Design 21: Social Design Network

Koen De Winter was born in 1943 in Antwerp, Belgium. He graduated with honors in ceramic technology at the École des Métiers d'art de Maredsous in 1962 before completing his education in industrial design at the Akademie voor Industriële Vormgeving Eindhoven, Holland in 1969. After working for Volvo's engineering department he returned to Holland and designed a wide range of housewares for the Danish/Dutch plastics manufacturer Rosti/Mepal. Some of these designs are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and other museum collections. In 1979 he moved to Canada where he became vice president of design for Danesco Inc. For almost a decade he combined that responsibility with his task as a professor at the Université du Québec in Montreal. He is a former president of the Canadian Industrial Designers Association. Since 1990 his design office HippoDesign Inc. has developed products for a large number of Canadian, American and European companies. He was also involved in humanitarian projects like the so called Niagara foot, a low cost prostesis for land mine victimes.He co-authored an exhibition catalogue on 20th century chairs and numerous articles. He has guest lectured in Germany, France, and in Canada. He has won several awards in industrial and graphic design, including the Design Canada Award, the Best of Canada Design Award, the Product of the Year in Frankfurt, and his country of origin gave him the the prestigious Henry van de Velde career award 2005. More recently, he has opened a ceramic studio in Québec called Atelier Orange. He also returned to the School of Design of the University of Québec in Montreal where he is teaching half time.