Dutch designer Erik Griffioen was born in 1976 in Breda, the Netherlands. In 1997, he began his studies at the Aki Art Academy in Enschede, finally graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Monumental Design in 2001. A few years later in 2008, back in Breda, Griffioen founded his own studio, before later relocating to Rotterdam.
Griffioen’s designs are dynamically sculptural; he uses unusual forms and often develops an idea iteratively across the design of a number of different pieces. He has described this process as being “like a living cell that mutates into different forms” and, indeed, early designs like the Daveau and Gio (2009) armchairs are reminiscent of some sort of primordial organism in motion. As in evolution in the natural world, so have Griffioen’s designs become increasingly complex in form over time, moving from the abstract, amorphous, cellular forms of the earlier pieces to more literal—and more architectural—pieces like the laser cut stainless steel Spider Chair. Throughout the evolutions in his design aesthetic, however, the quality of workmanship, impeccable finishes, and ambitious, imaginative forms in Griffioen’s work have remained rock steady.
For more than a decade, Griffioen’s pieces have been presented amongst the creme de la creme of international furniture design across Europe. He has exhibited at Salone del Mobile (2009, 2013, and 2017); Stockholm Furniture Fair (2009); Dutch Design Week (2010); and London Design Festival (2012), to name but a few. Most recently, his latest body of work—the LongNecks (2017) series of side tables, storage pieces, and more—was shown by Ventura Projects at the Dubai Design Index 2018. Griffioen continues to live and work in Rotterdam.
