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Konstantin Grcic (Konstantin Grčić, Константин Грчић), born 1965, is a German industrial designer known for his design of furniture and household products, some of which have been featured in design shows and museums. His design language is characterized by the use of geometric shapes and unexpected angles.
Grcic studied cabinetry making in the Arts and Crafts tradition at the John Makepeace School for Craftsmen in Wood in Parnham House, Beaminster, Dorset, starting in 1985. in 1988, he began his graduate studies in Industrial Design at London's Royal College of Art. Grcic worked with British designer Jasper Morrison as a studio assistant in the late 1980s until 1990, when he began designing furniture for SCP, one of London's largest design stores. He credits his time in London for helping develop his individual style, describing his time in England as "stirring his creative potential."
Grcic is known for having a spartan and functional approach to design, relying on geometric forms, unusual angles and hard edges. He has created installations and developed products such as furniture, lighting, watches, tableware, espresso makers, and umbrellas. Grcic became recognized for his 1995 Refolo trolley, 1997 Wanda dish rack, 1998 award-winning Mayday lamp, 1999 ES shelf and 2001 Chaos chair.
His 2004 Chair_One and 2006 Miura stool are both described as being comfortable to sit on, despite their oddly shaped compositions. Grcic has a philosophical approach to design, especially when it comes to seating products, his favourite objects to tackle, "Designing chairs touches issues of society, how we live...How life changes - that’s most interesting."
He has used cutting edge technology, such as high-tech ceramics and 3D modeling software, to create his mass-produced items. Advanced engineering plastics were the basis of his award-winning Myto Chair, launched at the Milan Furniture Fair in 2008. Grcic also relies on low-tech solutions to advance the design process, manually creating and deconstructing rough paper models. An engineering-oriented approach and extensive research make up his methodology; this has been attributed to his German upbringing.
His furniture and lighting designs, including his OK pendant light and Noctambule lighting, pay testimony to his signature ability to thread the needle between restraint and playfulness.
In 2005, London's Phaidon Press published the first book examining Grcic's body of work. Other publications include monographs accompanying his museum exhibitions. He is also the subject of various design books like "How to Design a Chair", as well as "Chroma: Design, Architecture and Art in Color" where he mentions how the Lego color palette has inspired him. A film about Grcic's developmental process was screened at "A Design Film Festival 2017" held in Singapore.
Grcic has also participated in design initiatives happening in Belgrade, Serbia, such as speaking at "Belgrade Design Week" or sitting on the juries of the "Mikser Festival" and the "University of Arts in Belgrade" final year competition. Concerning the burgeoning design scene in Serbia's capital city, Grcic has said,"I was not sure what to expect but I encountered a fantastic atmosphere and amazing people." The 2014 retrospective exhibition on Grcic's work, Panorama, held at the Vitra Design Museum, featured the installation Life Stage. Life Stage was a fictitious product meant as a mobile power source made of the eco-friendly resin Acrodur.
In 2010, Grcic was named "Designer of the Year" at Design Miami, where he also created an installation consisting of seating made with polypropylene netting. In 2016, Dezeen magazine listed him as number 14 on their list of top 100 designers, based on the 48 articles written about him. That same year he also received the "Best Designer of the Year" award at the Salone del Mobile in Milan.
In 2014 his Parrish chair for Emeco received the iF Design Award.
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