James Irvine 1958-2013

As a contributor to our charitable exhibition, Childsply in 2000, our friendship developed and we happily endorsed his new designs from companies such as Wastberg, Thonet, Alias, Danese and Arper. Most recently we hosted the UK launch of Marsotto in 2011, working closely with James as their creative director.

The design world has lost a great talent and a generous spirit.

James Irvine was born in London and graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1984. The same year he moved to Milan and worked as a design consultant for Olivetti. From 1993-1998 he ran both his own studio and worked as a partner for Ettore Sottsass. In 2000 he completed the design for a new city bus for Hanover. James was elected Royal Designer for Industry by Royal Society of Arts in 2000 and in 2007 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Design from Kingston University. His design studio in Milan has worked with a host of internationally renowned companies including Alias, Artemide, B&B Italia, Canon, Coro, Magis, Marsotto, Muji, Olivetti, Phaidon, Thonet, Whirlpool and WMF.