MEZZO

Born 1968 in Starnberg and raised in Italy, the designer studied design at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and graduated with distinction in 1994 from the master class of Ron Arad. Between 1997 and 2000 Horner gained experience in renowned design offices in Paris and Milan and worked for Alessi, Phillippe Starck, Siemens and Thonet. For more than four years Christian Horner has been designing numerous pieces of furniture for the Austrian office ourniture company Bene. The quality of his designs with their elegant lines and unique form has been recognised on numerous occasions with international awards and prizes for innovation.

The designs of the Viennese designer follow a higher idea, reflected in the final product. After graduating with distinction in 1995 from Materials Sciences at the Leoben University of Mining Scherr studied Industrial Design at the Technical College of Graz. Since 1990 Scherr has worked for Philips Design Eindhoven, Almdudler, Liebherr and Rauch Fruit Juices and has been awarded numerous prizes in the field of packaging design and transportation design. Johannes Scherr has been working for Bene since 2002. In 2002, he founded the Element Design office together with Stephan Breier. His simple and functional designs were awarded, among others, with the Red Dot and the Swiss Star Design Prize in 2003.

A number of international and national prizes, which he received already at an early age, have been awarded to him for his craftsmanship and artistic skills - such as the Boerse Prize for Design, the IF Product Design Award, the Red Dot Award on two occasions and being selected as 'The Choice' among the ten best Austrian furniture designs. Kai Stania was born in Salzburg in 1965, graduated with distinction in Architecture at the Vienna Technical University in 1990 and studied product design in the master class of Ron Arad at the Vienna University of Applied Arts. Ever since 1996 Mr. Stania has made invaluable contributions to the design and development of most serial products of the Austrian company Bene and has designed numerous products for Wittmann, Jean-Louis Ferrer, Cerutti, Remus and Lanvin. In addition to being an architect and desginer he also works as assistant lecturer at the Institute for Engineering and Design at the Vienna Technical University.