Zeev Aram, OBE (5 October 1931 – 18 March 2021) was a British furniture and interior designer. He was the founder and chairman of Aram Designs Ltd, a modern furniture store in London's

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

serving both the retail and contract market. He is responsible for introducing to the London market designers such as

Marcel Breuer Marcel Lajos Breuer ( ; 21 May 1902 – 1 July 1981), was a Hungarian-born modernist architect and furniture designer. At the Bauhaus he designed the Wassily Chair and the Cesca Chair, which ''The New York Times'' have called some of the most im ...

, the Castiglioni brothers,

Mies van der Rohe Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ( ; ; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. Along with Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd ...

, and

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...

.Graham, Natalie (2 May 2014)
"Furniture designer Zeev Aram: from King’s Road to Covent Garden"
''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

''. Retrieved 9 July 2015.

Early life

Zeev Aram was born in Cluj, Romania, the son of Jewish hoteliers, Palma and Aaron Ungar. In 1940 with the outbreak of World War II, the family emigrated to

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...

, where Aram grew up.

Career

He initially had a career as an officer in the Israeli Navy but later decided to become an architect. However, the Haifa Polytechnic architecture course had a two-year waiting list, and in 1957 he went to London instead. After completing his course in furniture and interior design the Central School of Art and Design (now

Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design Central Saint Martins is a public tertiary art school in London, England. It is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London. It offers full-time courses at foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and a variety of shor ...

), he joined the architectural office of

Ernő Goldfinger Ernő Goldfinger (11 September 1902 – 15 November 1987) was a Hungarian-born architect and designer of furniture. He moved to the United Kingdom in the 1930s, and became a key member of the Modernist architectural movement. He is most prom ...

. He worked in Goldfinger's practice for a year and then went on to work for

Basil Spence Sir Basil Urwin Spence, (13 August 1907 – 19 November 1976) was a Scottish architect, most notably associated with Coventry Cathedral in England and the Beehive in New Zealand, but also responsible for numerous other buildings in the Moderni ...

and later for Andrew Renton.Rashty, Sandy (28 February 2014)
"An interiors business designed to last"
''

The Jewish Chronicle ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

''. Retrieved 9 July 2015. Aram established Aram Designs Ltd. at 57

King's Road King's Road or Kings Road (or sometimes the King's Road, especially when it was the king's private road until 1830, or as a colloquialism by middle/upper class London residents), is a major street stretching through Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

, Chelsea in 1964 and was the first retailer to bring the work of modernist designers such as

Carlo Scarpa Carlo Scarpa (2 June 1906 – 28 November 1978) was an Italian architect, influenced by the materials, landscape and the history of Venetian culture, and by Japan. Scarpa translated his interests in history, regionalism, invention, and the tec ...

and

to the UK market. In 1973 Aram Designs moved into a larger space at 3 Kean Street, Covent Garden. That same year, Irish architect and furniture designer

Eileen Gray Eileen Gray (born Kathleen Eileen Moray Smith; 9 August 187831 October 1976) was an Irish architect and furniture designer who became a pioneer of the Modern Movement in architecture. Over her career, she was associated with many notable Euro ...

granted Aram and Aram Designs Ltd the Worldwide licence to introduce, produce and distribute her designs. Aram worked closely with Gray and played a fundamental role in introducing her designs to the world market. In 2015, Aram acted as consultant and donated furniture to the newly refurbished

E-1027 E-1027 is a modernist villa in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, in the Alpes-Maritimes department of France. It was designed and built from 1926-29 by the Irish architect and furniture designer Eileen Gray. L-shaped and flat-roofed with floor-to-ceiling wi ...

, a modernist villa in

Roquebrune-Cap-Martin Roquebrune-Cap-Martin (; oc, Ròcabruna Caup Martin or ; it, Roccabruna-Capo Martino, ; Mentonasc: ''Rocabrüna''; Roquebrune until 1921) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, Southeastern Fr ...

that was designed and built between 1926 and 1929 by Gray. Aram was also the director of the Aram Gallery for Experimental and New Design, a non-commercial gallery curating shows focused on experimental design. Through his series of graduate shows he introduced many new designers, such as

Thomas Heatherwick Thomas Alexander Heatherwick, (born 17 February 1970) is an English designer and the founder of London-based design practice Heatherwick Studio. He works with a team of around 200 architects, designers and makers from a studio and workshop in ...

and Jasper Morrison, who have gone on to become prolific figures in the design industry.Buxton, Pamela (5 April 2011)
"Aram Gallery: The Then-Now Show"
''

Building Design Building design refers to the broadly based architectural, engineering and technical applications to the design of buildings. All building projects require the services of a building designer, typically a licensed architect. Smaller, less complica ...

''. Amongst Aram's own furniture designs are the Dino Storage System (1964), the Altra Table System (1967) and the Atlantic Desk (1971). In 2014 he was awarded an OBE for services to design and architecture.Heathcote, Edwin (30 May 2014)
"Modernist furniture designer Zeev Aram and his Victorian home"
''

''. Retrieved 9 July 2015.

Personal life

In 1958, he married Elizabeth Bunzl, the English daughter of Viennese parents. They lived in an Edwardian Dutch house in Wimbledon, and had four children. He died on 18 March 2021 at the age of 89 and was buried on the eastern side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...

References

External links

Aram Designs LtdAram Gallery for Experimental and New Design
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aram, Zeev 1931 births 2021 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery Architects from London Romanian emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Romanian Jews Israeli emigrants to the United Kingdom Israeli people of Romanian-Jewish descent British furniture designers British interior designers British people of Romanian-Jewish descent Officers of the Order of the British Empire Compasso d'Oro Award recipients