Bruno Rey

Background

Bruno Rey was a Swiss industrial designer from Brugg in the canton of Aargau. He trained as a cabinetmaker, then studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule Zürich (today ZHdK) from 1957 and graduated in 1960 from the interior design class of Willy Guhl. Wikipedia gives his years as 1935 to 2019; Dietiker gives 1935 as his birth year, while HAY gives 1933.

Career

After his studies he travelled in Switzerland and abroad, worked as an intern for the interior designer Paul Sumi in Biel, and then for an architectural office that furnished the Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva. In 1966 he was among the co-founders of the Swiss Design Association (SDA). In 1968 he opened his own studio for architecture and industrial design in Baden, and in 1987 he moved it to Gebenstorf, where he worked with Charles Polin.

Notable Works

• Rey Chair (model 3300) for Dietiker, in serial production from 1971 and patented by Dietiker a year later
• Program 33 stools, chairs and tables for Dietiker (1972)
• Quadro W stacking chair with Charles Polin for Dietiker (design period 1980–1989)
• Patron restaurant chair with Charles Polin for Dietiker
• XY Table with Charles Polin for Dietiker (1992)
• Chairs for Kusch+Co (1970–1979), plant containers for Eternit AG and the control room of the Mühleberg nuclear power plant

Legacy

HAY presents the Rey Collection with Dietiker, made up of stools, chairs and tables. Dietiker calls the Rey Chair the most successful Swiss chair of all time.