furniture and product designer, born 1963, office in London / Great Britain

 

Torsten Neeland, who studied industrial design in Hamburg, succeeded at the end of the 1990s – after relocating to London – in ascending to the firmament of sought-after star designers of the Grcic generation. What followed were such diverse products as LiberTea, an eight-part tea preparation set (for WMF), theStav silverware pattern (for Auerhahn), the Crossover bathtub shelf with mirror and reader-friendly bookrest (for Dornbracht), and finally two occasional tables (for Anthologie Quartett and Mouvements Modernes). In recent days, Neeland has turned his attention to the theme of light, turning out highly innovative designs in a terrain where, contrary to popular opinion, the possibilities are far from being exhausted. One example is Hybrid (for Mouvements Modernes), a formally reduced coat rack in the form of a console that does double duty as light source. Fourlamps are installed within a frame, generating an indirect ambient light. The back wall has an application of invisible paint that reacts to black light, with different light colours to choose from. The floor lamp uv-1 for the same manufacturer functions,like Hybrid, with invisible paint and black light. Additional original lighting creations include Cut and Tank (both for Anta). The latter is a wall lamp made of a covered, ring-shaped neon tube that casts indirect light on the wall. The intensity of thelight can be adjusted manually. The light field can also be changed, switching between flat and circular. Furthermore, colour filters can be applied to support or change the mood of the room. Here as well, Neeland has created an interactiveproduct whose impact can be influenced by the user. The designer, who has made his home in London, sees himself as moving along the interface between art and technology. He has recently conceived not only domestic interiors but also stagesettings for an English dance company, as well as fine-tuning the corporate visuals for firms such as COR, Duravit and Interlübke.