Diplomat (founded in 2000) is a partnership of the furniture and product designers Ashley Hall and Matthew Kavanagh and is based in London. Ashley Hall - born in 1967 in Cardiff, Wales - studied furniture design at Nottingham Trent University and the Royal College of Art. Awarded his MA in 1992, he then worked as a designer of furniture, products, lighting and interiors for various design firms and manufacturers in London. Matthew Kavanagh - born in England in 1966 - studied product design at the South Bank University, graduating in 1988. Inspired by the Memphis design movement of the late nineteen-seventies and early eighties, Matthew moved to Italy and worked for Olivetti.