Marc Newson

Australia native Newson is the poster child for the much hyped "design art" boom. In 2006 he made headlines for his mega-sale at Sotheby's: his Lockheed Lounge sold for $968,000, the highest price ever paid at auction for the work of a living designer. Then in January, Gagosian, the blue-chip New York City gallery behind artists like Jeff Koons and Richard Serra, devoted a one-man show to Newson. But it's his everyday products—bottle openers, soap dishes, flashlights, hair dryers, hangers—that have made his futuristic forms, if not his name, familiar to so many people. These days Newson, 43, is busy with his duties as creative director for Australia's Qantas Airways. He has his hand in everything from the new airport lounges in Sydney and Melbourne to the in-flight freebies.