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Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby

Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby studied Architecture together at The Royal College of Art  in London and established Barber & Osgerby in 1996. From their studio in Trellick Tower,  West London, they first designed the Loop Table, produced by Isokon in 1997. The table was featured widely and brought them to the attention of renowned Italian producer Guilio Cappellini.

Much of their early work involved the folding and shaping of sheet material influenced by the white card they used frequently in their architectural model making. Plywood and Perspex were used in the  development of the Pilot Table, 1999, and Stencil Screen, 2000, for Cappellini. The experimental Hula  Stool, 2001, originated from sheet plywood reassembled to create complex, compound curves; the  Shell Table, 2002, (nominated for theCompasso d’Oro) and Shell Chair, were further structural  studies in plywood. In 2002 they were commissioned to design furniture for a cathedral on the south  coast of England, and they completed Stella McCartney’s first store in Manhattan with bespoke furniture produced by Cappellini.

In 2004 Barber & Osgerby were awarded the Jerwood Applied Arts Prize for Furniture, the UK’s most significant applied and decorative arts prize. This led to a commission to design furniture for the De La Warr Pavilion, Britain’s most important modernist building.

In 2005 the Zero-In table was launched by the British producer Established & Sons. The table employs car industry techniques in its  construction, never before used in the furniture industry. In May of the same year, in collaboration with Pantone, Barber & Osgerby designed the central space for the International Contemporary  Furniture Fair in New York. More recently they have been commissioned to design the furniture for  the entrance foyer of the Royal Institute of British Architects in Portland Place, and they were also jointly named ‘designers of the future’ with Established & Sons at Design Basel / Miami in June 2006. In 2007, they were awarded the Royal Designers for Industry Diploma by the Royal Society of Arts. Barber & Osgerby’s work is found in many permanent collections including the Metropolitan Museum  of Art in New York and both the Victoria and Albert Museum and Design Museum in London.