TOP 10 Minds behind the best brands of design world | Behind every great design company is an equally – if not greater – business mind. Here is a list of the brightest big bosses in the business; the men and women who match vision with strategic smarts, and manufacturing and design innovation with a confidence that quality will, eventually, win out.
On one side, we have those eponymous heads of totemic and established companies at the top of their games: such titans as Carlo Molteni and Alberto Alessi, Michael Maharam, Rolf and Mette Hay, Roberto and Renato Minotti, and Nadja Swarovski, the latter of whom has transformed a twee brand into a dazzling design patron.
On the other, the power CEOs revitalising and pushing existing brands to the peak of their powers: Claudio Luti at Kartell, Kvadrat’s Anders Byriel, Georg Jensen’s David Chu, Restoration Hardware moderniser Gary Friedman, Marianne Goebl at the Vitra-owned Artek, ClassiCon’s Oliver Holy and Vitra’s own co-CEO Nora Feldbaum.
In between – though no less significant – are other tactical mega-minds such as Vipp’s CEO and chief designer Kasper Egelund and Morten Bo Jensen (respectively), Flos’ lighting maven Piero Gandini, SCP founder Sheridan Coakley, Emeco-embellisher Gregg Buchbinder, B&B Italia CEO Giorgio Busnelli and the sharply intuitive Patrizia Moroso.
It’s hard to underestimate the significance of our chosen 20 – the individuals with our contemporary design identity in their hands, and the facilitators pushing the world’s brightest design talents to stratospheric new heights.
Here you have the TOP 10 Minds behind the best brands of design world:
He has been at the forefront of totemic tableware since 1970
The Kvadrat CEO has kept the textile specialist cutting edge.
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MD of the gamechanging Italian furnishing brand. Pictured with Rodolfo Dordoni, W*134
The Kartell boss has revolutionised plastic.
The Georg Jensen CEO is giving the brand a new shine. Photography: Eric Gregory Powell.
The Restoration Hardware CEO is taking a modern turn.
B&B Italia’s CEO recently sold a stake to Investindustrial. Photography: Alessandro Di Gaetano.
Emeco’s chief has added Starck and Morrison, among many other esteemed names, to its portfolio. Pictured: Emeco metal craftsman Josh Fisher making a one-off version of Jasper Morrison’s ‘Alfi’ chair, overseen by Gregg Buchbinder.
Bernhardt’s president signed up Behar, Levy and Hayon. Pictured at the ICFF 2007 Wallpaper* Party (far right) with Anne and Alex Bernhardt of Bernhardt Design with Designer Arik Levy
Currently revitalising the Vitra-owned Artek.
