András Mengyán
András Mengyán was born on 26 March 1945 in Békéscsaba.
He studied at the Faculty of (Engineering Industry)
Design at the Hungarian Academy of Applied Arts
in 1963-68. He graduated in 1968 and from 1973 he was
a lecturer in the Faculty of Design at the same Academy;
in 1974-81 he worked as a professors 'assistant. He
spent 1981-82 in New York on a scholarship from the
American Council of Learned Studies. After returning
to Hungary, from 1982 to 1989 he was assistant professor
and later director of the Institute of Basic Training at
the Hungarian Academy of Applied Arts. In this period
he also acted as the art adviser for the Pratt Institute
of New York. Having won an international competition,
in 1990 he was invited to Bergen to work as Professor-
Director at the Institute of Basic Training of Norway's
National Academy of the Arts. He was in charge of elaborating
the institution's curriculum, while lecturing in
the study of form up to 1996. He continued his teaching
activity as a professor emeritus of the Academy in
Bergen until 2005.
Mengyán's activity as an industrial designer played an
important role in accomplishing his oeuvre in the variegated
fi elds of art. Between 1969 and 2003 he designed
a number of engineering machines and tools, ranging
from manually operated trucks through viticulture tools
and office file organisers to grilling ovens for households.
He also engaged in designing industrial saccharometers,
foil-cutting equipment, waste bins, as well as
exhibition installations and private dwellings.
In his capacity as artist, industrial designer and university
lecturer he has participated in numerous conferences,
symposia and artists' colonies in Hungary and
abroad.
He has been a prize-winner of many graphic art exhibitions
(1974: 3. Internazionale Graphikbiennale, Frechen;
1976: 4. Internazionale Graphikbiennale, Frechen; 1978:
7. Międzynarodowe Biennale Grafi ki, Kraków; 1983: 8.
Međunarodní Bienale Crteže, Rijeka). In 2003 he was
the recipient of the Farkas Dózsa designers' prize and in
2007 he was awarded the Munkácsy Mihály Prize.
András Mengyán is a member of the Hungarian Association
of Fine and Applied Artists, The Artists' Association
of Norway, the International Council of Societies of
Industrial Design, the International Kepes Society and
the Széchenyi Academy of Literature and Arts.
