IT ALL BEGAN IN VIENNA, WHERE REINHARD PLANK STUDIED INDUSTRIAL DESIGN AND STARTED INVESTIGATING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HUMANS AND OBJECTS AND HOW PEOPLE INTERACT WITH EACH OTHER. HE NOW WORKS FROM HIS ATELIER LOCATED IN THE COUNTRYSIDE OUTSIDE FLORENCE, SURROUNDED BY NATURE AND HIS TEAM. HIS RESEARCH LED TO THE DESIGN AND CREATION OF VARIOUS PRODUCTS: A PORTABLE SELF-CARESSING DEVICE, A PEOPLE-POKING WAND, A COFFEE TABLE WITH AN HANGING SCROTUM AND MANY OTHERS SINCE HIS EARLY PROJECTS, REINHARD HAS SHOWN A PLAYFUL AND PROVOCATIVE APPROACH AND HAS ALWAYS PUT THE HUMAN BEING AT THE CENTER OF HIS DESIGNS, DEMONSTRATING A PARTICULAR INTEREST IN HOW INDIVIDUALS DEAL WITH THE NOTION OF PERSONAL SPACE, EITHER PROTECTING IT OR CHALLENGING IT. AND THAT’S THE REASON WHY, AFTER YEARS OF EXPERIMENTS, REINHARD DECIDED TO FOCUS ON HATS, AS IN THEM HE SAW THE EMBODIMENT OF THAT DICHOTOMY: A HAT CAN BOTH PROTECT PRIVACY AND ATTRACT ATTENTION.

OBSERVATION, EXPERIMENTATION AND LIGHTNESS REMAIN KEY ELEMENTS AT THE CORE OF EACH AND EVERY REINHARD PLANK CREATION.