Neil Poulton (born 1963) is a Scottish product designer, based in Paris, France. He specializes in the design of 'deceptively simple-looking mass-produced objects' and has won numerous international design awards. Poulton is best known for his designs in the fields of technology and lighting design and is often associated with manufacturers LaCie and Artemide, with whom he enjoys ongoing long term relationships dating from the early 90's. In 2007 the Centre Georges Pompidou museum in Paris acquired six Poulton-designed objects for its Permanent Contemporary Collection. In 2008, Time magazine included Poulton in 'The Design 100 - The people and ideas behind today's most influential design'. Neil Poulton has lived and worked in Paris since 1991. Poulton gained a BSc degree in Industrial Design (technology) at Napier University in Edinburgh in 1985 and was awarded the SIAD Chartered Society of Designers Student Product Designer Of The Year. In 1988 he gained a Masters degree in design at the Domus Academy in Milan, Italy, under Italian architect Andrea Branzi and designer Alberto Meda. Poulton's tutors included Italian architect Ettore Sottsass, German industrial designer Richard Sapper, Isao Hosoe and Anna Castelli Ferrieri. Neil Poulton first came to public view in 1989 as the creator of the 'Ageing Pens'. Also known as the 'Penna Mutante' (The Mutant Pen), these pens were made from a living, wearing plastic, which 'ages as layers of colour wear away through use'. The Ageing Pens were exhibited in London's Victoria and Albert Museum, Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and The Axis Gallery in Tokyo. Poulton worked briefly for French designer Philippe Starck in Paris from 1991 through 1992. Poulton has been a guest speaker and visiting professor at schools including Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London, the Domus Academy in Milan and the University of Western Australia in Perth, Australia. He is an active, if occasional, jury member of the ENSCI school (Les Ateliers) in Paris. Awards Poulton's designs have won numerous awards, including seven French "Etoile de l'Observeur du Design" prizes, ten German Red Dot Design Awards, two "Best of The Best" Red Dot Design Awards, five German "IF" International Forum Design prizes, three French "Janus de l'industrie" awards, two "Recommendation Premio Compasso d'Oro", and the «Menzione d'Onore Premio Compasso d'Oro 2011» for the Veio lamp designed for Artemide.
