Kaststel Vases Rijksmuseum designed by Theo Colenbrander (1886)

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In: Ceramacist, Designers, Industrial Designers

Discover Theo Colenbrander, the first Dutch industrial designer who revolutionized Dutch decorative earthenware. With his innovative and abstracted designs, he transformed ceramics at Plateelbakkerij Rozenburg from 1884 to 1888. Colenbrander’s influence extended beyond ceramics to textiles, incorporating European styles and Java’s batik patterns. Explore his life, creative contributions, and lasting design legacy.Read More →

nortstudio sidetables

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In: Decorative & Applied Arts, Furniture Design

These side tables are the outcome of an acrylic resin experiment. Acrylic is a two-part substance made up of mineral powder and water-based acrylic resin.Read More →

Carousel slide projector featured image

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In: Decorative & Applied Arts, Designers, Industrial Designers

Hans Gugelot (1920 – 1965) began his career in engineering (1940–2) and architecture (1940–6) in Switzerland and was closely associated with the radical Hochschüle für Gestaltung (HfG) in UlmRead More →

Khodi Feiz featured image

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In: Designers, Furniture Designer, Industrial Designers

Feiz’s work has received numerous awards and has been featured in exhibitions and publications worldwide. The overriding inspirations for Feiz’s work can be summed up by: Clarity, concept and context. Feiz has developed several project in collaboration with Artifort, including the Extens, Bras and Beso chair family.Read More →

Plateelbakkerij Ram featured image

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In: Ceramic Art and Design, Decorative & Applied Arts

Plateelbakkerij Ram (1921 – 1969) was an Arnhem-based Dutch ceramics company. Ram was founded in 1921 to produce high-quality ceramic bodies. At Ram 1921—25, Thomas A.C. Colenbrander was the designer for whom the company was established at the age of 80. Ram wares were sold at exhibition auctions as art rather than craft.Read More →

NYC Subway Signage featured image

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In: Designers, Graphic Designers

Noorda, Bob (1927–2010) was a Dutch designer and graphic artist who studied at the Institute of Design in Amsterdam. He was a member of ADI, AGI, ICSID, Società Umanitaria, Pirelli, Vallecchi, Unimark International, and IBM. He was an artistic consultant to Vallecchi and Rinascente-Upim, and co-founded Unimark International in 1965. He designed environmental graphics for subways in New York, Milan, and Sao Paulo, as well as the IBM office in Milan.Read More →

1000 Guilder Note by R.D.E Oxenaar

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In: Designers, Graphic Designers

Robert Oxenaar (1929 – 2017) Designer of Dutch banknotes and stamps. Head of the Art and Design branch of the Dutch postal service. Helped launch a new generation of Dutch designers in the 1970s, including notables like Gert Dumbar.Read More →

Plateelbakkerij de Distel

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In: Ceramic Art and Design, Decorative & Applied Arts

Plateelbakkerij de Distel was a Dutch ceramics firm founded in 1895 in Amsterdam. It employed artists for both designing and painting, and produced art pottery, utility ware, tiles, ceramics for special events, and small sculptures. Exhibitions were held before WWI, including the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition.Read More →

Octagonal jewelery box with domed lid

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In: Designers, Metalwork Design, Silversmith

J.M. van Kempen was a Dutch silversmith who started a silver factory in Utrecht in 1835 and moved to Voorschoten in 1858. He hired English craftsmen to teach them how to make forks and spoons, and a separate studio was set up to make sculptures and silverwork parts. He didn’t hire outside artists until the 1800s, when Th.L. Sluyterman designed Art Nouveau pieces.Read More →

Dutch Design Week featured image

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In: Decorative & Applied Arts, Industrial Design

The phrase “Dutch Design” refers to an informal artistic school of design in the Netherlands, particularly in product design. More specifically, the word refers to the design aesthetic used by Dutch designers. Read More →

Benno Premsela featured image

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In: Decorative & Applied Arts, Designers, Textile & Fabric Design, Textile Designer

Benno Premsela (1920 – 1997) was a Dutch textile and exhibition designer. He studied interior design at the Nieuwe Kunstschool, Amsterdam. Read More →

Cor Alons - featured image

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In: Designers, Furniture Designer, Industrial Designers

Between 1913 – 1917 he studied in the drawing and painting department, Academie van Beeldende Kunsten, The Hague.Read More →

Tubular steel chair by Mart Stam - featured image

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In: Designers, Furniture Designer, The Architect Designer

His design approach has been categorised as New Objectivity, a counter-movement and outgrowth of Expressionism that emerged during the Great Depression in Germany in the 1920s.Read More →

Bloemenwerf Side Chair featured image

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In: Classic Design, Decorative & Applied Arts, Furniture Design

Bloemenwerf, Henry Van de Velde’s property outside Brussels, is the inspiration for this chair. Van de Velde planned and built the house and the interior—from the furniture to the wallpaper—resulting in a holistic design that exemplified the concept of a Gesamtkunstwerk “total work of art”. Read More →

Wax Head Mannequin by Pierre Imans, Paris

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In: Designers, Fashion Designers, Industrial Designers

Before 1900, Imans was active in a mannequin factory in Paris. By the 1920s, his establishment was located at 10 rue de Crussol. He became known for his faultlessly finished imitation human skin in wax; in 1922, he developed ‘carnesine’ or ‘carnisine’ to simulate skin; developed a secret formula that was mainly plaster with gelatin; subsequently, produced models in various synthetic materials and wood mounted in-store vitrines worldwide. He produced figures in the images of well-known actresses and politicians.Read More →

Gijs Bakker

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In: Curated Content

Gijs Bakker’s career spans fifty years and not one of them dull. His first piece, Golden Onion, a sperm-shaped bracelet designed in 1965 was the beginning of a rich, varied and invigorating output that shows no sign of slowing down today. Bakker refers to himself as a “jewellery designer” and since the Dutch aren’t big on disingenuousness, I have to take him at his word. Read More →

Stovepipe Necklace by Gijs Bakker

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In: Designers, Furniture Designer, Jewellery Designer

Gijs Bakker is a jeweller, sculptor, furniture designer, and, to a lesser extent, industrial designer who studied gold and silversmithing at the Amsterdam Art Academy. READ MORERead More →

Red and Blue Armchair by Gerrit Rietveld

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In: Chair Design, Classic Design, Decorative & Applied Arts, Designers, Furniture Design, Furniture Designer

The Red and Blue Chair’s visual impact has ensured that it will always be a staple image in any history of twentieth-century design. It has become a metaphor for the Modern Movement along with the Schröder home.Read More →

Buegel chair by Gerrit Thomas Rietveld

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In: Decorative & Applied Arts, Design News, Designers, Furniture Designer, The Architect Designer

Gerrit Thomas Rietveld was a Dutch architect and furniture maker, and designer. He was born in Utrecht.  Probably the mostRead More →

Peter van de Waals bookcase

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In: Decorative & Applied Arts, Design News, Designers, Furniture Designer

Peter van der Waals is a Dutch furniture designer and maker; active Britain. He studied in The Hague, Brussels, Berlin, and Vienna and from 1899, London. Read More →