Alexander GuflerAlex was born in the Italian town of Merano, but works in Vienna. He started his studies at a school for jewellers in the German town of Pforzheim and since 2003 has been re-orienting himself towards industrial design.
He obtained his industrial design degree at the University of Applied Arts Vienna under the supervision of professor Bořek Šípek, professor Ross Lovegrove, professor Hartmut Esslinger and professor Paolo Piva. Since 2004, he has collaborated on projects with AWS Design Vienna. He has exhibited his works in Cologne, Pure Austrian Design at the BLICKFANG exhibition in Tokyo, 100% East – Designfair in London and Pure Austrian Design at the Designblok in Prague and Barcelona. For TON, he designed the Merano armchair, chair and bar stool.
Michal Riabic
This young Slovak designer endeavours to find original, unconventional solutions through his work. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava and has worked for many Slovak and international businesses. He was, for instance, a graphic designer at the STV television station and a designer for the global furniture manufacturer Bene. Since 2009, he has been a freelancer and a consultant in design. For TON, he designed the Wave & Mojo armchairs and the Malmö chair.
Sam Sannia Sam Sannia was born in Tuscany, but he decided to move to London in 1998, where he studied Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication. He participated in several exhibitions e.g. ICFF in New York and New Designers in London those days. He went back to Milan after his graduation and worked for clients such as Olivetti, Philips or Sharp. He exhibited his own projects at Salone Satellite, Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan in 2003 and 2004. Sam Sannia works as a freelancer in Milan these days, where he has founded Sannia studio oriented on the field of product design, furniture and graphic design. Missoni, Mattel, spHaus, Gruppo Sintesi, Mussi Italy, Barilla, Pyrex, Saint Gobain a Bormioli Rocco belong to his contemporary partners. For TON, he designed the products Goofy.
Lime studio originated in 2005 with the aim to offer a simple, elegant and innovative design conception. Members of the studio are Panos Vasiliou and Oscar Tange. Their products that emerge by watching, imagining and examining are exhibited in London, Tokyo and Milan. The studio was awarded in a narrow selection in the best new brand according to Elle Decoration Design Awards 2008 as well as in other designer competitions. For TON, he designed the products Dowel.
Eugenia MinervaEugenia Minerva comes from southern Italy. Right from her childhood, she has been fascinated by the diversity of the surrounding world, noting her observations down on pieces of paper. She obtained her academic degree in industrial design at the University of Pescara. Eugenia Minerva has worked for many interior design studios, retail design businesses, in the yachting industry and product design in general. In 2008, she set up her own studio in Pescara, specializing in interior design, furniture design and product design. For TON, she designed Petalo – the silent servant and the Similda table.
GuggenbichlerdesignHarald Guggenbichler is a trained carpenter, but he qualified as a designer later on. Though he specialises in furniture, light fixtures and other items of everyday use are also part of his portfolio. Heike Guggenbichler shares in developing and supporting the company. Together they run a Vienna-based industrial design studio and have gained an international reputation. Their primary focus is the development of furniture, products and interiors. Their products have won or have been nominated for numerous international design awards such as Red Dot, Designpreis, Design for Europe and Interior Innovation Award. For TON, they created the One chair.
Jan PadrnosOriginally a machine engineer, Jan Padrnos started inclining towards architecture during his studies. After his graduation, at the beginning of the 1990s, he worked in an architectural studio and after that with a reputable foreign furniture maker. In the second half of the 1990 he collaborated with Tunnel. In 2000, he set up his own company BLACKBOX s.r.o. which became the exclusive manufacturer of his designs. Jan Padrnos has participated in Czech design shows and his works can be found for instance among the collections of the Moravian Gallery in Brno, in the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, in the National Technical Museum and in the North Bohemian Museum in Liberec. His works were exhibited in a design biennale in Saint-Etiénne (2002) and SaloneSateillite (2003) in Milan. For TON he created the Tee .
Jaroslav JuřicaJaroslav Juřica was born in 1980. During his Bachelor product design studies at the Faculty of Fine Arts of Brno University of Technology, he became interested in products as objects and searched for their functional principles. He completed his Masters studies at the School of Design by the Swedish Lund University. In 2008, he worked in the Dutch Demakersvan studio and in the autumn of the same year he attended the S.T.A.R. Design programme (Space and Terrestrial Architectural Research) organised in collaboration with the NASA Johnson Space Centre in Houston. There he designed the MotylBox concept – a tool storage system for geological Moon surveys. In 2010, he graduated at sculpting with professor Michal Gabriel at the Faculty of Fine Arts where he created, among other things, the +20% Extra object. The work made it to the finals of the Global Warming competition organised by the Dutch Droog Design foundation. For TON, he created the 002.
