James Irvine

James Irvine (1958 – 18 February 2013) was a British industrial designer who created furniture and product designs for many well known companies and brands such as Artemide, B&B Italia, Cappellini, Foscarini, Ikea, Magis, Muji, Thonet, and WMF. He once described the product designer's job as “the work of an unknown hero.” Irvine was the son of the architect and designer Alan Irvine and his first wife, Betty. He obtained his bachelor's degree in industrial design from the Kingston Polytechnic (now University) alongside fellow designers Jasper Morrison and Michael Young. He subsequently earned a master's degree from the Royal College of Art, and then moved to Milan in 1984 to work with Olivetti. He also worked for one year at the Toshiba Design Center in Tokyo. In 1988 he opened a design studio in Milan, initially collaborating with Cappellini and SCP. He also worked with Ettore Sottsass and became a partner at Sottsass Associati. In 1999 he designed the Mercedes-Benz O530 Citaro bus for the city of Hannover and proposed an accompanying design for the city's bus shelters in preparation for Expo 2000. He was a professor of industrial design at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design. In 2004 he was appointed Royal Designer for Industry (RDI).