Lionel Dean graduated from the RCA in 1987. He worked for Pininfarina in Italy, before launching his own studio in 1989. In 2002, Lionel began FutureFactories, a project exploring the potential of Rapid Prototyping as a production methodology. Initially blue skies research, the project has proved a huge success and has yielded a string of products ranging from gallery pieces to retail designs. Today Lionel focuses exclusively on digital manufacturing.