Ron Arad - London Studio

SnOOper's I feel like I have let you down today. I had the amazing invitation to have a private tour with some London Design Festival VIP's today.... BUT I arrived 20mins late. This meant I couldn't introduce myself to Ron and the people who were there were in a rush so rushed him.

Last night designer Ron Arad was awarded the London Design Medal 2011 at a ceremony at St Paul’s Cathedral as part of the London Design festival. The medal is awarded annually for a lifetime’s contribution to design and the city. The studio is on Chalk Farm Road in North West London. You enter it by way of a flaky blue gate that opens onto a cobbled lane called Old Dairy Mews. You then climb a steel stair and find yourself, with a dislocating sci-fi effect, inside abendy, asymmetrical space where, at first glance, the principal occupants are chairs. Then you note that there are assistants sinking into their computer screens, like Alice just before she slips through the looking glass, but they are outnumbered by chairs and models for other projects. 

When I did arrive and sneaked in Ron was showing some amazing video's of his work including the Design Museum, Holon and his Vortex in Seoul, Korea.

When I asked him questions I felt like this stencil found at the entrance of his studio located in a gated muse in Camden. Ron is one of my design hero's and his jumper which had holes all over it showed off the stripes from his top underneath. His hat made from straw was worn at the end and captures what I love about design and fashion at the moment. Imperfection can be so beautiful, creative and oozes a confident attitude of "I don't care".

One of my favourite quotes from Ron is "Some people have hair and some people have hats I wish I belonged to the first group, but I belong to the second". I asked Ron if he would give me a quote for my book and he said send me an email. Damn my heart sunk... It really was a visit that I wanted to be Amazing (AND IT WAS... AND I WAS VERY LUCKY)...but SnOOper's I wasn't my normal chatty self and didn't feel like I connected to my hero.