Raul Barbieri was born in Milan in 1946. After having taken his degree in Architecture at Milan's Polytechnic, he started to work initially as a professional associate; in 1989 he founded his own practice in Milan which specialised in design, corporate identity and architectural planning. The design and realisation of a neighbourhood of semi-detached houses in Milan - in the Citt Studi area -, which in 1999 was presented in London on the occasion of the exhibition 'Golden Compass ADI Architectural Design', date back to this period. Barbieri has had a long-standing co-operation with ADI, the Association for Industrial Design in his capacity as co-ordinator of the department of designers. Many of his designs have been awarded prizes or selected in major international design competitions.

When Zeev Aram opened his first showroom in 1964, a small, white space on London's Kings Road, he might as well have landed on the moon. But, here was the work of Castiglioni, Breuer, and Le Corbusier, for the first time available to the public to buy and put in their own homes. Zeev closed his Kings Road showroom in 1973 and moved his business to Kean Street in Covent Garden, where he still oversees Aram Designs - concentrating on his own designs as well as running a very successful contract business supplying to architects and interior design groups. In 1975, after several years working together, Eileen Gray gave Zeev Aram and Aram Designs Ltd the Worldwide licence to introduce, produce and distribute her designs. A licence we are still honoured to hold to this day.