The most beautiful bench in Haarlem stands outside our office along the Spaarne during the summer months. Handmade by our neighbour Gé and, to us, the ultimate example of Dutch Design.
We are lucky, because the bench is ours. We bought it from Gé years ago, and ever since, it has proudly stood outside our office during the summer months. Visitors, passers-by and tourists all stop to admire it – and everyone wants to sit on it.
Gé is our retired neighbour from behind our office on the Scheepmakersdijk. When he is not cycling in Laos, he works on these benches in his workshop. The wood comes from De Eenhoorn, the sawmill in Schalkwijk, and is perfect for the curved backrest of the bench, as the natural bend is already present in the warped wood.
Every bench Gé makes takes hundreds of hours of work. You can see it and you can feel it! To us, this bench is not only an incredibly beautiful calling card, but also the ultimate example of Dutch Design.
You could say that, as a brand, we have a thing for wood – or at least for wood prints. Our very first collection already included a Dutch Design Chair Tree Trunk, and we could hardly keep up with demand. Together with the Beachwood Chair, it was one of our best-selling products. The Tree Trunk print is still available today, but now as a Storage Box in three different sizes. A few years ago, we also added the Wood, a slightly ‘wilder’ variation on the wood theme.
In short, we have always been drawn to wood. We completely understand that cardboard cannot compete with Gé’s robust creation. But somehow, they do belong together, and we are incredibly proud of our neighbour and his bench!
