Michael Young (born 23 August 1966) is a British industrial designer and creative director based in Hong Kong. He works in the areas of product, furniture and interior design with studios in Hong Kong and Brussels. He is known for unconventional use of materials and manufacturing processes, and collaborations with brands such as KEF, Coalesse and MOKE International. He is interested in "how disruption in society always has a design response, because it usually creates a need for things that perform."

Life and career

Young was born in Sunderland, England. He studied at Kingston University and graduated in 1993. Early in his career, he worked with the designer Tom Dixon in London.Works in China by John Heskett 2011 In 1994 he started his own studio and operated in England, Iceland, Taiwan before settling in Hong Kong in 2006. Sir

Terrance Conran Sir Terence Orby Conran (4 October 1931 – 12 September 2020) was an English designer, restaurateur, retailer and writer. He founded the Design Museum in Shad Thames, London in 1989 The British designer Thomas Heatherwick said that Conran ...

selected Young as the Most Inspirational British Designer (1997). 2019 Moke America eMoke, front left (Amagansett)

Young has designed a wide variety of objects such as headphones, glassware, watches, bicycles, furniture, lighting, suitcases, as well as limited edition experimental furniture. He is interested in combining design with technical abilities of the local industry and often works directly with Chinese manufacturers and industrialists. Throughout his career, he worked with clients such as Bacardi, Brionvega,

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Cathay Pacific Cathay Pacific Airways Limited (CPA), more widely known as Cathay Pacific (), is the flag carrier of Hong Kong, with its head office and main hub located at Hong Kong International Airport. The airline's operations and subsidiaries have sc ...

, Coca-Cola, Emeco, Giant Bicycles,

Gufram Gufram is an Italian furniture manufacturer known for avant-garde, conceptual, witty, and Pop-art influenced designs; the unconventional use of industrial materials; collaborations with well known architects and designers; and the contribution ...

, Magis, George Jensen, Trussardi, and Steelcase. Young has been the Creative Director for ''100% Design Shanghai'' (2010, 2011, 2012), Prior to that he was the Creative Director for 100% Design Tokyo (2008) and Creative Director of the Asian Aerospace show (2009). His work has been exhibited in the Pompidou Museum and the Louvre Museum in Paris,

Design Museum The Design Museum in Kensington, London exhibits product, industrial, graphic, fashion, and architectural design. In 2018, the museum won the European Museum of the Year Award. The museum operates as a registered charity, and all funds generat ...

in London and solo exhibitions in Kyoto, Miami, Hong Kong, Milan, Paris and Belgium. In 2016, some of Young's work created using aluminum was featured in an exhibit at Grand Hornu in Belgium. In 2012, Young was approached by Chery subsidiary MOKE International to design a 21st century version of the Moke (styled MOKE). Young has said he considered this project a "call of duty". In 2018 Young re-engineered a continuation model, which is also used as the basis for the Electric Moke. He has spoken openly about growing up with

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and how this impacted his education and career.

Awards

* 2022

Good Design Award In most contexts, the concept of good denotes the conduct that should be preferred when posed with a choice between possible actions. Good is generally considered to be the opposite of evil and is of interest in the study of ethics, morality, ph ...

, Winner, Omura Series X * 2019

German Design Award The Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Designpreis der Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is the official design award for Germany presented by the German Ministry for Economics and Technology. The award was given for the first time ...

, Winner, Templates Watch * 2019 Design Anthology, Finalists, Templates Watch * 2017

Red Dot Design Award The Red Dot Design Award is a German international design prize awarded by Red Dot GmbH & Co. KG. There are prize categories for product design, brands and communication design, and design concept. Since 1955, designers and producers can app ...

, Winner, LessThanFive Chair * 2017 Good Design Award, Gold Winner, Clipsal Iconic * 2017 iF Design Award, Gold Award, LessThanFive Chair * 2017 iF Design Award, Gold Award, Master Series Michael Young Watch * 2016 Red Dot Design Award, Winner, Jougor MY Faucet * 2015 Red Dot Design Award, Winner, TST Sofa * 2013 D&AD Award, Product Design, EOQ * 2014 Silver Award at the 2014 NeoCon World’s Trade Fair for the LessThanFive chair, manufactured by Coalesse * 2012 Red Dot Design Award, Oregon Scientific RA9000 * 2011 Japanese Good Design Award * 2010 Red Dot Award * 2009 Red Dot Award * 2009 Best of dining chair by Wallpaper Design Award * 2008 Winner of

Eurobike Eurobike is an international bicycle trade fair held annually since 1991 in the first week of September, on the grounds of Messe Friedrichshafen, one of the largest and most modern exhibition centres in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany. The bike show ...

Awards

Publications

* ''Al(l) Projects in Aluminium by Michael Young'' (2016) . * ''100 Best Bikes'' (Laurence King Publishing, 2012) . * ''Works in China'' by

John Heskett John Heskett (26 May 1937 – 25 February 2014) was a British writer and lecturer on the economic, political, cultural and human value of industrial design. Heskett taught primary in the fields of design history and design thinking, and was a pro ...

(2011) * ''1000 New Designs and Where to Find Them'' (Laurence King Publishing, 2010) . * ''The International Design Yearbook'' (Laurence King Publishing, 2007) . * ''Design Now!'' (TACHEN, 2007) . * ''Desire, the Shape of Things to Come'' (Gastalen, 2008) . * ''Modern Furniture, 150 Years of Design'' (Trandem Verlag GmbH, 2009; H.F. Ullmann. 2012)

Examples of Youngs' works

References

External links

*
Steelcase Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Michael 1966 births Living people People from the City of Sunderland Alumni of Kingston University English industrial designers English furniture designers British industrial designers British furniture designers Industrial designers

Designers A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

People with dyslexia Designers