Andrew Klimecki has over 35 years’ experience within the design industry and has served as Steelite International’s Head of Design for the past 30.
His impressive portfolio includes designs for Hornsea Pottery, Wedgwood, Mason’s Ironstone, Royal Crown Derby and Steelite, including many of Steelite’s partner factories which also include glass and melamine.
Responsible for all aspects of design at Steelite since 1993, his work involves the development of conceptual ranges, shape design and surface pattern, trend research, customer liaison, creative curation of portfolio ranges and associated marketing activities. His work is in daily use in over 160 countries worldwide, in some of the most prestigious restaurants and hotels in the world, from casual dining to banqueting and fine dining.
Just a few notable examples of Andrew’s ranges for Steelite include: The market defining ‘Organics’ – a very early asymmetric range, ‘Sheer’ – a sculptural and now iconic bowl collection, ‘Spyro’ – a hugely successful banqueting suite, the red dot awarded ‘Willow’ range, and several reactive glazed ranges on the ‘FreeStyle’ and ‘Coupe’ profiles. This is in addition to the ‘Artglaze’ (possibly the first time anyone had dared use reactive glazes on pristine fine bone china) and ‘Oscillate’ collections for Royal Crown Derby.
Among many other things, his work to design and develop the ‘Craft’ range has changed hospitality tableware forever. From independent restaurants to multi-units and chains, everyone seemingly wants a piece of ‘Craft.’ The launch over twelve years ago, designed to bring stability and comfort to diners in a post-recession world, went beyond a trend to evoke an emotional response on many levels. Each piece of ‘Craft’ is individually decorated by hand at the factory in Stoke-on-Trent.
Andrew says: “I believe that the same degree of design integrity should be present at all levels of product development, from the humble teaspoon to a statement presentation piece. It takes just as much development resource to design a product badly as it does to do it well.”
Andrew’s contributions to the ceramic and hospitality industries have been pivotal many times and he continues to strive for further innovation.
