Christophe de la Fontaine was born in 1976 in Luxembourg, where he graduated from the Lycée des Arts et Métiers as a sculptor. He continued his studies at the Industrial Design Department of the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart under the supervision of Richard Sapper. Upon graduation in 2002, he collaborated with Therefore – Product Design Consultants in London, followed by Piero Lissoni Associati in Milan. During this period, he also collaborated with Stefan Diez on a project that won the Design Report Award in 2002. In Milan, he became Head of Design at the Studio Patricia Urquiola, remaining in this position until 2010.
In 2012, he co-founded Dante – Goods & Bads, a furniture and home accessory brand, together with his partner, contemporary artist Aylin Langreuter. The company is today internationally active and presents award-winning products and editions. As an independent product designer, he has received numerous international awards, including the Red Dot Design Award, the Good Design Award, and the Gold iF Product Design Award. In 2015, he was featured in The Wallpaper 100*, a list of the design world’s most powerful players. Christophe de la Fontaine is Rosenthal’s most award-winning designer, and his work has been endorsed by Luxembourg royalty. In 2018, he was appointed Professor of Industrial Design at the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart.
“Working with three-dimensional objects means dealing with resistance — of material, process, and use. Thinking them through is one part; realizing them is another.
What matters is not only the idea, but whether something can be carried through the whole process.
Objects never stand alone: how they are made, how they are used, and how they endure over time are inseparably connected and deeply rooted in our culture and the way people relate to one another.
Design, in this sense, is less about adding something new than about deciding what deserves to stay.”
This attitude is reflected in de la Fontaine’s work, which is characterized by restraint, clarity, and a persistent interest in construction as narrative. Many objects operate through small shifts and gestures that are immediately legible yet difficult to exhaust. Over time, several of these pieces have become reference points within their respective bodies of work, not by insistence, but by consistency.
Alongside Dante, de la Fontaine has collaborated with international manufacturers. His work has been widely published and awarded.
Since 2018, Christophe de la Fontaine has been Professor of Industrial Design and Head of the Design Department at the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart (ABK Stuttgart). Teaching is not treated as an extension of practice, but as an integral part of it — a space to test positions, question production, and insist on responsibility. The academy functions as a critical counterpart to the studio, not as its appendix.
De la Fontaine’s work consistently refuses easy categorization. It operates in the space in between — where an object can carry an attitude without having to explain itself.