Joris Laarman was born in a small village in the countryside of the Netherlands, bordering with Germany, in 1979.
In 1998 after one year of fine arts, he began his studies at the Design Academy Eindhoven.
After graduating cum laude in 2003 he gained notoriety with his functional rococo radiator heatwave that was acquired by several museums and won several design awards.
That same year he started his own independent Joris Laarman studio. It concentrates on product design and architecture, often combining a conceptual and poetic approach with style and engineering.
In addition to a collection of highly unique product editions, he works for several well-known international industrial design companies like Flos, Artecnica, Swarovski, Droog and more.
Joris’s work is exhibited throughout the world at many fairs, museums and galleries. One of his most significant was the presentation of the "ideal house” project in 2006, exhibited at the IMM Cologne Furniture Fair.
He contributed articles and seminars for Domus Magazine and has been a guest teacher at European universities, including the Architectural Association in London, Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and the Design Academy in Eindhoven.
Selection of achievements/ exhibitions
2004
Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany. - 10+1 Years Simply Droog. / International Furniture Fair, IMM Cologne, Germany. – “Inspired by Cologne”. /Droog Design, Salone del mobile, Milan, Italy. – “Go Slow”. / Design Academy, Salone del Mobile, Milan, Italy. – “Concrete Poetry”. /Chelsea Hotel, New York, United States. – “DAE Improvvisazione”./ DSM Art Collection – solo exhibition. /Frac Nord-Pas de Calais, Lille, France. – “Just what it is”. / The Design Museum, Tank, London, Great Britain. - solo exhibition. / Museum Boymans van Beuningen – “Heatwave”, part of the permanent collection. / Museum Kunst Paviljoen Groningen. – “Heatwave”, part of the permanent collection. / Frac Nord-Pas de Calais. – “Heatwave”, part of the permanent collection. / DroogDesign. – “Heatwave”, part of the permanent collection. / Bijenkorf Maastricht. Netherlands. – “Ceramics exhibition”. / Design Academy, Eindhoven, Netherlands. – “Graduation” show. / Princessenhof Museum, Leeuwarden, Netherlands. – “Lekker Decadent”. / NAI, Rotterdam, Netherlands. – “Best of 2003”.
2005
DroogDesign, Salone del Mobile, Milan, Italy. – “Credit brooch. Chi ha paura…?. “. / DroogDesign. Salone del Mobile, Milan, Italy. – “Stakhanov. Value for money”. / Museum of Rouen. France. – “Mutations céramiques”. / Museum Z33, Hasselt, Belgium. – “Over de mensen en de dingen”. / Museum of Modern Art, Arnhem, Netherlands. - “Arco 12”. / Droog Design Gallery, Netherlands. - “New Dutch Designers“. / Design Museum, London, Great Britain. - “European Design show”. /DSM Art Foundation, Heerlen, Netherlands. – solo exhibition. / Museum of Modern Art Den Bosch – “Credit Brooch with chi ha paura”
2006
Gallery Friedman Benda/ Droog. Design Miami Beach. – “Bonechair & Bonechaise”. /
Pure Austrian Design - Vienna, Austria. - MISS/FIT. / ABC, Haarlem - Netherlands. – “Ontwerpers maken ruimte”. / Museum Boymans van Beuningen Rotterdam - Netherlands. – “In Cut for Purpose”. / International Furniture Fair, IMM Cologne, Germany. – “Annual Ideal House”. / Textiel Museum Tilburg - Netherlands. Joris Laarman & Christien Meindertsma -Eyescapes. / Droog - “Human touch”. Gallery Bund 18, Shanghai, China. / Sydney Opera House, Australia/ Melbourne, Australia. / Museum of Rouen, France - "Mutations céramiques".
2007
Grand Palais – “Design/design”, Paris / “Designtide”, Tokyo / “Design prijs Rotterdam” - Museum Boymans van Beuningen, Rotterdam / “Rotterdam design port- presentation” at the “Milk Gallery”, New York. / Vitra Design Museum – “Bonechair”, part of the permanent collection / Salone del mobile, Milan. ‘Smart deco’, Droog & Friedman Benda Gallery /Historic Museum Rotterdam – “Rotterdam ontwerpt, 400 years of design in Rotterdam”. / “Droog - Human Touch”, TheNewDowse Museum, New Zeeland
2008
Museum of Modern Art New York, 'Design and the elastic mind', USA / Cooper Hewitt Museum, 'Rococo: The Continuing Curve', USA / Centro de Arte Caja Burgos, solo exhibition, Spain / “Family of Form”, Designhuis, the Netherlands / “Small Show Huge Talent”, Janice Blackburn, Great Britain
Museum and collections: FNAC, France/ Centre Pompidou, France / Cooper-Hewitt, USA / Vitra Design Museum, Germany / Museum Kunst Paviljoen Groningen, the Netherlands /
Boymans van Beuningen, the Netherlands / Frac Nord-Pas de Calais, France / Museum of Modern Art Den Bosch, the Netherlands / DSM Art Foundation, the Netherlands
Museum of Rouen, France / Centraal Museum, the Netherlands
Awards: 2004: “Young designer of the year award”, Wallpaper Magazine / 2004 “Interior Innovation Award”, “International Furniture Fair IMM Cologne”/ 2006 “Red Dot design award” /2007 “Woon award” / 2008 “Int. Elle Decoration Talent of the Year Award”
Selection of publications: Over the last 4 years Joris’s work has been published in all well-respected design/architecture magazines and newspapers around the world including The New York Times, Herald Tribune, Frame Mag, Domus, Archis, Axis, Icon, Vogue, Abitare etc. In addition, his work has been published in several books and catalogues about art and design by publishers like Phaidon press, Die Gestalten Verlag and Thames and Hudson.