Edward Barber, born in Shrewsbury in 1969, and Jay Osgerby, born in Oxford in 1969, studied architecture and interior design as fellow students at the Royal College of Art in London. In 1996, they founded their own studio for design and architecture under the name Barber & Osgerby. Since that time, their collaborative work has probed the interface between industrial design, furniture design and architecture.
Barber and Osgerby’s approach is characterised by its emphasis on experimentation and innovation and an exploratory attitude to materiality and colour. Amongst many professional accolades, Barber and Osgerby received the Jerwood prize in 2004 and in 2007 were awarded the status of Royal Designers for Industry. In 2013 they were appointed to the Order of the British Empire, for services to the design industry and in 2015 they were awarded the London Design Medal.