Sven Temper

German artist-designer Sven Temper was born in 1965. After an apprenticeship as a carpenter, he studied fine arts at the University of Fine Arts, Hamburg (HFBK) from 1991 to 1996 under Franz Erhard Walther and Michael Lingner. After receiving his diploma, he continued his studies by pursuing a post-graduate degree in fine art at HFBK Hamburg until 1998

He established his fine art studio in Berlin in 1998. Since 2007, Temper has built furniture in his “Tempermöbel” workshop, specializing in custom-made, site-specific chairs, beds, shelving, closets, and more. Early furniture works revealed the influence of artists like Richard Artschwager and Donald Judd, and explored the concept of functionalism, while still being definitively rooted in the principles of fine art. Relatively later works reflect Temper’s vision of furniture as objects of pure utility, inextricably linked to history and process.

Temper has participated in numerous art and design exhibitions. In 2012, he received the Grassi Award from the Sparkasse Leipzig Bank. That same year, Distanz Verlag published an extensive monograph called “Sven Temper Ausstellen, um nicht auszustellen” (Exhibit, in order not to exhibit).

Temper lives and works in Berlin.