Gerrit Veenendaal

The lesser known but highly creative Gerrit Veenendaal (born in 1920) designed several iconic chairs for Kembo. Furniture factory Kembo stood for "Kom eerst maar bij ons’ (Come to us first)," the company that famous furniture maker W.H. Gispen set up with his cousin-in-law Ru Meijer in 1953.

The origin of the Gerrit Veenendaal chair
Our current 'Gerrit Veenendaal chair' is inspired by a 1958 design of Veenendaal, a chair from Kembo's original collection, then available in several variants: a dining chair with or without plastic armrests and a more luxurious low version with a seat made of comfortable polyether.
 

Check out the collection

Who was Gerrit Veenendaal?

Gerrit Veenendaal (1920-2007) was an electrician by profession when he married Maartje Vink in 1944. After completing his education at the technical school, Veenendaal worked at the Gazelle bicycle factory in his hometown of Dieren.

During WWII

He was drafted as a soldier and fought in the Battle of Grebbeberg. After his captivity in East Germany, he contributed to the liberation of the city of Groningen in April 1945.
When he returned after the war, Gerrit and his brother Henk started a factory in rubber grips for bicycle handlebars. The factory grew into Recticel, a factory that produced polyether and foam rubber for mattresses, furniture and car seats. One of its customers was Kembo, in The Hague.

Working at Kembo

The Kembo factory in Rhenen was located in an old factory hall of Recticel, a foam rubber factory.  After a fire in July 1957, several Recticel employees transferred to Kembo's upholstery department. Including Gerrit: the brother of director Hendrik Veenendaal. Gerrit became head of production, steelwork and upholstery at Kembo. The design of the Kembo chair dates from this period.

Lensvelt x Kembo

Kembo, founded in 1953 by Ru Meijer and Willem Hendrik Gispen, was acquired by Lensvelt in 2014.
With this acquisition Lensvelt obtained the rights of most Kembo designs. Including those of W.H.Gispen and those of Gerrit Veenendaal. Lensvelt now has seven classics of the more than 50 chairs designed by W.H.Gispen for Kembo in the collection.

Gerrit Veenendaal's classic designs have been redeveloped and are now being added. The Lensvelt Collection embraces the future, the present and the past. The chairs designed by Gerrit Veenendaal are a link to history. 

The four chairs that are added to the collection are:

The Gerrit Veenendaal 101: dining room chair without armrests.
The Gerrit Veenendaal 102: dining room chair with armrests.
The Gerrit Veenendaal 501: low chair without armrests.
The Gerrit Veenendaal 502: low chair with armrests.