Kai StaniaKai Stania was born in 1965 in Salzburg in Austria. He started studying architecture at the Vienna University of Technology and continued at the Michigan University in the USA. Along with his studies, he attended the classes of the reputable product designer Ron Arad. After finishing his studies, he started co-operation with Bene Büromöbel where he was involved in the design and development of the majority of their serial products. He did however return to university. Until 2007, he worked as a university assistant at the Vienna University of Technology. Kai Stania lives in Vienna where he designed his own family home and office. His office was set up in 2002 with the name “kai stania I productdesign” and its primary focus is product design, fashion accessories and furniture. For TON, he designed the Moritz chair, armchair, lounge chair and bar stool and the Delta table.
Lounge DesigngroupThis studio was set up in 2006 in the German city of Halle by Alexander Grimm and Ronny Eysser. Both designers studied product design and graduated from the University of Art and Design Burg Giebichenstein Halle. They were involved in automotive projects for Fiat or Daimler-Chrysler and in the projects of well-known designer Luigi Colani. They worked as product managers for Cosmobrandlab AG, a design studio involved mostly in merchandising. Lounge Designgroup currently offers design services and operates across many industries – in furniture production, lighting, wrapping materials, school items and interior design, merchandising items and corporate design. Now we offer their products under the new brand, LOUNGE design. For TON, they designed the Tolken table and the Rioja chair.
Mads K. JohansenMads grew up in a small Danish village close to local nature, which translated into his love for natural materials. For a long time he has worked as a cabinet maker, carpenter and even furniture seller. Mads K. Johansen graduated from a Design School in Denmark and worked as a designer in various places around the world - from Dallas, America; Munich, Germany; to Oslo, Norway. He passed away on 14th, October, 2014 after a long and serious illness that he resisted until his last breath – just as if he were still designing new products. For TON, he designed the Stockholm chair, table, bar stool and the Jutland table.
Studio Olgoj ChorchojThe studio was founded in 1990 by Michal Froněk and Jan Němeček during their studies at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. Since then they have devoted their time to industrial design, furniture design, architecture and interiors. They have exhibited their works in the Czech Republic and abroad – e.g. in the Moss Gallery, Radio House and Totem in New York, Vessel in London, at the Salone del Mobile fair in Milan – and their works are represented in private collections in major museums such as UPM in Prague, the Moravian Museum in Brno and the Metropolitan Museum in New York as well. Their works have been published in Czech and foreign journals. They are both heads of the Product Design Studio at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. For TON, they created the Simple chair, the HOOP bowl and the sled.
René ŠulcAt the start of his work, he focused on light fixtures, co-operating with Lucis. Besides lighting, René Šulc has worked with furniture – his Chaise-longue sofa, for instance, was nominated for the project Czech 100 – A Hundred Icons of Czech Design. In 2006, René Šulc set up his own studio Inveno which follows up and develops his experience with industrial design. The studio is mostly devoted to the design of light fixtures, furniture, product design but also to the design of medical instruments. René Šulc’s work is inspired by everything around him - events, perceptions, natural shapes and even growth. For TON, he designed the Era chair, the Symposio bench and the Santiagoseries.
Thomas FeichtnerThomas Feichtner’s roots go back to the Brazilian city of Vitória. He spent his school years in Germany and later in Austria where he graduated from the College of Arts and Industrial Design. After finishing his studies, he opened his own design studio. At the forefront of his work are artistic aspects and an experimental approach to design. Thomas Feichtner seeks to follow an independent working style remote from globalisation and mass production. His works have been accepted into various design collections. Thomas Feichtner is a professor for industrial design at the College of Arts in the German town of Kiel and in 2011, he won the Austrian National Design Award. For TON, he designed the TRAM chair.
Tom KelleyThe multicultural designer Tom Kelley was born in eastern Germany. As a result of political problems, he moved to the west in the mid-1970s. He studied in Aachen, Munich and Long Beach in California. As he wanted to be close to his Italian customers, he has lived in Venice since the end of the 1990s. Later, he has started working with companies from Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Japan, the USA, the Netherlands, Turkey and Indonesia. He follows the “less is more” doctrine. For TON, he designed the products Orly, Casablanca, Nancy, Cordoba,Calais, Punton, 911, Paris, Lyon, Bergamo, Cortina and Treviso.