Stefan Diez
Industrial Designer. Creator of the award-winning AYNO lighting family for Midgard.
Stefan Diez is one of Germany's leading industrial designers, internationally recognised for products that combine engineering precision, material intelligence and long-term sustainability. As the designer of the AYNO lighting family, Stefan Diez translated Midgard's pioneering engineering heritage into a contemporary lighting system. AYNO marked Midgard's first completely new lighting family in more than fifty years and introduces a fundamentally different approach to adjustable light.
About Stefan Diez
Based in Munich, Stefan Diez founded DIEZ OFFICE in 2003 after graduating from the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design and working with Richard Sapper and Konstantin Grcic in their studios.
Today, Stefan Diez and his studio develop furniture, lighting and industrial products for internationally recognised manufacturers including HAY, Magis, Moroso, Thonet, Vibia and e15.
Stefan Diez approaches design as a process of investigation and refinement. Materials, components and production methods are examined until a clear and durable solution emerges. Engineering, sustainability and aesthetics are not treated as separate disciplines, but as interconnected parts of the same design process.
The result is work that is precise, intuitive and intended to remain relevant over time.
The AYNO Lighting Family
Designed by Stefan Diez for Midgard, AYNO represents a new chapter in the company's history while remaining closely connected to its origins. The lighting family includes table, floor, and wall luminaires. Every version is based on the same principle of controlled flexibility.
The movable adjustment rings alter the tension and curvature of the fiberglass rod, allowing the light to be positioned without conventional mechanical joints. The interaction is immediate and intuitive, while the construction remains visually and technically clear. AYNO continues Midgard's history by asking the same question in a different way: how can light be directed as precisely and simply as possible?
AYNO and the Circular Design Guidelines
Many of the principles that Stefan Diez later published as his Circular Design Guidelines emerged during the development of AYNO together with Midgard.
Longevity, repairability, material efficiency, responsible manufacturing and reduced complexity were integral to the development process from the beginning. Components were designed to be separated and replaced wherever possible. The construction was reduced without limiting functionality, and materials were selected not only for their technical properties but also for their role throughout the product's life cycle. Rather than treating sustainability as an additional feature, AYNO demonstrates how circular thinking can become an integral part of industrial design and product development.
Today, the Circular Design Guidelines are recognised internationally as a framework for responsible product development. AYNO remains one of the earliest industrial projects in which many of these principles were explored through close collaboration between designer and manufacturer.
Sustainability Through Design and Engineering
For Stefan Diez and Midgard, sustainability was an integral part of the design process itself. Reduced to the essentials, AYNO meets all criteria of design, technology, and sustainability: It is one of the first LED lights that can be repaired by the customer without tools.
Thanks to plug-in connections, all parts can be exchanged, not just the LED and transformer. It is made from already recycled materials; each part is reparable by hand, and the lamp is easily separated into the three fully recyclable primary materials. The use of semi-finished products avoids transport routes, standardized materials can be sourced locally.
The result is a lighting family conceived not for short product cycles, but for decades of everyday use.
Filminstallation on the occasion of the launch of AYNO
in the Temporary Gallery Cologne, 2020, © DIEZ OFFICE
International Recognition
The collaboration between Stefan Diez and Midgard has received international
recognition for its contribution to industrial design, technical innovation and
sustainable product development.
Awards include:
- German Sustainability Award Design 2021
- Archiproducts Design Award 2021
- Bundespreis Ecodesign 2022
Further Collaborations
Alongside his work with Midgard, Stefan Diez has collaborated with internationally recognised manufacturers including HAY, Magis, Moroso, Thonet, Vibia and e15.
Across furniture, lighting and industrial products, Stefan Diez's work is characterised by a consistent interest in materials, construction and manufacturing processes.
Explore More
AYNO Lighting Family
Discover the complete AYNO collection designed by Stefan Diez for Midgard.
Midgard Since 1919
Explore more than a century of engineering innovation, patents and adjustable lighting.
Circular Design
Learn how the collaboration between Stefan Diez and Midgard contributed to the principles that later became the Circular Design Guidelines.
More Designers
Discover the designers who continue to shape Midgard's evolving collection.
