James Irvine

James Irvine was born in London and graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1984. In the same year he moved to Milan. From 1984 to 1992 he worked as a consultant at Olivetti design studio Milan and in 1987 he worked for one year at Toshiba design centre in Tokyo. When he returned to Milan in the late 1980s, he opened a private design studio. His first clients were Cappellini and SCP. Irvine most recently worked as creative director for Thonet , a bentwood furniture company, and as a design consultant for the Japanese brand Muji.

He was awarded an honorary doctorate in design from Kingston University in 2007. His design studio in Milan has worked with various internationally renowned companies including Alias, B&B Italia, Canon, Foscarini, Magis, MDF Italia, Mercedes Benz, Muji, Olivari, Olivetti, Phaidon, Thonet, WMF and Zumtobel. Following James Irvine's untimely death in 2013, the 30-year history of his studio has evolved into a new phase in which the three key words are precision, irony and generosity.