The product designer Neil Poulton was born in Scotland in 1963.
He gained a bachelor of science degree in industrial design (technology) at Napier University in Edinburgh in 1985. In 1988 Poulton successfully completed his studies in design at the Domus Academy in Milan, Italy, under Italian architect Andrea Branzi and designer Alberto Meda. Poulton’s tutors were the Italian architect Ettore Sottsass, the German designer Richard Sapper, Isao Hosoe and Anna Castelli Ferrieri.
Neil Poulton specializes in the design of simple, mass-produced objects.
He is best-known for lighting and for technology design and collaborates especially with the manufacturers LaCie, Artemide, Megalit and Atelier Sedap.
Neil Poulton first came to public view in 1989 as the designer of the "Ageing Pens", pens made from a "living" (wearing) plastic, which changes color and form with 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 also worked for French designer Philippe Starck in Paris from 1991 to 1992. In 2007 Centre Georges Pompidou acquired six Poulton-designed objects for its Permanent Contemporary Collection.
Neil Poulton won numerous awards, including seven French "Etoile de l'Observeur du Design” prizes, ten German Red Dot Design Awards, four German "IF" International Forum Design prizes, three French "Janus de l'industrie" awards, two "Recommendation Premio Compasso d'Oro" and the Best of The Best Red Dot Design Award 2006 for the "Talak table" lamp, created for the Italian lighting manufacturer Artemide.
In 2008 the French "Association for the Promotion of Industrial Design" (APCI) awarded Neil Poulton with two "Etoile de l'Observeur du Design 2008" prizes.
In October 2008 the French "Institut Francais de Design" presented Poulton and computer hardware manufacturer LaCie with the "Janus de l'Industrie" 2008 , for the "5Big" storage system, inspired by the HAL 9000 computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey. In 2009, Poulton won two Red Dot Design Award 2009 and the German "IF" International Forum Design 2009 prize, all with products designed for LaCie.
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