Lathe I was made during my studies in the Design Academy Eindhoven. As a student I got familiar for the first time with computer aided tools such as Photoshop and Illustrator. My best friend Jori Spaa showed me a trick called “single pixel row”. Based on that function I decided to make a chair. To me the chair was the embodiment of the sculpture in design. Similar to what a bust must be to a portrait.

During my time at the DAE my teachers were well-known Dutch designers, some running away with ideas from us students, like the Lathe idea executed in a form of a carpet, but that is another story typical for that exhilarating time at the Design Academy Eindhoven.

Final exams at the Design academy Eindhoven! I presented once again the Lathe concept. My graduation show contained the Home Grow Tables and Lathe in several new chair forms. After the exams I got immediately picked up by various galleries. Rossana Orlandi in Milan bought my first pieces.

Representation by Carpenters Workshop Gallery followed in early 2007 and a solo show was in the making with some great ideas: “We would like to work on a show with you, but the pieces should be made in bronze to give them weight and monumentality“ Loic from CWG said.

After 1 and a half years of hard work the solo show was held in London, I remember in the same evening of our opening the news kicked in that the financial crisis was taking over London. Oh well, we sold alright eventually.

Pieces were going to important homes! Lathe V in brown was bought by Jean Paul Gaultier for his private art collection, Lathe VIII was acquired as part of the permanent collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. I was exhibiting my works with Carpenters Workshop Gallery on group shows in Design Miami/Basel, Basel as well as Pavilion of Arts and Design, London, showcasing the Lathe table, Lathe Chairs I, III and V.

The Lathe V in red and white was acquired by the Museum of Arts and Design, New York for their permanent collection. That year I was asked to be in a panel and conduct a talk at the MAD museum. It was thrilling to see that the pieces were finding homes in museums.

Next to the usual design fairs such as Miami/Basel and PAD in Paris and London, I was showing a piece at my first outdoor exhibition together with CWG and Sotheby’s Institute, situated in the park of the beautiful Sudeley Castle in Gloucestershire, England.

The Lathe VIII, number 5 (edition of 8), which was also acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum was put to auction at Phillips the Pury and Company (nowadays Phillips) and managed to sell for a remarkable amount.

Salone Del Mobile for the second time! Together with my former study mates, Ralph and Lonneke from Drift Design, Frederick Molenschot and Eric Klarenbeek, we rented a space in the Fuori Saloni.

A Series of commissions followed this year on the large version of Lathe I. It started off with a Lathe I extra large made out of bronze, dipped in a copper bath, embroidered fabric with blues, purples and yellowish gold, for a client in a Swiss home entrance. This piece was accompanied with 2 Lathe VII banquettes, chromed bronze, vibrant blue and green embroidery.

The two banquettes would go on the sides and the Lathe I in the middle of an entrance hall. Absolutely fabulous but unfortunately no images of the place. Other commission of the same piece is a Dior version in aluminium with various silver shades and a rose pattern embroidered to pay tribute to one of the icons of Dior. This was commissioned by Peter Marino.

Second Solo show with Carpenters Workshop Gallery! The show was called “Vanishing Point”. My firstborn a year before had an overpowering influence to my work. I was dedicated to implement this experience of witnessing life, seemingly coming from nowhere. Out of these ideas pieces are born as Fibonacci and the Vanishing Point sitters. We showed the pieces first in the Paris gallery.

Next to that I had my atelier in Mitri Mori, in the suburb of Paris, concurrently a storage of CWG, where all the pieces for the solo show were built alongside the productions at various bronze foundries all over Europe, and of course my favourite and best Dutch upholsterer, Karin.

Over these couple of years I’ve been working on commissions for Peter Marino on behalf of Dior. The Lathe tables resides in the flagship stores in London (Selfridges), Barcelona, Beijing and Washington D.C.

Later this year we held a solo show with CWG, for the first time in the U.S. It was on Fifth Avenue Manhattan, New York where CWG opened a new gallery space on the top floor of the Takashimaya building. The late master Wendell Castle came to see my show, what an honour!

David Gill and Francis Sultana commissioned me to design two banquettes for their private residence. A wish become reality! It was the starting point of a great relationship and it moved naturally to the representation by the respectable David Gill gallery. It was also the year of executing my first series of glass chandeliers called Mathematician.

Another wish, working with the best maestro glassblowers in the business based on Murano Island, Berengo Studio. Adriano gave the go-ahead of making a bold chandelier with a length of 4 metres. The piece was first shown at the 2018 ”Glass to Glass “exhibition on Murano and is available in the catalogue of David Gill Gallery.

Fibonacci Chair is one of the pieces at a key group exhibition at Museo Franz Mayer in Mexico City called “Disegno Neobarocco”. In collaboration with Carpenters Workshop Gallery.

My First solo show with David Gill Gallery called “The Occidental Artisan”. Driving factor behind the exhibition is the influence from both worlds, the occident and the orient. This became my life as soon as I met Iris. We travel yearly between the West and the East and to honour this inescapable affect on my imagination I decided to call the show as such.

“Design By Time” is a traveling group exhibition that took place in the U.S., started in New York city and organized by the Pratt Institute. From New York it traveled to Knoxville Museum of Art, Gregg Museum of Art, Wooster Art Museum, Columbia Museum of Art and the Museum of Art and Design, San Francisco.

The Lathe V that was used during this traveling exhibition came from the permanent collection of the Museum of Arts and Design in New York. Over the years the piece appeared in various exhibitions, mainly organised by the MAD museum, this traveling exhibition by Pratt institute definitely eclipsed all that came before.

In the midst of COVID, I was invited to exhibit in South Korea, in the city of Cheongsju-si, south from Seoul. It was a craft biennale with many international artists, broadcasted on the South Korean television.

Strange times, while the pandemic was still ruling over world, we had some exhibitions here and there. With all precautions taken to prevent people from gathering too close, it now almost seems absurd. This photo was taken during the 2021 “Glass to Glass” exhibition at the Berengo Studio on Murano, Venice.

Ginori 1735 - A project together with the Italian porcelain Manifattura as one of my first collaborations which was set up by David Gill gallery. We were asked to design service plate sets by using plates from their old stock. I fell in love with a plate set that had the possibility to be used on the top and on the bottom, new creations were made by simply turning them and stacking them in all sorts of order.

The Dancing Queen was a project in 2022 by David Gill Gallery to celebrate the platinum jubilee of Queen Elizabeth of England. I designed a candelabra and candelabrum set for this commemoration. She passed sadly short after.