Tom Strala

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Tom Strala, born on 1 April 1974 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, is a Swiss architect, designer and artist. He is known for rough, natural-looking furniture and lighting. In 2005, he won second place for European Luminary of the Year for the TMS 360 Series, a honeycomb light shade. His work has been shown in museums and universities. Strala is seen as a pioneer who blends art and design. He was born Thomas Michael Schmid. He earned a Master of Architecture in 2001 from ETH Zurich and received a scholarship for excellence from the Erich Degen Foundation for his master thesis. He was the jury president for Zurich’s first Innovation and Design Award in 2007 and a jury member for the Zepter International Design Award in 2013. He avoids industrial and mass production, designing furniture as useful objects that don’t have to be consumer goods.