Edward Barber, born in 1969 in Shrewsbury, and Jay Osgerby, born in 1969 in Oxford, studied together architecture and interior architecture at the Royal College of Art in London. In 1996, they founded their own architecture and design studio Barber Osgerby in East London. The versatility of their works in the field of architecture, industrial design, furniture design and exhibition design led to a collaboration with some of the most famous companies - for example Flos in the field of lighting. Whithin over two decades of artistic creation at home and abroad, the two designers encourage the development of new generations of designers, by hiring them for training and workshops.
The design approach of Edward Barber & Jay Osgerby is characterized by the emphasis on experimentation and innovation and a research-oriented behaviour towards materials and colour. The result are solutions, strongly influenced by industrial processes and technologies, yet reflecting a great affinity for fine art. Large-size installations and a range of revolving mirrors for the Raphael Gallery in V&A and the wind-operated project Forecast for the Somerset House in London for the first London Design Biennale count among their works. The olympic torch of 2012 and a £2 coin for the 150th anniversary of the London unterground are in the designers' portfolio together with iconical furniture and light designs.
Beside numerous design awards, among them several Wallpaper Design Awards, the ADI Compasso d'Oro, the German Design Award and the Red Dot Design Award, Edward Barber & Jay Osgerby received the Jerwood Prize in 2004 and the status of Royal Designers for Industry in 2007. Their merits for the design sector were honoured with their admission in the Order of the British Empire in 2013 and the London Design Medal in 2015. Some of their works are also exhibited in the permanent collection of the V&A and of the Design Museums of London, of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, of the Art Institute of Chicago, of the Olympic Museum in Switzerland and of the Vitra Design Museum in Germany.
In 2001, Edward Barber & Jay Osgerby founded the Universal Design Studio that operates in parallel to their actual studio. The Universal Design Studio focusses on the fields of architecture, interior decoration and exhibition design and is now considered as one of the most innovant, creative design counselling office worldwide. With the strategy based industrial design office Map Project Office founded in 2012, the Barber Osgerby Studios have expanded again.