Made in the Workshop - dinner party

by Hans Lensvelt & Piet Hein Eek

“Disarmingly simple and beautiful”. These words describe the brand new pieces of office furniture Hans Lensvelt developed together with his close friend Piet Hein Eek. The line, called “Made in the Workshop” was launched for the Dutch business relatives last friday. Over three hundred guests were invited to a special dinner party in Piet Hein Eeks unique building in Eindhoven, to rise to this occasion.
 

Entrepreneurs Lensvelt and Eek– who met decades ago and have been friends ever since – both expressed their excitement about the cooperation that resulted in the three new designs last year. Piet Hein Eek called it 'a delight' to work together with a manufacturer he knows so well. For Hans Lensvelt the new pieces represent great emotional value as they were created on a very special moment in his life: right after he decided to be independent as a company again.

Guests of the launch-party also were invited to the opening of two new expositions in the Piet Hein Eek building, with chandeleers of Hans van Bentum and drawings Floor van Keulen. An exposition in the top of the building showed another interesting project originally initiated by Hans Lensvelt: the sheep that were used as street furniture on the Dutch pavillion during the Expo in Shanghai.
 

The collection of “Made in the Workshop” includes three pieces: a stackable chair, a desk and an office chair. The basic and simple design was inspired by Piet Hein Eeks interior for the Verkade-factory in Den Bosch. It’s based on the idea that workers in this factory could have made the furniture themselves, in their own metal workshop.
 

The pieces are supplemented by a range of sheet cabinets, also with an extremely ‘basic’ appearance. The cabinets are produced as efficient as possible, in the use of material and energy. One cabinet is made out of a whole metal sheet of one meter high. Because of this, not a square centimeter of metal is spilled during the production process.
 

The new series were already presented to the public during the last Salone in Milano, Italy this spring. But Lensvelt and Eek insisted on another opportunity to show off the new designs to close friends, business relatives and clients in their home country.