Marc Newson Biography
Marc Newson is one of the most accomplished and influential
designers of his generation. At 43, he has already worked
across a wide range of disciplines to create everything
from chairs, household objects, a bicycle and a concept car
to restaurants, a recording studio and interiors of private
and commercial jets, for clients based in Europe, North
America, Asia and Australia.
Born in Sydney, Australia, Newson spent his childhood
travelling in Europe and Asia, before studying jewellery
and sculpture at Sydney College of the Arts. He started
experimenting with furniture design as a student and, after
graduating in 1984, was awarded a grant from the Australian
Crafts Council, and staged an exhibition - featuring the
Lockheed Lounge - at the Roslyn Oxley Gallery in Sydney.
In 1987 Newson moved to Tokyo where he lived and worked
until 1991 designing such pieces as the Orgone Lounge,
Black Hole Table and Felt Chair, which were widely
exhibited in Asia and Europe.
Newson set up a studio in Paris in 1991, and won
commissions
from
prestigious
European
manufacturers
including Flos for lighting, Cappellini and Moroso for
furniture. He formed a joint venture, the Ikepod watch
company, to manufacture the watches he designed, and
produced limited editions of aluminium furniture including
the Event Horizon Table and Orgone Chair, exhibited at the
Galerie
Kreo
in
Paris,
whose
proprietor,
Didier
Krzentowski, is the leading expert on Newson’s works and
composes his Catalogue Raisonné.
During the mid-late
1990s, Newson also designed a series of restaurants - Coast
in London, Manchester’s Mash & Air, Osman in Cologne and
Canteen in Manhattan - the interior of Syn, a Tokyo
recording studio and a retail system for Belgian designer,
Walter Von Beirendonck’s W.&L.T. street wear label.
In 1997, Newson moved to London, where he set up Marc
Newson Ltd as a larger studio capable of tackling more
ambitious industrial projects. He has since designed mass
manufactured glassware for Iittala, kitchen and bathroom
accessories for Alessi, furniture, lighting and household
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objects for Magis, B&B Italia, Idée and Dupont Corian.
Newson has also designed vehicles such as a bicycle, the
MN01, for Denmark’s Biomega, a concept car, the 021C for
Ford, and the interiors of a Falcon 900B private jet. In
2002-3 he designed the Lever House Restaurant in the famous
Lever House Building in Manhattan, New York, a Business
Class seat, Skybed for Qantas, a cookware range for Tefal
and a bathroom range, The Newson Suite, for Ideal Standard.
He opened a second studio in Paris.
In 2004-5 Newson received the commission from Qantas
Airways to design entire aircraft interiors for the new
A380 fleet and new airport lounges for Sydney and
Melbourne. He designed Talby, a mobile telephone for
Japan’s KDDI, the uniforms worn by the Australian Olympic
team (in collaboration with Richard Allan), and worn at the
2004 Athens Olympic Games, a shoe, Zvezdochka, for Nike,
collections of clothing for G-Star, and Scope a range of
luggage for Samsonite.
He designed the bar and the sixth
floor of the Hotel Puerta America in Madrid. In April 2005,
Marc Newson was named as one of Time magazine’s Top 100
most influential people in the world.
In 2006, Marc was appointed Creative Director of Qantas
Airways, and continued working on the A380 interiors and
airport lounges. He designed the Marie-Hélène de Taillac
(MHT) jewellery store in Tokyo and the Azzedine Alaia shoe
boutique in Paris. He created a limited edition champagne
magnum container for Dom Pérignon. He was awarded the
Designer of the Year prize at Design/Miami and in the UK
was bestowed with the honour ‘Royal Designer for Industry’.
As well as winning numerous awards, including six Good
Design Awards from the Chicago Atheneum, Newson has
exhibited extensively. He created Bucky, a sculptural
installation
for
the
Fondation
Cartier
pour
l’art
contemporain in Paris in 1995, and a major retrospective of
his work was held at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney
(August 2001 - February 2002).
In 2003, Newson was commissioned by the Fondation Cartier
to design a piece of his choosing, coinciding with his 40th
birthday. The result was Kelvin40, a concept jet, exhibited
at the Fondation Cartier in Paris (January – May 2004)
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and included in Marc’s first major European retrospective
originally staged at the Groninger Museum, Holland (May –
September 2004) and consequently at London’s Design Museum
(October 2004 – January 2005).
An exhibition of Marc Newson’s new unique and limited
edition pieces is showing at the Gagosian gallery, New York
from January – March 2007.
Newson’s designs are present in most major permanent museum
collections including the Museum of Modern Art in New York,
London’s Design Museum, Musée National d'Art Moderne Centre Georges Pompidou and the Vitra Design Museum. A book
on Marc Newson’s work was published by Booth-Clibborn
Editions in 1999, and one by Thames & Hudson in 2001. A DVD
was released in January 2005.
Marc Newson is Adjunct Professor in Design at Sydney
College of the Arts.
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