Humphrey Ikin

Humphrey Ikin was born in 1957 in Lower Hutt, New Zealand. He is a furniture designer.

Ikin completed a degree in Business Studies at Massey University before beginning an architectural degree at the University of Auckland. However, finding he was focusing more on the furniture for buildings than their structures, he became a self-taught furniture designer and maker.

Ikin has been inspired by things that he sees around him: the benches carved from single tree trunks for Solomon Island Chiefs; the natural rugged beauty of the Pacific; the practical functionalism of the New Zealand farm. Furniture as art has been a recurring theme of his work.

His furniture is now known worldwide for its design quality and Pacific minimalist look. In 1998 New York's I.D. Magazine listed him as one of the top forty designers in the world and featured his piece Red Stave Chair alongside work by well-known designers Jasper Morrison (England), Philippe Starck (France), and Antonio Citterio (Italy). In 2001 he won the prestigious John Britten Design Award, presented annually by the Designers' Institute of New Zealand. In 2003 he received an Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate Award.

Humphrey's work is held in both public and private collections in New Zealand and throughout the world. He teaches part-time at Unitec New Zealand in Auckland where, in 2002 he was appointed Adjunct Professor of Furniture Design at the School of Design. In 2005 he completed, at the University of Auckland, the Architecture degree left unfinished at the outset of his career.

Exhibitions

 * 1987 - Solo Exhibition, Janne Land Gallery, Wellington
 * 1990 - Solo Exhibition, Fisher Gallery, Auckland
 * 1991 - Solo Exhibition, RKS ART, Auckland
 * 1994 - Solo Exhibitions, RKS ART, Auckland
 * 1994 - Room, Solo Exhibition, Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt
 * 1997 - Facing North, Solo Exhibition, City Gallery, Wellington and the Auckland Museum (1998)

List of works

 * Works from the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa