Israel-born designer Ron Arad (born 1951) has made a name for himself with highly expressive sculptural furniture, employing a variety of materials, from high-tech to ready-made. Trained at the Jerusalem Academy of Art and London’s Architectural Association School of Architecture, Arad defies pigeonholing, exploring the possibilities of materials in works like his Fantastic Plastic Elastic (FPE) chair made from a single sheet of and Swarovski chandeliers and furniture pieces that can receive and display text messages. In 2009 and 2010, the designer was celebrated around the world with retrospectives at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Barbican Art Gallery in London.