CEO and Founder, Blu Dot
www.bludot.com
Judging Category: Furniture
After graduating with a double major in economics and studio art from Williams College in 1987, John moved to Boston to pursue sculpture, and worked simultaneously as a strategy consultant for Bain and Company. John’s artwork has been shown in several group exhibitions, and in a solo exhibition at New York’s John Good Gallery. In 1993, he earned an MBA from Northwestern University. Afterward, he became Consulting Director of Core Group in Minneapolis, where he advised consumer product companies in marketing strategy and branding. In 1999, John was appointed a member of the ICFF Advisory Board. He currently serves on the board of Midway Contemporary Art in St. Paul, a non-profit gallery dedicated to the work of emerging artists from around the world, as well as the Board of Trustees of Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
John co-founded Minneapolis based design collective Blu Dot in 1997 with Maurice Blanks and Charlie Lazor. Blu Dot is recognized for its inventive use of materials, playful sensibility, and fabrication/assembly strategies determined by an economy of means. Its range of home furnishings is sold in fine design stores across the US, Canada and abroad. Their work has received numerous awards, including the ICFF Editor’s Award for Best Body of Work and Good Design awards from the Chicago Athenaeum. Blu Dot pieces have been exhibited at MoMA, the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, the Walker Art Center, and the Centre Pompidou. They opened their first retail store in New York in 2009 and their second in Los Angeles in June 2011.
