Kai Stania

Kai Stania was born in Salzburg in 1965 and began his architectural studies at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna) in 1987. In 1990, he also started studying industrial design, in parallel to his other studies, at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. In 1993, Stania became project manager at Ron Arad‘s studio in London. In 1996, he completed his architectural studies, graduating with distinction, and started work as an assistant lecturer at TU Vienna. In 1997, Stania became project manager at the Arbeitsamt Neunkirchen (Federal Employment Agency in Neunkirchen), assuming responsibility for the Mitteregger and Seiser offices. After further appointments as an assistant lecturer at the Institute of Engineering Design at TU Vienna, in 2002 the architect and designer founded his own design studio „kai stania I product design", which designs furniture for a list of clients that includes TEAM 7, Bene, Wittmann and Rolf Benz, as well as fashion accessories for clients such as Cerruti, Ungaro, Nina Ricci and Cacharel. It was Kai Stania who designed the height-adjustable k7 kitchen for TEAM 7; to this day the kitchen remains unique on the market. Stania is also the designer behind the riletto bed, the lift coffee table and the atelier desk. Kai Stania has been a member of the jury and chairman of the AWS incentive programme since 2008. Over the course of his career, Stania has won numerous awards for his work, including the red dot design award and white star. He lives together with his family in Vienna in a much-admired house that he designed himself in 2007, and which allows him to successfully combine working and living.