BLO-VOID 1 by Ron Arad Lot n° 29

THE BLO-VOID 1 CHAIR (2005), by RON ARAD, b.1951 in woven and mirror polished aluminium, 110.5cm (h) x 196cm (long) x 43.5cm. (w), etched with signature and edition no. 16/20. Literature:Alba Cappellieri,Design & Italy: Ron Arad, Milan, 2008, p. 27;Ron Arad: No Discipline,Centre Pompidou, exhibition catalogue, 2008, p. 141 Provenance: Sotheby'sLondon 19 May 2010 -Fine 20th Century Design (lot 8), where purchased by the current owner; Private Collection. Ron Aradis one of the most influential designers of his generation, responsible for numerous innovations in the fields of rapid manufacturing and integrated technology. Born on April 24, 1951 in Tel Aviv, he studied at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design and then moved to Londonto attend the Architectural Association, encountering a creative environment that emphasized ideas over technique. Inspired by Gaetano Pesce, Arad became interested in using industrial materials in domestic settings. He co-founded his London design studio and workshop, One-Off with Caroline Thorman in 1981 and his breakthrough came with his design of theRover chair(1981), a Postmodernist furniture piece assembled from scrapyard metal and seats pulled from Rover model cars.Throughout the 80s, Arad explored the possibilities of sheet steel, opting to shape and alter it by hand, imparting a distinctive rough finish that would become a signature of his work.Arad went on to produce objects for brands such as KENZO, Swarovski, and New Eye London. From 1997-2009, Arad was the head of the Design Product Department at the Royal College of Art in London.In 2008 hewas the subject of a major retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art in New York , which notably highlighted his furniture capable of sending and displaying SMS messages. In 2013, he became a Royal Academician at the Royal Academy of Arts. He lives and works in London, England. With its sculptural vitality, Blo-Void 1 furthers Arad’s exploration of volume that began in the 1990’s. The polished, reflective sides are made from a super plastic aluminium alloy that has been blown into a mould using an air pressure technique developed for the aerospace industry. The seat and back or “belt” as Arad calls it, is made of woven aluminium wire tinted blue through the anodization process, the designer’s first experimentation in the use of colour on metal.