Artist Tom Strala

Tom Strala

(geb. 1974)
From an early stage in his career, the Swiss designer Tom Strala has worked in an experimental mode, avoiding both industrial and mass production. Design for him is both an art and a way of interpreting thoughts and ideas. Rather than responding to economic need or the general zeitgeist, he looks for radical design solutions that express his world view and that are often based on contradictions, such as roughness and fragility.
Exhibition Tom Strala vs Pierre Jeanneret

Exhibition

The Non-Conformists, The National Museum, Muscat Oman 2023
Pierre Jeanneret vs Tom Strala, Gallery P!, Switzerland 2017
Art Basel / Design Miami, Miami USA 2014
The NWBLK Contemporary Design Gallery, San Francisco, USA 2013
19th Greekstreet Contemporary Design Gallery, London, UK 2015
Instituto Svizzero di Milano, Italy 2014
Fragile Roughness, Musée Dar D'art, Marakesh, Marocco 2017
Masterpieces of Swiss Design, Zurich, Gallery P!, Switzerland, 2020
Into Light – Solo Exhibition, Bayt Sayyid Nadir, Muscat Oman 2023
Artefacts of Radicality, Zurich, Gallery P!, Switzerland, 2019
Fog, San Francisco, USA 2014/2015
ICFF, New York, USA 2011
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Lecture Tom Strala

strala switzerland

Publication

When we speak of being “between or in between” we use expressions like “no man’s land” or phrases such as “to be caught between two stools”,”neither fish nor fowl”. When we’re “in between” we might end up being orphaned by both sides or even feeling as if were under attack from two sides – leaving us helpless and judging this floating state as useless. This “unnamed center” is like a curtain to a whole universe lifting its veil. On this journey Tom Strala met beautiful ugliness, the moving standstill, the perverted pragmatism, the tightrope between power and vulnerability or the staging of the inconspicuous.

56 Seiten, in English, with photographs and text. available only as pdf. ( > download here)
publication

Publication

Tom Strala I Techne
The Greek term τέχνη (téchne) embraces the complete unity of art, intellect, and craft. This is an idea foreign to today’s industrial designers, who limit themselves to the actual design and leave the production to the manufacturers. In contrast, the furniture designer/artist Tom Strala actually lives téchne and seeks out the greatest possible engagement with his works. He makes them himself. The photo-book documents not only the creation of the object “Bartok” but also a rarely found creative intensity.

Publisher: P! Galerie, 48 pages, in English/German, 2017, ca. 48 Euros.
book radicality of banality

Publication

The Radicalism of Banality
Tom Strala vs. Pierre Jeanneret. A comparison of two artists. Their archetypal works show the search for what is essential. With their timeless artefacts, they ignore trends and the short-lived appeal of sensationalism. They love the radicalism of naked expression, and manage to coax the unnoticed depth out of that which is banal and raw.

Publisher: P! Galerie, 44 pages, in Englisch/ Deutsch, with 26 photographs and 3 texts, 2017, ca. 32 Eur.
publication

Press

Designlexicon since 08/09
New York Times 08/06/11
Financial Times 19/04/15
NZZ 12/08, 10/10, 3/11/12, 16/12/12
AD (Architectural Digest) 03/13, 03/14
Icon 10/15
My Art Guide 11/14
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award winning design

Award

Erich Degen Stiftung, 2001
European Luminary of the Year, 2006
AD, the best 500 furniture, 2013
Yatzer, Best of Milano Design Week, for Bartok, 2015
Yatzer, Best of Milano Design Week, for Frankenstein Chair, 2015
Dizajn-Park, 2014
Jurypräsident, Innovation and Design Award, IDA 2007
Jury, Art Zepter, 2013
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