Jorre van Ast

Studied Industrial Product Design at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. After two years at industrial design studio Flex in the Netherlands he continued his studies at the Royal College of Art in London, graduating from the Design Products course in 2006.

Straight after leaving RCA van Ast started working as independent products designer, sharing a collective studio in North London, know as OKAYstudio www.okaystudio.org. OKAY studio is not an organised company or brand. Its members do not strictly design together nor necessarily even work together. They were brought together by a simple common goal to share a space in which there creativity can flourish and build upon each others knowledge and skills.

In 2007 van Ast started working for Arcowww.arco.nl running the design and development studio. Since 2009 he works for Arco as Creative Director.

Collections Van Ast’s work is part of MoMa’s permanent Design & Architecture collection in New York.

Awards & Grants IF award 2010 for Nomad, IMM interior innovation award 2010 for Nomad, Woonbeurspin 2009 (Arco), Dutch Design Award 2008 for Jar Tops, Woon-award 2008 best Interior Product for Jar tops, ‘Good Industrial Design’ award 2008 for Jar tops, Best overall Entry DFE, Interieur Kortrijk 2006, DFE - Interieur ’06 for Clampology, DFE - Interieur ’06, Clamp-a-leg, Global ‘Bombay Sapphire Designer glass competition‘ 2006, The Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture, Incentive grant 2004/5/6 and Prince Bernhard Culture Fund - Bursary 2005/6

Exhibitions MoMa NYC, Cooper Hewitt NYC, London Design museum, Aram Gallery London