I have been a member of The Chartered Society of Designers (CSD) for 21 years. The CSD is the world's largest chartered body of professional designers and is unique in representing designers in all disciplines. It is governed by Royal Charter and as such its members are obliged to practice to the highest professional standards. Membership is awarded only to qualified designers who must also prove their professional capability during an admission assessment. www.csd.org.uk

My design education began in Kidderminster at the College of Further Education and continued at Stourbridge College of Art. I qualified at Wolverhampton Polytechnic’s Faculty of Art and Design in 1975 with a degree in Visual Communication.

I began my career in design in 1977, working for Dema Glass with the glass designer David Hammond at the Thomas Webb Crystal site in Stourbridge. The Crown House Tableware Group was then formed and as their first in-house graphic designer I built up a team of 6 designers working on the tableware brands Thomas Webb Crystal, Dema Glass, Denby Tableware, Edinburgh Crystal and George Butler Silversmiths.




David Hammond and Michael Grassi discussing a project (1982)

	From the first Dema packaging successes with the ‘Entertainers’ and 'Select' ranges to the first A4 square format catalogue seen in the market place (for Denby Tableware) my role involved retail design (brochures, catalogues, packaging and point-of-sale), exhibition design, shopfitting design and corporate identity design and implementation.

I have also been in the shoes of the client, being on the commissioning committee for the Crown House Tableware and Engineering Group identity created by the Roundel Design Group. I oversaw the implementation of this across the group over an 18 month period.

I started grassidesign in the summer of 1987 with Judith my partner. Our complementary skills have helped us solve the many and varied design challenges put before us.

Although the vocabulary has changed from 'pen' and 'drawing board' to 'mouse' and 'screen' the basic principles of graphic design (or any type of design) remain the same.

I always say "jaw jaw then draw draw" is the essential starting point to any project i.e. listen to the client.

My design philosophy is simple:
"Good graphic design equals good communication"

And, to quote the famous industrial and graphic designer Raymond Loewy (1893-1986)
"Good design keeps the user happy, the manufacturer in the black and the aesthete unoffended.”