It was already evident very early on, that Alain Monnens was meant to design, so the choice to study industrial design was no surprise. He graduated cum laude with a Master’s in Product Design at the Media & Design Academy in Genk.

Three months before he graduated, he already had a contract to work across the border in The Netherlands at NPK Industrial Design in Leiden. After his experiences in The Netherlands he rather accidentally surfaced in West Flanders, where he has had the opportunity to design for a number of companies alongside teaching design and form at Howest | Industrial Design Center in Kortrijk.

In 2000 he took his first steps as an independent designer and founded in 2006 his design studio idam bvba. He and his studio have delivered no end of successful products. The products which Alain designs demonstrate the his no nonsense, pure design style. For Alain, it is not the adding of elements but their integration which is important, since he sees design as the art of reducing.

Alain Monnens has won several design awards, including a Henry Van de Velde Label and several Red Dot Design Awards.