area carefully before designing it. She then used drawings and sketches to express her ideas before beginning the final designs. In 2004, she became the first woman to be given the Pritzker Architecture Prize – one of the world’s leading architecture awards.
12) Ettore Sottsass, 1917, Italy
If you know the name Ettore Sottsass, you’re likely to associate it with Memphis—the design collective he spearheaded in the 1980s, which remains one of his most well-known achievements. But the true force of the designer’s character is much bigger than any single movement and was refined throughout various moments of his career.
Sottsass was always motivated by a desire to reach deeper beneath the surface of the objects he designed, and to bring out their poetry.