Ron Arad: In Reverse

In Reverse highlights a selection of Arad’s work in metal – ranging from chairs to sculptural pieces – from the past three decades

Metal has long been a favorite material of the Tel Aviv-born, London-based architect, artist, and designer Ron Arad. From welding and hammering steel in a rudimentary fashion to inflating and forming superplastic aluminum at high temperatures, Arad has mined the properties of metal for more than three decades. With little previous experience in metalwork, he initially made a ‘virtue out of necessity’ – using scrap steel to create handmade furnishings and to outfit One Off, the studio, workshop and showroom he established in the early 1980s.

Between handmade and digital processes 

Since the 1990s, Arad has become renowned for his work in metal and has given up his workshop to collaborate with manufacturers and fabricators, allowing him to innovate with new alloys and advanced techniques. Arad’s work has often taken a counterintuitive approach to design. He applies seemingly destructive processes to mass-produced objects to render them unique. Although they may lose their functionality, they gain value as one-of-a-kind objects.