Job Smeets (born 19 December 1969) is a Belgian contemporary conceptual and sculptural artist and designer and founder of Studio Job based in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. Known for producing "high-end works toying with politically loaded signifiers", he combines traditional and modern techniques to produce art and design objects.

Early career

Job Smeets was born in Hamont-Achel, Belgium. Before moving to Eindhoven in the Netherlands to study, he graduated cum laude in 1996 from the Eindhoven Design Academy. During his studies, he formed 'Oval Design' with Hugo Timmermans, a design agency that launched the clock 'Take your Time' with which Smeets had his first solo show 'Oval in The House' at Frozen Fountain, Amsterdam in 1995. They then developed inflatable lamps 'Bumperlights' for

Droog Design Droog (''droog'' is a Dutch word meaning "dry") is a conceptual Dutch design company situated in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Droog has realised products, projects, exhibitions and events. Droog is an internationally renowned design label and one ...

that where exhibited at the 'Plastic New Treat' show in Milan in 1996. Job Smeets founded his own art and design studio 'Studio Job' in 1998.

Work

Studio Job's artwork ranges from unique bronze artwork in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, to a royal stamp featuring the Dutch King (forty million pieces produced) from the unique life-size bronze sculptures on Miami Beach for Faena, to the one-off Wunderkammer curiosity cabinet that Studio Job produced for Swarovski in Innsbruck. Under the direction of Job Smeets with a studio in Milan, Italy and the atelier in Tilburg, Netherlands, Studio Job work across many areas including art, design, fashion, architecture, automotive and interior design having worked on projects including sculptures for

Swarovski Swarovski (, ) is an Austrian producer of glass based in Wattens, Austria, and has existed as a family-owned business since its founding in 1895 by Daniel Swarovski. The company is split into three major industry areas: the Swarovski Crystal ...

Barneys Barneys New York Inc. is an American luxury brand founded in New York City in 1923. It has introduced major designers including Armani, Azzedine Alaïa, Comme des Garçons, Christian Louboutin, and Ermenegildo Zegna to the US market. Barneys N ...

Viktor & Rolf Viktor & Rolf is a Dutch avant-garde luxury fashion house founded in 1993 by Viktor Horsting (born 1969, Geldrop) and Rolf Snoeren (born 1969, Dongen). For more than twenty years, Viktor & Rolf have sought to challenge preconceptions of fashion an ...

and

Land Rover Land Rover is a British brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR currently builds Land Rovers ...

, and product collections for brands such as Alessi,

Moooi Moooi is a Dutch furniture, interior, and lighting modern design company. It was founded by Marcel Wanders and Casper Vissers in the Netherlands in 2001. Name and stated mission When Marcel Wanders and Casper Vissers started Moooi in 2001, t ...

, Bisazza,

Swatch Swatch is a Swiss watchmaker founded in 1983 by Ernst Thomke, Elmar Mock, and Jacques Müller. It is a subsidiary of The Swatch Group. The Swatch product line was developed as a response to the "quartz crisis" of the 1970s and 1980s, in which i ...

, and

Disaronno Disaronno Originale (28% abv) is a type of amaretto—an amber-colored liqueur with a characteristic almond taste, although it does not actually contain almonds. It is produced in Saronno, in the Lombardy region, and is sold worldwide. According ...

. In 2017 Studio Job teamed up with Italian manufacturer Seletti to form the joint brand BLOW producing products in the pop spirit. Job Smeets has produced work for various galleries including Carpenters Workshop Gallery, Moss Gallery New York
Dilmos
Milano, Fondazione Bisazza and Chamber New York where he curated and coordinated the gallery's launch collection and book. Studio Job are ranked in the press as one of the world’s most influential players within design and art. Their collectable work is said to create a bridge between object and product by merging art and graphics. He has completed four solo shows as an individual and over 82 solo shows as Studio Job including Groningen Museum 2003, 2006, 2007, 2011 & 2012, He has also turned his attentions to the world of textiles, designing the patterns of luxury carpets.

Writing

Job Smeets has written for various books and magazines. In 2011 he wrote a regular column in the Financial Times UK and, more recently, a monthly column in design magazine WOTH, Netherlands and his own six books including Monkey Business, Book of Job, and regularly lectures internationally on art and design like for example at the

V&A Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

in 2015 and

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

, New York in 2010.

Personal life

Job Smeets currently resides in Milan Italy with his partner Rebecca Sharkey they had their first child Elvis Sharkey-Smeets together in May 2020. He split from his graphic designer partner Nynke Tynagel in 2015. They marked the occasion of their split with a bronze art piece: the Train Crash table.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smeets, Job Belgian artists 1969 births Living people