Thomas Robertson, Principal. BArch, RISD .
Thomas Robertson was born in Leeds, England, and moved between England and Pittsburgh, PA attending numerous public schools. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Architecture from Rhode Island School of Design, where he received the Henry Adams AIA scholastic Gold Medal. After graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design he went on to work for Dagmar Richter and Shane O’Neil in Cambridge, MA, in particular on the West Coast Gateway Competition. This as the Project Designer qualified for the final round and received third place.
Thomas Robertson has been practicing independently since 1992 when he founded Hello Design with Amy Murphy. He continued as Robertson Design, both in Chicago and Los Angeles working on numerous residential and commercial projects. More recently he completed the expansion of the since successful restaurant Hopleaf in Chicago, IL. , and other various commercial designs such as Soma Sound Studio in Chicago, IL. He then committed himself solely to his first house from the ground up, The Court Yard House in Los Angeles, CA, which is in the midst of major recognition. During the completion of that project he, with a former limited partner, founded Ripple Design.
Thomas Robertson received Honorable Mention in the final round for The Martin Luther King Memorial Competition in Washington DC. He is also a reciepient of the Henry Adams AIA scholastic Gold Medal given to the top two students for their academic achievements over their five year college tenure.
Thomas Robertson has several forthcoming publications for his work on the Courtyard House in Los Angeles, California. The Courtyard House was featured in the CA Boom 5 House Tour 2006, Dwell Magazine 12.2007 and internationally by Te Neuss Book Publishing not to mention numerous web site postings. Recent other ventures include PAD outdoor furniture with Eli Bonerz of X-Large Clothing. tom@ripplesite.com
Eric Bono, Designer. MArch: SCIArc (2005), BAIA: SFSU-DAI (2001).
Eric Bono was a furniture maker for twenty years before he earned his Masters of Architecture degree from the Southern California Institute of Architecture. He learned much of his craft from working with San Francisco Bay Area artisans including Marcus Willis, Jeffrey Hunt and Thomas Fetherston. During his studies at SCIArc, he continued to complete furniture commissions including new offices for COA and new furniture for the SCIArc Library. He also spent his summers working as an intern for Randall Stout Architects, John Friedman Alice Kimm Architects and Urban Studio. Since graduating from SCIArc, Eric has worked mainly in Santa Monica as an Architectural Designer, Project Manager and Consultant for the offices of Eva Sobesky, Melinda Grey and Modernarc. During his year-long stint at Modernarc, Eric utilized his artisan background, as Production Manager + Director of Product Design + Development, orchestrating collaborations with Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects and TaalmanKoch, amongst many others, on residential, multi-family and hospitality industry hard furnishings. In 2005, he led his design team to a 2nd place victory in the PropX - Inventing The Next LA - Housing Competition. He has been with Ripple Design since mid 2007. He designed this website in November, 2007. eric@ripplesite.com