Sitting pretty - office furniture and equipment firm Ahrend Groep B.V

Architectural Review, The, Nov, 1996

Ahrend, established in the same year as the AR, celebrates its 100th anniversary with the 'Centennial' office chair.

'Centennial' is the new office chair launched at Orgatec by Ahrend, the Dutch office furniture and equipment firm. Designed by Frans de la Haye, it is made entirely from recyclable materials in line with Ahrend's environmental policies.

The shapely form of the chair, each part clearly expressed, is characterised by the spare Modernist elegance that is a feature of the best Dutch design. It lacks pretension, there is none of the overstuffing, the opulent leather, so often present in German and Italian furniture, and the silhouette retains the alertness of the original line drawing.

The two thin plastic plates moulded to the shape of the body and forming the seat and the back of the chair, seem barely anchored by the supporting structure and can be individually angled and coordinated to your particular height and weight. This is a common feature of modern office chair design, but the precision and pared down elegance of the controls is less common, more often found in automotive design and in the designs of a few other firms like Vitra. If upholstery is required, you can have a thin blue covering of it that follows the outlines of seat and back and serves to emphasise their shapeliness. In regarding this chair, you cannot but be reminded of the persistence of the Calvinist spirit that informed Vermeer and de Hooch, that valued lack of conceit and the beauty inherent in modesty and descriptive honesty.

Founded by Jacobus Ahrend, the firm began life as Wed. J. Ahrend & Zoon, more or less as the Architectural Review was born, in two buildings on the Singel canal in Amsterdam. Almost from its inception, the company had diverse interests, ranging from publishing and a bookshop, to printing and a business in draughtsman's materials - and eventually to furniture. Still a miner when he set up the business, Ahrend ran the company in his mother's name, making up for his youth by energy and determination.

Crucial to his success was his wide-ranging interest in technical development - he involved himself in selling radios and medical instruments, cameras, spectacles and film projectors - and in communications. The firm operated an early mail order enterprise with catalogues as the principal contact with the customer.

The present shape of the firm began during the 1930s with Ahrend's growing interest in office efficiency and rationalisation. Though still principally a wholesaler in office supplies, it began to specialise in the supply of office furniture. Following Ahrend's death in 1956, the firm gradually changed its character, and today - no longer a paternalistic family business - it is quoted on the stock exchange. About half of its sales are in office equipment, the rest being furniture. It earned a reputation for good design with such pieces as the Revolt chair and, later, the Mehes range of office furniture. In accord with the demands of modern industry, the firm has its own design team and works closely with architects, insisting in the course of manufacture on the importance of conserving the environment.

Ahrend

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