Thomas Heatherwick

Thomas Heatherwick (born 1 March 1970) is an English designer, often mislabelled as a sculptor or artist. He is known for innovative use of engineering and materials in public monuments.

Biography

Born in London, he studied three dimensional design at Manchester Polytechnic and at the Royal College of Art, winning several prizes. Shortly after graduating from the Royal College of Art after a two-year furniture MA course in 1994, he was commissioned by Harvey Nichols department store in Knightsbridge to design a temporary structure for the shop's facade.

Heatherwick's design was a ribbon of laminated wood that wound through the storefront windows. The design was widely acclaimed and won him a D&AD yellow pencil (the gold award) in 1996.

He founded Thomas Heatherwick Studio (now called just Heatherwick Studio) in 1994 with his aim being "to bring architecture, design and sculpture together within a single practice".

Originally based at Camden Mews, the studio moved to larger premises in Kings Cross in 2000. It presently comprises a thirty-strong team which includes architects, landscape architects, designers and engineers. Work is carried out from a combined studio and workshop where concept development, detailing, prototyping and small scale fabrication take place. The studio's work spans commercial and residential building projects, masterplanning and infrastructure schemes as well as high profile works of public art. Heatherwick is a Senior Fellow and external examiner at the Royal College of Art, a fellow of the Royal Academy and was recently chosen to become a Royal Designer for Industry. He has served on numerous judging and advisory panels and has given talks at various institutions including the RIBA, Bartlett School of Architecture, the South Africa Design Indaba conference and the Royal Academy.

In 2004 he curated an exhibition at the Design Museum consisting of 1,000 'every day' design objects that he had collected. The 'BoftheBang' also reached completion in 2004.

Notable works

*B of the Bang, Manchester
*"Bleigiessen", Wellcome Trust, London
*Blue Carpet, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
*The Rolling Bridge (also known as "the curling bridge"), Paddington Basin, London
* Longchamp store in New York City
*Southorn Playground, Wan Chai, Hong Kong
* "Zip Bag" handbag for Longchamp
*East Beach Cafe, Littlehampton
*Boiler Suit, Guy's Approaches, Guy's & St Thomas' Hospital, London

Awards

Thomas Heatherwick was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Arts by Manchester Metropolitan University - his alma mater - on July 21, 2007 in recognition of his design work across a broad spectrum of architecture, engineering and public art, achieving national and international acclaim for his innovative use of materials, his eclectic range of projects, and the resolution of them in new and exciting ways.

External links

* [http://www.heatherwick.com/ Heatherwick Studio] Official website
* [http://www.icon-magazine.co.uk/issues/january/heatherwick.htm Profile in "Icon" magazine]
* [http://www.icon-magazine.co.uk/issues/011/heatherwick.htm Heatherwick and the Conran Collection in "Icon" magazine]
* [http://www.artandarchitecture.co.uk/PdfAndWord/2002/Thomas%20Heatherwick%20Feb%2002.pdf Profile in "Art & Architecture" - PDF]
* [http://www.sculpture.org.uk/artists/ThomasHeatherwick Thomas Heatherwick] at Sculpture.org.uk
* [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,11913,1311117,00.html Profile in "The Observer" 26 September 2004]
* [http://www.eastbeachcafe.co.uk East Beach Cafe]
* [http://www.mmu.ac.uk/graduation/honorands Manchester Metropolitan University's Honorands]