Alain Grossenbacher founded AFG Objects out of both passion and necessity.  

An accomplished graphic designer who served as creative director and CEO of international housewares company Bodum for almost two decades, Grossenbacher came to a creative crossroads in 2021, when a stroke obliged him to turn away from corporate life and toward a long-held desire to work with his hands in a different way. 

Out of his ceramics studio in Brooklyn, New York, the Swiss-born artist and designer gives the two dimensional elements of graphic design— assemblages of shapes and colors—a third dimension to create one-of-a-kind lighting.  Working with a Spanish clay that remains rigid in the kiln, Grossenbacher designs with the precision of an industrial designer and the soul of a ceramic artist. It is this combination that results in visually arresting pieces with the tactile allure inherent in all things derived from the earth. Inspired by the Bauhaus, Le Corbusier and Carlo Scarpa, Grossenbacher shapes individual pieces from clay slabs, fires them using primarily dark glazes, then assembles the finished pieces into designs that share a language with the organic structure of Garamond and the dense, solid appearance of Helvetica, his two preferred fonts.

Grossenbacher has been fascinated with light since he was a child. He credits his father with drawing his attention to the play between shadow and light during their daytime walks together. It is for this reason that he largely choses dark glazes; the contrast with lamp lighting creates the drama that continues to intrigue him every day.