Mathias Hahn

Based in London, Mathias Hahn was born in 1977 in Germany, and graduated from the University of Essen, Germany, in 2004. Two years later, he completed a master's degree at the Royal College of Art under the tutelage of Ron Arad. During his studies in Germany, he gained experience in the product design department of Volkswagen in Wolfsburg. Since moving to London, he has worked as a freelance designer for Tom Dixon and in 2006 founded the OKAYstudio together with other members. Since then, he has worked on various industrial design projects for clients such as Marset , Ligne Roset, Kvadrat, Kohler, Magazin and Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin. As part of the YDMI organized by the German Design Association, Mathias received the 2008 Young Professional Award and in 2010 received the German Design Award for Outstanding Designer. Through his training in industrial design that pushes him to work with mass production and manufacturing processes in mind, Mathias has a natural desire to design with use and functionality in mind. He conceives his work under two prisms: One is based on the idea of creating objects that occupy a place in daily life and solve a particular problem. The other point of view is more playful and is related to the narrative side of the design process, which sometimes works as a starting point. Depending on the project these two aspects come together and form useful products that can show a thin layer of humor, a social context or even ingenuity. www.mathiasahn.com