Prof. Dirk Wynants is a leading expert in durable furniture and equipment design. Dirk studied interior architecture and furniture design at the Architecture Institute Sint-Lucas in Ghent, Belgium. After completing his studies, Dirk established Extremis for the realization of his own designs in 1994. To date, he is still the full owner and president of the board of directors, but gives priority to design and art direction. In 2013, Dirk accepted the offer of Detao Group to share his design experience in China. He is now the leading master of Siva-Detao Master Academy – Sustainable Furniture Design.

Innovation, superior quality, a keen eye for functionality, but above all social relevance and ecology are part of Dirk Wynants’ credo. Thanks to this attitude, Dirk’s designs already won many awards internationally, like Red Dot Award Best of the Best, IDEA Award, Interior Innovation Award to name a few. Dirk just received 2018 iF Glod Award with the Virus Picnic table he designed.

· Henry van de Velde Award, Brussels (BE) 2001

· Independent entrepreneur of the year, Brussels (BE) 2001

· Hermes Award, Brussels (BE) 2002

· Leeuw van de Export, young exporter, Brussels (BE) 2002

· Interior Innovation Award for Picnik, IMM Cologne (GE) 2003

· les Best of NOW! design à vivre for Picnik, Paris (FR) 2003

· Henry van de Velde Award for Picnik, Brussels (BE) 2003

· FX international design award for Picnik, London (GB) 2003

· IF design award for Picnik, silver, Hannover (GE) 2004

· Good Design award for Picnik, Chicago (USA) 2004

· ID award (honourable mention) for Picnik, Annual Design Review, New York (USA) 2004

· FX international design award for Arthur, London (GB) 2004 (best residential furniture)

· Design Award of the Province of West Flanders, Kortrijk (BE) 2004

· Interior Innovation Award for Donuts, IMM Cologne (GE) 2005

· FX international design award for Donuts, London (GB) 2005

· Red Dot Award for Donuts, Essen (GE) 2005

· Henry Van De Velde Label for Inumbra, Brussels (BE) 2006

· Henry Van De Velde Label for Woodstock, Brussels (BE) 2006

· IF Award 2007 for Inumbra, Hannover (GE) 2006

· IDEA Silver for Inumbra, Herndon (USA) 2007

· Nomination for the Design Award of the Fed. Republic of Germany for Inumbra,

Frankfurt am Main (GE) 2007

· DME award (category small companies), Essen (GE) 2007

· Nomination for the Design Award of the Fed. Republic of Germany, Frankfurt am Main (GE) 2008

· Design Award of the Province of West Flanders for Woodstock, Kortrijk (BE) 2008

· DME award (category sustainability), Cardiff (GB) 2008

· KMO-nominee, Brussels (BE) 2008

· iF design award for Kosmos, Hannover (GE) 2009

· FX international design award for Kosmos, London (GB) 2009

· Interior Innovation Award for Hopper, IMM Cologne (GE) 2011

· Good Design Award for Alea, Chicago (USA) 2011

· Red Dot Award for Abachus, Essen (GE) 2011

· Red Dot ‘Best of the Best’ for Hopper, Essen (GE) 2011

· IDEA Silver for Hopper, Hern