May
14 - 17, 2005
Spectrum
presents furniture lines during the 17th International Contemporary
Furniture Fair
Spectrum, founded
in 1941, presents a collection of furniture with a timeless
character. Some items, designed around 1960 and carried by Spectrum
ever since, form the basis of the collection. New contemporary
designs by both established and young, promising designers have
been added. High quality in design, materials and production
is regarded as an essential feature of the collection.
Spectrum,
as we know it today, has an eventful history behind it. Nevertheless,
despite the changing circumstances, a number of principles have
always been clearly recognizable: functionalist designs, items
of furniture with no embellishment, whose beauty was determined
by the well thought-out and carefully balanced form and proportion
of the design. And the use of high quality materials and the
desire to communicate the principles of good design to a broader
public.
The original ‘t
Spectrum was set up in Bergeijk in the Netherlands in January
1941 as a subsidiary of the weaving mill Weverij de Ploeg, largely
in order to prevent the employees of the weaving mill being
sent to work in Germany. In addition to this, it also made it
possible to maintain contacts with customers and ensured that
the materials that were available were used to optimal effect.
For example, the materials were used to make wooden accessories
for the home, such as bowls, candlesticks and lamps.
After the war ‘t
Spectrum became a company with its own management and small
items of furniture such as stools, magazine racks and pieces
of furniture for children were added to the collection.
It was only in the second half of the fifties that the collection
underwent a dramatic change as the company began to concentrate
more specifically on larger pieces of furniture (armchairs,
tables and sofas). By that stage it was possible to work with
metal among other things, in view of the fact that the ban on
the use of steel for the production of furniture had since been
lifted.
‘t Spectrum
had very clear ideas about the principles of good furniture
design - ideas that changed very little over the years.
During the Second World War the limitations of the economic
situation had a significant impact on design: pieces of furniture
had to cost as little as possible and designers had to be frugal
in their use of materials. In addition to this, as far as ‘t
Spectrum was concerned, furniture had to be functional, in other
words, its form was determined by its function.
Soundness of quality and construction through the use of quality
materials was also important. In attempting to give this soundness
something of a timeless quality, the designers deliberately
avoided making concessions to the fashion trends of the day.
At a certain
point the directors decided that it was time for ‘t Spectrum
to start operating on a larger scale and appointed the designer
Martin Visser, whose numerous designs largely determined the
character of the collection. He also enlisted the services of
various freelance designers, such as graphic artist Constant
Niewenhuijs, Benno Premsela and Kho Liang Ie, all of whom produced
different designs for the collection, consciously basing their
designs on the function and use of the piece of furniture in
question.
The culture of the business remained the same: the company wanted
to make well designed pieces of furniture available to a wider
group of consumers, to stimulate good design in general and
to raise consumer awareness of the importance of good design.
However, because of the high quality requirements, the furniture
was not cheap, so despite the company’s stated intention,
the furniture proved to be beyond the means of many.
’t
Spectrum was never really a furniture factory. Right from the
start the company commissioned out much of the production to
other specialized companies and only kept a few activities in
hand. This meant that there was no need to invest in expensive
machines or business premises. And items of furniture could
simply be discontinued if they weren’t selling well. As
a result, ’t Spectrum was always able to respond to changes
in the market.
Like many
other companies in the Netherlands, ’t Spectrum encountered
financial and organizational problems in the early seventies,
partly on account of the noticeable drop in spending power,
and also on account of the fact that increasing quantities of
cheaper foreign products were being imported at the expense
of the Dutch manufacturers.
In March 1974 the directors decided to wind up the company.
However, a number
of the employees were interested in continuing the company and
went on to do so under the name Arspect. They wanted to continue
to sell a small number of the pieces of furniture designed by
’t Spectrum and supplemented the collection with new items.
The company also imported several collections from Italy and
Scandinavia.
At a certain
point Arspect began to focus increasingly on project furniture.
In doing so, the company neglected the trade in furniture for
private customers and failed to maintain its contacts with the
retailers. When a number of the company’s larger clients
withdrew their business in the eighties, Arspect was unable
to absorb the loss and was forced to close its doors.
One of the people
who had originally been employed by ‘t Spectrum purchased
the design rights of all of the pieces of ‘t Spectrum
furniture and together with several other people went on to
set up a new company with a view to keeping these designs on
the market. This is the Spectrum we know today.
The small changes that Arspect had wrought in the original collection
were reversed and, slowly but surely, the collection was expanded.
The pieces of furniture designed by Martin Visser proved to
combine very well with the designer furniture produced in the
eighties and nineties.
In keeping
with the spirit of the original ’t Spectrum, the new Spectrum
is now supplementing the collection with modern products that
are compatible with the existing line in terms of design. Although
the new designs are still based on a functional approach, there
is more scope in the way that different forms are incorporated.
Thus the designers
are now using more diagonals and curved forms, while still preserving
the characteristic austerity, clear construction and the use
of authentic materials. Slowly but surely the collection is
being expanded with the addition of designs by famous and up-and-coming
designers, which are presented to the trade at various international
furniture exhibitions, as well as being presented to the consumer
in the showroom of the Dutch Design Center in Utrecht.
The
above information is taken from the book ’t Spectrum,
moderne meubelvormgeving en naoorlogs idealisme [’t Spectrum,
modern furniture design and post-war idealism] published in
March 2002. ISBN 90 6450 462 8
