“logo ’t Spectrum”
“Wooden home accessories”
“Since the second half of the fifties larger furniture
was made”
“Sixties designs Martin Visser”
“Tables 20/21/22 designed by Martin Visser and his wife Joke
van der Heijden”
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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 though 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 Newenhuijs, 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. It appeared that the designs of
Martin Visser still matched very good with the furniture
that was designed in the eighties, nineties and in this
decennium.
In keeping with the spirit of the original ’t Spectrum the
new Spectrum is supplementing the collection with modern
products that are compatible with the existing line in terms
of design.
In 2005 this processed was speeded up, when Spectrum took
over a young Dutch furniture collection, presenting the
sober and clear lines Spectrum is also known for. For 2
years Spectrum sold this collection on the Dutch market
under its original brandname, after which the time was right
to integrate the two collections.
The “new” designs are still based on a functional approach,
but there is more scope in the way that different forms are
incorporated. Also more and more different materials are
used, aluminium or steel for the frames, fabric but also
rattan or thick saddle leather for upholstery, but also
massive wood and veneer for tables and chairs.
The Spectrum collection is presented to the trade at various
international furniture exhibitions, as well as being
presented to the consumer in the showroom of the “Toonkamer” 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 |
