STEFAN SCHÖNING
STEFAN SCHÖNING
Stefan Schöning was born in Antwerp, Belgium in 1968 and graduated in product development at the Henry van de Velde Institute, Antwerp. He set up an office for industrial design in 1994, working for clients in Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany and the USA. In order to release personal ideas in limited editions he created the design label Polyline in 2001. more recently the studio has extended its activities with design on assignment, public & interior design, architecture and production.
Folder, a chair in true origami style, was his first project for Polyline in 2001. The folded polypropylene sheet which is cut, scored and folded into a chair has been exhibited in numerous places such as the National Design Museum in New York (USA), the Nike Design Library in Oregon (USA), Colette in Paris (France), at 100% Design in London (UK), at Salone Satellite in Milan (Italy) and is at present regularly invited to important exhibitions.
In 2004 he was awarded the contract to design, and develop a new corporate identity for the Belgian Railways. The principal idea of the design is to limit all visual litter and guide the traveller with ease and comfort, hence the use of soft, rounded corners and white as the main colour. The program has since travelled to exhibitions in Seoul (Korea), the Design Museum in Zürich (Switzerland), Interieur'06 in Kortrijk (Belgium) and received the IF Product Design Award, the Reddot Product Design Award and the Henry van de Velde Label 2006. The railway clock has also been exhibited at Global Edit/06, Wallpaper's 10th anniversary at the Armani Teatro in Milano (Italy) during the Salone del Mobile 2006.
Furthermore, the office was awarded the restyling of the 'traffic lights' for the Flemish Government. The adaptation of the design to all kinds of different traffic situations was one of the decisive plus-points in this competition. Likewise, the soft style, which diminishes aggression, was equally important to the jury. Also for this project the complete development has been effectuated by Stefan Schöning[studio].
