Bench by Dom Hans Van Der Laan for Raadhuis Budel, 1966

Rare and amazing high bench designed by Dom Hans van der Laan and executed by Jan de Jong for the Raadhuis Budel, 1962/1966. This bench comes from the town hall where Jan de Jong was the architect for and who decorated this town hall, also this bench was in it for example. Where most of the furniture from the town hall was destroyed, a few inhabitants from Budel saved the furniture from the waste containers where the furniture was thrown in. The bench has an ash wooden structure with very nice dark brown/green lacquer finish which is difficult to define and has a very nice patina from age and usage. The chair is finished with copper nails and has a nice off white upholstered seat which is quite uncommon but which looks very decorative. It has a black painted solid metal frame. The bench was fully designed by the proportions of the ‘Plastic number’ which was designed by Dom Hans van der Laan. The town hall was designed in 1962 and the building started ended in 1966. The town hall still exists but was completely renovated in 1997. The bench is in fully original condition, the seat has some marks on is as you can see on the pictures, could maybe be removed we haven’t tried. During the reconstruction period after WWII the Dutch architect Jan de Jong and Dom Hans van der Laan collaborated on several architectural projects including the interior furniture. They created an outstanding body of work defining the the style of the Bossche School. Jan de Jong was able to translate many of Dom v.d.Laan’s idealised concepts and ideas into pioneering buildings and spaces. They worked in such close collaboration however that it is difficult to discern the individual level of input into the furniture they designed. The artist Wim van Hoof worked with the two architects proposing different color schemes for their projects. The original olive green surface visible on these tables derived from one of those schemes. Provenance: Town hall, Budel 1966.