Bio
Born in 1979 in Slovakia, Tomas Kral has decided to work on a smaller scale than his father architect and urban planner.
Kral graduated from the Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne (Ecal). After finishing his bachelor in industrial design in 2006, he obtained at Ecal his Master degree in product design in 2008 and « MAS » Diplôma in luxury design in 2009. Since 2010 Kral is teaching at ECAL in the department of industrial design.
Tomas Kral established his product design studio in 2008 in Lausanne, Switzerland. In the context of industrial production and research, Kral’s approach to design is characterized by a clear preoccupation for materials and processes. In glass, cork or ceramic, Tomas Kral work on various projects ranging from products to lighting, furniture and accessories. He often takes inspiration in the tradition and ordinary situations and translate them with a touch of poetry and humor to simply, innovative solutions and clever everyday objects. In order to find a new creative approaches, shapes, details, assemblages and purposes he frequently observes and experiment with craftsmanship and the knowledge of manufacturers.
Tomas Kral exhibited his work in several museums and galleries like Libby Sellers Gallery (London), Gallery Kreo (Paris), The Aram Gallery (London), Helmrinderknecht (Berlin), Gallery Krehky (Prague), Museum of design (Zürich), Sm’s Stedelijk museum in the Netherlands or MUDAC in Lausanne.
He work for international companies specialised in design like PCM (Spain), Christofle (France), Foundry (Singapur), Praxis (Hong-Kong), Petite Friture (France), Safilo (Italy), Super-ette (Luxembourg), Nespresso (Switzerland), Somethinggood (Italy), Field (USA), Hartô (France), Nude glass (Turkey)…
Recently, his work receives several awards and prizes including Leitz innovation & design award ; « Excellent prize » in the 9th International bicycle design competition or Swiss federal design award in March 2010. In 2013 he was again nominated for the Swiss federal design award.
Exhibitions
- OCT 2015 L’Univers des Petits Objets – solo exhibition at La Fabrique h2, Monthey, CH
- SEP 2015 Il guste del design, Centro Culturale Svizzero di Milano, with Espaces contemporains, IT
- JUN 2015 Krehky Mikulov festival, CZ
- NOV 2014 Istanbul Design Biennial – with Glass is tomorrow & Pasabahce, TR
- OCT 2013 Ceramique I – Exhibition at Kissthedesign Gallery, Lausanne, CH
- SEP 2013 «Young Swiss Design Kaleidoscope 2013», China & Hong-Kong
- JUN 2013 Exhibition «Swiss Design Award», Basel, CH
- DEC 2012 «Werkstadt Vienna» Exhibition at MAK, Vienna, AT
- DEC 2012 «Kama, Sesso e Design» Triennale di Milano, IT
- NOV 2012 Exhibition «The common roots» Design museum Holon, Israel
- OCT 2012 «The mirror exhibition» Designblok with Okolo, Prague, CZ
- MAY 2012 Exhibition «Bauhaus live», The Aram Gallery, London, GB
- APR 2012 Art Design Project with Krehky gallery, Bratislava, SK
- SEP 2011 «Passionswege», Vienna Design Week, AT
- JUN 2011 Il-Lacion gallery, Barcelona, with PCM
- MAY 2011 Galeria Gloria, Madrid, with PCM
- JAN 2011 Galery KREO in Paris with ecal – A new generation of lights
- DEC 2010 Museum of Design in Zürich – Swiss federal design award
- NOV 2010 End of incandescent light_Triode design gallery, Paris, FR
- NOV 2010 Blickfang Zürich, CH
- OCT 2010 Designblok in Prague with Okolo
- OCT 2010 Ecal luce – Galeria Babuino Novecento Roma, IT
- APR 2010 Centro Culturale Svizzero di Milano, exhibition with Ecal
- JUN 2010 DMY Berlin with Swiss federal office of culture
- OCT 2009 Designblok – Milky way – Prague design week, Profilmedia
- SEP 2009 Design September in Bruxelles, La Cambre, with Ecal
- JUN 2009 Repeat please – Exhibition at SM’S Stedejlik museum, NL
- JUN 2009 Designer’s days in Paris – with Ecal, Gallery Lafayette
- APR 2009 Milan design week_exhibition with Ecal
- FEB 2009 Exhibition Prototypes & Experiments 2, The Aram gallery
- OCT 2008 Exhibition Mytopanton_Designhaus Darmstadt
- SEP 2008 Beau Sauvage_Libby Sellers gallery
- SEP 2008 100% Design_ Earls courts with BEDG, London
- JUN 2008 100% Design in Rotterdam with Creater
- MAY 2008 DMY international design festival in Berlin – with Creater
- APR 2008 Centro Culturale Svizzero di Milano, exhibition with Ecal
- OCT 2006 «Intensive science exhibition», La maison rouge, Paris
- OCT 2006 Diploma exhibition, ELAC, Lausanne
- MAY 2006 Made for Solingen, Exhibition with Ecal
- AUG 2004 Tendance lifestyle /TALENTS/, Frankfurt, DE
- MAY 2004 Design Mai 04, Berlin, DE
- NOV 2002 International biennale of design, Saint-Etienne, FR
Awards
- 2010 swiss federal design award
- 2007 mention – d&ad global studen award
- 2005 menstion – electrolux design lab «home in 2020»
- 2004 «excelent prize» 9th international bicycle design compretition
- 2004 mention « inside the bathroom », competition
- 2004 4th prize «macef design award 2004»
- 2003 4th prize «leitz innovation & design award»
- 2002 special prize of the jury «young packaging»
Clients
- pcm design
- foundry
- christofle
- audemars piguet
- mudac
- wallpaper
- muehlbauer
- vienna design week
- libby sellers gallery
- matteo gonet glassworks
- okolo
- krehky
- patrick fonjallaz
- ecal
- somethinggood
- petite friture
- praxis
- nespresso
- safilo
- jordans
- imm-living
- field
- super-ette
- kissthedesign gallery
- esaila
- hartô
- nude glass
- l’echo pain
- pasabahce
- former