Designers Lucy Aiken-Johnson and Dan Maas founded ai3 on the belief that client-focused design adds meaning and purpose to spaces. The pair created the idea while working on the Georgia Aquarium together, recognizing the power of a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach to design. With a portfolio that includes hospitality spaces, restaurants, architecture, corporate offices, and more, furniture design is just one part of the firm’s broad expertise.

Anton Ivanov is the founder of AVI Design, a company that develops innovative solutions for the workplace, healthcare, and education markets. With a background in Industrial Design and extensive experience in designing for various industries with products such as Vienna from OFS and Knack from Carolina, Anton’s designs prioritize addressing human needs while also being environmentally conscious. He takes a holistic approach to problem solving, using research to develop products that benefit everyone that utilizes them.

Brian Graham is the founder and creative director of Graham Design, a studio that specializes in contemporary furniture and related products for the workplace and healthcare markets. With over 30 years of experience in design and architecture, Brian has a strategic approach that combines planning, research, and creativity to deliver solutions that meet the needs and expectations of his clients and end users.

Brian is also an advocate and advisor for the design industry, collaborating with leading manufacturers, associations, and publications to promote the value and impact of design. He has received multiple awards and recognition from prestigious organizations such as AIA, IIDA, IDSA, IFMA, and The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture & Design. His mission is to create products that are functional, beautiful, and sustainable, and that enhance the quality of life and work for people.

Christopher Garcia graduated from Kansas State University with a master’s degree in interior architecture & product design with his thesis emphasizing furniture design. During this time, he collaborated with partner and friend, Kat Arndt to design Lotiv (HiP Award winner and Best of Year Honoree in 2018). Christopher believes in approaching each design without any set assumptions, and that the design should serve the needs, values, and desires of every user. By understanding how spatial environments and product designs influence human interaction, productivity, and connectiveness, he approaches each project as means to enhance our way of living.

He currently is working in educational architecture and design which allows him to reconnect with his passion for creating functional spaces that optimize learning, personal & professional growth, and social interaction.
 

Claudio Bellini lives and works in Milan, where he runs an architecture and design practice, founded in the mid-nineties. An international speaker with many years of university teaching experience, Bellini also works as the creative director for a number of leading global brands, where his success is evidenced by the multitude of awards he’s won over the years.

An ambitious and versatile individual with a keen eye for design – a sector in which he is a well-known innovator – Bellini has a passion for embarking on journeys that lead him to embrace different cultures.

Since its inception in 1990, CSD Studio has promoted the belief that good design can inspire people to live, work, and learn better. The studio’s collaborative, hands-on work style provides better solutions to address the modern workplace. Unlike other design firms, CSD Studio closely partners with manufacturers to provide documentation, development, marketing, and sales support for each of their designs. Recent awards for CSD Studio’s products include Best of Competition at NeoCon, Best of Year award, and Best of NeoCon.

Like many modern office furniture designers, Daniel Korb began his career as an architect. After studying interior architecture at the Fachhochschule fur Technik in Stuttgart, Germany, Daniel realized that design itself couldn’t provide the simple, intuitive solutions he sought. Together with his wife Susan, Daniel founded Korb+Korb in 1989, focusing on interior architecture and design. As he broadened and refined his design expertise, Daniel partnered with Sydney-based architect Anthony Kotarac to start xchange in 2001. Even though Daniel’s work has earned him more than 20 national and international design awards, he believes the work of a designer never truly ends.

Garrett Steinlage is an American designer who draws on his Midwestern roots to create authentic, timeless design that is relevant to modern needs. He draws on his experience creating interior spaces to inform innovative products and furniture that balance aesthetics, usability, and production techniques. With an insatiable curiousness and devotion to design excellence, Garrett obsesses over the art of creating honest and meaningful solutions.

Garrett has a master's degree in interior architecture and product design from Kansas State University. Garrett currently works at Populous, an international design firm, where he has over five years of experience designing award-winning product collections for a variety of recognized manufacturers.

Known for their functionality, confidence, and discretion, Justus Kolberg’s chairs have distinguished him as one of the most sought-after furniture designers in Europe. The Hamburg-based designer believes that chairs should silently serve the needs of users, putting them at ease and allowing cooperative work. After earning his degree in industrial design, Justus pursued positions in Germany, Spain, and Italy, establishing himself as a respected designer. He has received many awards for his work, including the Red Dot Award and the IDEA Gold Industrial Design Excellence Award. Today, he does freelance work from his own studio, working to give human dimensions to his pieces.

