Frank Rettenbacher

Background

Frank Rettenbacher was born in 1979 in Bregenz, Austria, and lives in Amsterdam. Thonet's designer page says he studied industrial design at FH Joanneum in Graz, began at Audi Design in Ingolstadt and then moved to the Netherlands to work at Philips Design, where he has led an international team as Creative Director. His own website describes him as an Austrian designer based in Amsterdam and Creative Director at A.D.O. Amsterdam Design Office, which shapes the in-house Philips TV and audio brand.

Signature Style

Rettenbacher designs furniture under his own studio name. Thonet dates the studio to 2013 and mentions work with the Italian manufacturer Zanotta. His site lists, among others, the Judy lounge chair, the Ido and Ivo stools, the Emil side table, the Santiago table and the Mina console for Zanotta.

Notable Works

• S 243 stackable chair for Thonet (2024): a tubular steel frame with a moulded plywood seat and backrest
• DesignLine glass TV for Philips, in the permanent collections of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and the MAK in Vienna

Legacy

His site lists a long run of Red Dot and iF Design awards for Philips products, mostly televisions, among them a Red Dot Best of the Best and an iF Gold award for the DesignLine TV in 2014, and the Dutch Design Award for the same TV in 2013. Zanotta's Judy was an honoree of the NYC x Design Award in 2018. He also released an album, Morba, with the Dutch producer and DJ Bardo Camp.