American clients on a Milan drawing board: James Irvine

A designer's client list is a map, and the map of James Irvine crossed the Atlantic many times: Whirlpool, Condé Nast, Spalding & Bros and Du Pont Corian all appear on it, drawn from a studio in Milan. Born in London in 1958 and trained at the Royal College of Art, Irvine had learned the industrial trade inside the Olivetti studio under De Lucchi and Sottsass, then a year at the Toshiba Design Centre in Tokyo in 1987 — the kind of schooling American corporations recognise when they hire from abroad.

Among the European houses on the same map sits Arper, for whom Irvine drew the Juno chair — a brand La Mercanti brings to U.S. projects. One list, one standard: the name Irvine on it is a quality clause.