Nick Ross

Born in Scotland in 1986, designer Nick Ross studied industrial design at Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen, where he was awarded the Arts & Heritage prize for his graduation project, Stray, in 2008. In early 2009, he moved to Rotterdam to work under Tomáš Gabzdil Libertíny; in spring 2010, he moved to Stockholm to work for FRONT, Ross became a tutor at Gray's School of Art, and continued to work there until enrolling in the Master’s program in interior architecture and furniture design at Konstfack in Stockholm, where he received his Master’s in fine arts in 2013. Immediately after graduating, he began working as an assistant to Swedish designer Matti Klenell until establishing his own self-named, Stockholm-based studio in 2014.

According to the designer, “My work looks at the role of history and storytelling in how we perceive the world around us, by working with themes such as place, origin, and the role fiction plays in past and present societies. My main interest lies in how guesswork or cultural ‘curation’ can create situations where we are influenced to think in certain ways and feel certain things.” Notable projects to date include the White Lies painted marble table (2013), inspired by ancient Greek and Roman statutes; as well as A Mirror Darkly (2013) and Last of the Free (2016), both of which consider how historical interpretations alter our current perceptions of objects. For the former, he explored the way humans may have used water-filled bowls for reflection during the Stone Age, and for the latter, he researched Roman accounts of his native Scotland’s indigenous Caledonian people, using the findings to create a collection of furniture and homeware.

His work has been included in numerous exhibitions, including Design Anima at Spazio Rossana Orlandi, Milan, Wood Punk at Scandic Anglais, Stockholm, and Ung Svensk Form at Designersblock, London (all 2013); Design for a Liquid Society at Spazio Rossana Orlandi and Ventura Berlin at Qubique, Berlin (both 2012); and The Shape of Things to Come at the Gin Palace, Glasgow (2009).