Artist and designer, born in Budapest of a Jewish Romanian father and an aristocratic Roman Catholic mother. When he was small the family moved to Berlin, but at the outbreak of World War I Ronay and family went to Vienna, where he finished formal education aged 14. In 1928 Ronay joined the master class under Eugene Steinhof at the Kunstgewerbeschule, even though he had had no formal art training. He finished his master carver’s course in half the normal five years. In 1931 Ronay was nominated for the State Prize for Art, but one of his works was judged too erotic and this cost him the award. After exhibiting and travelling through Italy Ronay arrived in England in 1936, and with his family began designing and making porcelain costume jewellery, shown at the British Industries Fair, 1950.