RON ARAD ADDS TANK MAGAZINE TO HIS ROBUST DESIGN CURRICULUM VITAE

Photo by Nick Harvey

By: Sara Murphy

Art for Breakfast (the video blog diary for Le Royal Monceau Hotel in Paris) recently caught up with Rod Arad to discuss his collaboration with TANK  Magazine (a design/culture publication) and Women for Women International (WfWI, a women's charity) at the luxury hotel.  Each special limited edition art issue of TANK, came in these one-of-a-kind collectible boxes made by the famous artist.  Arad, a central figure in the design project handcrafted each box using a technique reminiscent of “decoupage” where he literally peeled away the cover to create unique cut-outs around TANK’s logo (pictured above).  All proceeds of the limited 280 issues will benefit WfWI. Noting the many hats Arad wears--artist, designer, architect and professor--Art for Breakfast asked the multi-talented Arad which he prefers to wear and Arad responded, “Ping pong player!” 

Ron Arad's No Discipline Retrospective at the MoMA. Photo by Jason Mandella

Humor and innovative technology have always been apart of the fabric of Arad’s artistic process, as much as his desire is to remain unclassified. His designs are diverse yet unmistakable--austere, and polished-- his medium of choice is steel. A self-taught sculptural furniture design-maker, Arad honed his skills at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem before leaving his native Israel in 1973 to study architecture at the Architectural Association in London. 

Image by Stardust

Arad’s architecture design can be found in cities such as London, Milan, Paris, Jerusalem, Moscow, Tokyo and Tel Aviv. Bold and fluid, Arad’s designs take heavy, dense materials and construct structures that ooze movement. Some of his most popular designs are his “volume chairs.” The Big Easy (1991) is an oversized steel armchair that introduced Arad’s work to the world- so popular it was later mass reproduced by the Italian upholstery company, Moroso.

Image by Dawn Elardo for The NewsGallery

Image by Dawn Elardo for The NewsGallery

Image by Dawn Elardo for The NewsGallery

Since 1997, Arad has led the Royal College of Art’s design products masters’ degree program in London, completely restructuring the program with successful results.  Arad’s first major retrospective in the United States, No Discipline, was displayed at the MoMA in New York in 2009.  

INTERVIEW RON ARAD from Art For Breakfast - Le Royal Mon.

Each of TANK’s special limited edition art issues--featuring a one-of-a-kind Ron Arad design--retails for £905 and are available for purchase online HERE.  Have a watch at the video (above) to see footage of the interview that took place at Le Royal.