El Ultimo Grito

Rosario Hurtado (born in 1966 in Madrid) and Roberto Feo (born in 1964 in London) founded El Ultimo Grito in 1997 in London. The multi-disciplinary studio uses design to explore the social, political, and philosophical nature of human relationships with objects. El Ultimo Grito works across media (including furniture and product design, film, and publications) and for a range of international commercial clients and institutions, such as British Airways, Magis, and the Victoria & Albert Museum. In 2010, the pair founded SHOPWORK and POI, an independent publishing, research, education, and design platform.

Hurtado and Feo met in Madrid in the 1980s. Hurtado moved to London in 1989 to study cabinetmaking at the London College of Furniture (a predecessor to The Cass School of Design). Feo moved to London the following year, and studied furniture design also at the London College of Furniture. Hurtado went on to earn her Bachelor’s degree in industrial design from Kingston University, and Feo earned his Masters in furniture design from the Royal College of Art.

El Ultimo Grito has taught at the Royal College of Art and Goldsmiths and Kingston Universities. In 2014, Feo was appointed professor of design at Goldsmiths, and the pair currently leads the Spaces & Communications Masters program at HEAD–Genève. The studio’s work is widely exhibited and included in the permanent collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Art & Design, and the Stedelijk Museum.

Awards include the 1997 100% Design Award for the Miss Ramirez chair; the 1998 100% Design Award for Mind the Gap table; the 2000 Peugeot Design Award in Furniture for What Comes Down Must Come Up laundry basket; the 2005 UK Arts Council Project Fund Award; and the 2010 Red Dot Award for Lighting for the GUAU lamp for Arturo Alvarez. Additionally, El Ultimo Grito was awarded the London Design Medal in 2012 for its significant contribution to design in London.