Award-winning designer Simon Pengelly was born in Henley-on-Thames, England, in 1967. Originally trained at the bench, he was an award winning cabinet maker before graduating from Kingston University in 1988.
“Making things has always been important to me, ” he explains. “Starting in my father’s workshop at an early age and learning from him was the best start to a career in design that I could have asked for. Understanding materials and the making process will always be a fundamental part of my approach. ”
Simon went on to work in the studios of Conran Design and later those of Habitat before founding Pengelly Design in 1993. The company now with firms in the United Kingdom, Italy, and the United States. Its clients include notable furniture and lighting companies such as Allermuir, Boss, Habitat, Foscarini, Isokon Plus, Lapalma, Modus, Hitch Mylius, and Arper.
"Quietness is a quality the best products possess, " Simon believes. "They don't follow trend, rather their character is born of thoughtful regard to function, materiality, environment, intuitiveness and familiarity. There are few things more exciting to me than being able to make my mark with quiet design. "
Recently, Simon’s design for stacking wooden chairs was produced by the British brand Chorus, and used in the Norwich Cathedral, a testament to the product’s lightness, understated simplicity, and timeless appeal.
Other notable products by Simon include the OC chair and the Babar stool for Lapalma, and the Flip and Innerlight lamps for Foscarini.
In 2011, Pengelly was honored with a Compasso d’Orp award for his Nuur table, produced by Arper.