Piet Hein Eek

We just could not seem to get the ball rolling. The three chairs we made for the Kröller-Müller Museum booth had yet to have a sequel. We were often asked if we weren’t going to put the chairs, made of scrap wood like the scrap hut, into production. The shape and construction of the chairs are limited considerably by the material, and they look like something out of a comic strip. Some even think that this crazy chair is my best chair design yet. I sometimes put aside unusual colours or types of scrap wood, only to discover that some miscreant has used the material for drawers for a scrap wood cabinet or even for simple carpentry work. But we've now come so far as to have a nice collection of wood and, after almost ten years, have made the first series of twenty ‘Kröller-Müller’ chairs. The edition amount is linked to the amount of material which, right now, is extremely limited.

The chunky beam bench is part of a series of objects made from enormous old beams. Since there is only a limited stock of these beams, the series is limited. A chunky beam armchair, as well as a number of other objects, is also being produced. The idea is inspired by a large number of beams we purchased a few years back and which we had been at a loss at what to do with ever since. So this back-to-basics design, in all its simplicity, is the result of a rather longprocess of designing, experimenting and producing. The models are numbered consecutively by name (i.e. armchair no. 1, bench no. 2, and so on).

Design of pipe table, chair with armrests, chair and stools

Materials:

Tubes: dismantled from our building Fabric: old awning from the buildings demolished around us. Tabletop: recycled beams

The tube chair is made of old pipes that were salvaged from the building we bought and renovated last year. In spite of the huge number of pipes we discarded, we also managed to save quite a large quantity. The first pipe piece we produced was the pipe bar for the restaurant. This was followed by the design for this armchair, bar chairs, small bar tables and, finally (for now at least), the pipe bench (although we have plenty of other ideas for other objects). The models are numbered consecutively by name (i.e. chair no. 1, bench no. 2, and so on).

The idea for fat crockery was born when the wife of the owner of the ceramics factory in Vietnam, who made the Fairtrade original vases for me, told us that she thought her own products were much less attractive than the thin ceramic products made in China. That is why her workers always sponge off the edges of the objects to make them look thinner. But what’s there to hide? Fat is fat - and not necessarily ugly.

Cabinet made of aluminium and glass. Unconventional spaciousness is achieved through the dimensions, shape and manner in which the various elements are linked together. The cabinet can be produced with sliding glass doors and fixed glass on both sides if desired.

These benches are made from one or two old beams in order not to spoil material the lenght of the benches is determined by the size of the beams.