Kat Arndt began her design journey while attending Kansas State University, where she graduated with her Masters of Interior Architecture and Product Design. Post-graduation, Kat moved on to work at BVH Architecture in Lincoln, NE. Due to the multi-faceted nature of her degree, Kat finds interest in the design of the interiors and exteriors of buildings, but also in product and furniture design. Kat’s passion for furniture and strong design has continued to grow throughout her professional career in continued developments with partner and friend, Chris Garcia, as well as her day-to-day projects at BVH. In 2018, Kat and Chris received a HiP Award, as well as a Best of Year Award Honoree for the design of their side table, Lotiv.

Morten Nikolajsen graduated from the University of Southern Denmark in 2006, embarking on a lifelong journey of design and product development. Throughout this short career, he has faced much success, starting his own design firm, Mohoni Studio in Odense, Denmark, and working with well-known companies such as HOWE and Acer Design. His passion for holistic design, functionality, and playfulness elevate his work and make him a leader in the design sphere. In fact, he often shares his affection and expertise for industrial design and engineering by lecturing the next generation of young designers at the University of Southern Denmark.

Each with more than 30 years of experience in product design, interior design, and dealership purchasing, Pam Light and John Duffy are the perfect team. Just as their partnership requires balance and harmony, they believe that design is the marriage of science and art. Pam and John believe that building spaces is about making people comfortable, which means products should be made critically, intelligently, and humanely. Their work spans a variety of products, including furniture for corporate, entertainment, hospitality, and healthcare settings.

Founded in 1994 as Quicksilver, Q Design is a collaboration between designers, problem solvers, artists, and creatives who seek to develop products that encourage productivity and foster well-being. In keeping pace with constantly changing industry standards, Q Design works closely with clients, ensuring clear communication and efficient distribution. Their award-winning products are proof that interdisciplinary collaboration leads to innovative solutions.

Thijs Smeets founded Studio Smeets, his own Amsterdam-based design firm, in 2007. Since completing his extensive education as both a designer and engineer, he has crafted a wide variety of products, from eyeglasses to consumer electronics to furniture. Many of his designs have attracted worldwide acclaim and awards including the Toon van Tuijl Design Award as well as recognition for Good Industrial Design. Thijs Smeets is especially well-known for designing an ingenious reading light called LiliLite.

Born and raised in the historic furniture city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Tom Newhouse already knew that he wanted to be an industrial designer by age 11. During his time at the University of Michigan School of Art and Design, Tom developed a passion for sustainability, learning how material choices impact the environment. Tom’s work is driven by his Four Corners philosophy, giving attention to aesthetics, sustainability, ergonomics, and economy. His extensive portfolio includes the first 99% recyclable chair, as well as over 90 US patents.

Carmen D. Harris, a public health consultant and bodymind coach, and Renita Woodson, a licensed interior designer who founded Renita Falana Designs in 2009, partnered with the OFS design team to create the Tate ottoman, which allows individuals to be grounded with their mind and body to create and imagine how they wish. OFS was proud to collaborate with these remarkable women who inspire well-being in others through their work. Carmen is the co-creator of Imagine Me Free and Two Inches Beyond Black, and inspires Black dreamers and entrepreneurs through practices of rest and centering one’s own body wisdom. Renita believes that the people who use a design are the most important element, and her attention to detail ensures results that exceed clients’ expectations.

Named Contract Magazine’s 2011 Designers of the Year, Primo Orpilla and Verda Alexander are the founders and co-principals of studio o+a, based in San Francisco, CA. They have committed their hearts and souls to the idea of innovative creation. For more than two decades Alexander and Orpilla have dynamically transformed spaces into incredible experiences for tech giants and familiar brands including Facebook, AOL, PayPal, eBay and McDonald's.

In 1989, after decades working in furniture design, Roger Webb founded Webb Associates a design consultancy based in London. Today, Roger still leads the firm, but now is joined by fellow designers David Lancaster and Tony DaCosta. Webb Associates are known for their ergonomic expertise and carefully tailored design solutions. Our partnership with Roger and his team has produced some of our favorite product lines, such as Kaleid, Fleet, Hydra, Ezel, Genus, Heya, LeanTo, Obeya, and Kasura by OFS.