100 years of Pastoe

During the Biennale Interieur 2012, Dutch furniture manufacturer Pastoe announced its 100th anniversary program for next year, which will include an extensive program at the Kunsthal Rotterdam and the launch of a publication.

On 13 April 1913, the Utrechtse Machinale Stoelen Meubelfabriek (UMS) officially opened its doors, and throughout the years evolved into what is today the Dutch furniture manufacturer Pastoe. In 2013, the company will celebrate its 100th anniversary with an extensive program at Rotterdam's Kunsthal, and with the launch of a publication. Curator Anne van der Zwaag and author Gert Staal have been brought in to develop the programme.

The company's history provides a number of starting points for new visions of living. In early 2013, a series of workshops and gatherings will be held on the role of the design process in innovating thinking about living, with Pastoe's vision and history as the starting point. The results of the workshops will be used as the basis of the exhibition and the publication.

The workshops, the exhibition and the publication have been set up according to three themes: Archives (history), Environments (context) and Propositions (innovation). The three individual themes will recur in the exhibition in a coherent presentation explicitly combining historic and contemporary visions and products.

On top: Pastoe factory, 1952, photo © Cas Oorthuys. Above: Pastoe Catalogue, 1955, photo © Ed van der Elsken

The first category, Archives, will present a selection from the entire Pastoe collection in the form of special designs, publications, posters, sketches, models and photos. The manner in which the archive is opened up and presented forms part of the workshops. Together with visual artist Krijn de Koning, who is able to provide a contemplative view of the archive, Pastoe will make connections and provide a new context for the archive in the exhibition.

The second category, Environments, will project the company's visions on architectural space. The workshops result in a number of environments made to order that take the visitor into a different world; an environment in which living, working, learning, making are defined in a new way. Together with architect Anne Holtrop, who is able to think on the basis of spatial principles and to translate them to specific living and experiential environments, Pastoe will develop one or more environments and a floorplan for the entire exhibition.

The third category, Propositions, will show the results of ideas relating to innovation of the product. This section shows how proposals were created for a new generation of furniture (or objects) in close collaboration between Pastoe and a number of creative minds. This is not just about showing results but also making the development process accessible: the considerations, materials, techniques, ideas and ambitions involved in the creation of these propositions. The unique properties of Pastoe products serve as the basis of developing new ideas in terms of craft, minimalism, the furniture element as object and flexibility of application. Each property has been associated with a person or studio showing an affinity with Pastoe's mentality or visual language and with that property. Kostantine Grcic will investigate the value of the craft in the future, Naoto Fukasawa will be designing in the most minimal form, Claudio Silvestrin will maximally apply furniture as object and Sheltens & Abbenes will depict flexibility of application.

In early 2013, a series of workshops and gatherings will be held on the role of the design process in innovating thinking about living, with Pastoe's vision and history as the starting point. The results of the workshops will be used as the basis of the exhibition and the publication

Introduction 125M, Pastoe. Photo © Jan Versnel, 1965

Participants in the 100th anniversary of the brand include Krijn de Koning, Anne Holtrop, Konstantin Grcic, Scheltens&Abbenes, Naoto Fukasawa, Claudio Silvestrin, Dirk Laucke and works by Dick Bruna, Otto Treuman, Cees Braakman, Aldo van den Nieuwelaar, Maarten Van Severen, Giampaolo Babetto, Karel Boonzaaijer, Pierre Mazairac, Shiro Kuramata, Vincent Van Duysen, Scholten&Baijings, Benno Premsela, Ed van der Elsken, Cas Oorthuys, Jan Versnel and others.