It’s not easy to choose just one project from Tomás Alonso‘s portfolio.  This London-based Spanish designer, an integral part and founder of the well-known Okay Studio, views his career progression as something organic.  Today we are showing you with just a small sample of his work. We chose these five projects, but we could have chosen any of his others.

Stamp Cutlery

Stamp Cutlery was one of his graduation projects for the Royal College in 2006.  “The original idea was to look for an alternative to plastic disposable cutlery and I made them from aluminium, which is both recyclable and disposable”, although they were then reproduced by Italesse in stainless steel.  “It made me realise what it meant to make things that are well-thought out and well-made”.

Camper Stores

This was the first big brand that he worked with, designing a series of “Camper Together” stores which each had their own personality and on which the designer left his own mark.  The Variations on a tube exhibition, which was a collection of furniture made from wooden and steel tubes, was what made the shoe brand get in touch with Tomás Alonso and ask him to design a series of stores in this style.

 

Half Box para Ikea       

“When you work with a company like Ikea, where the main issue is the price, you work in a different way”.  Alonso was part of a select group of designers that collaborated with the Swedish giant on IKEA PS 2014, a storage module that was based on a wooden box with three of its six sides removed – a way to save on materials without taking anything away from its functionality.

 

Atelier Swarovski Home

In 2015, Tomás Alonso was chosen by Swarovski to be one of their Designers of the Future.  Since then, their collaboration has been evolving and the latest result is the light effects of Prism, a collection of trays, centre pieces, and contemporary bowls which are made by combining glass prisms and marble bases.

 

Arita 2016

Nacido de la colaboración entre 16 diseñadores internacionales y diez compañías tradicionales de alfarería y cerámica japonesas, 2016/Arita conecta oriente y occidente, pasado y presente. Tomás Alonso creó una colección de contenedores de formas, colores y tamaños geométricos básicos, para ser utilizados libremente en función del contexto. Las piezas se mostraron en el Salone del Mobile 2016.

Offset

The table is one of Tomás Alonso’s favourite objects judging by his portfolio.  A stand-out among them is the Offset system, which was awarded the Delta de Plata in 2016.  It’s a simple and honest design which is easy to assemble (with an assembly system inspired by the world of cycling!) and which can be used in offices, contract projects, and home design.