Braakman At the R Gallery

MADE TO MEASURE - UMS-PASTOE AND CEES BRAAKMAN:1948-1968

Biography

Combex

Made To Measure

U+N Series

After WWII many furniture companies throughout Europe were forced to rebuild their destroyed facilities. Often, they embraced the opportunity to restructure their approach to manufacturing and design as well. In the Netherlands, Cees Braakman (1917-1995) led this shift for theUMS-Pastoe Company. As manager and head of the design team, from 1945-1978, Braakman developed several lines of popular furniture,perfect for the growing export market, as well as helping to initiate a new approach to product identity and catalog design.

Cees Braakman began working at Pastoe when he was 17, and his father was the manager and head draftsman. During this period he learnedthe trade and helped produce the classical designs that were the staple of the company at that time. After WWII they were able to salvage enough of their machinery to start production again, and in 1947 Braakman was sent to the United States to study other manufacturer's designs and processes. He traveled to twelve companies, but was most inspired by the Herman Miller Company and the work of Charles & Ray Eames. When he returned to the Netherlands he began experimenting with bending plywood and created the first modern line of furniture for Pastoe.

During the 1950s Braakman's designs were supported and promoted by the 'Stichting Goed Wonen,' (Good Living Foundation), a group devoted to bringing manufacturers, designers, consumers and store owners together to create a shared aesthetic and, hopefully, improve the standard of living. The Foundation published a magazine in which Pastoe furniture was lauded repeatedly for its stylish and efficient modern designs. Their bent plywood drawer interiors, for instance, were praised for the way they facilitated cleaning. This endorsement helped Pastoe increase its clientele, and create a reputation as purveyors of truly forward thinking furniture. Braakman also created a new naming system for the furniture, doing away with the informal names like 'Eric', previously given to the pieces, and creating instead a codename comprised of letters and numbers. Around the same time he helped graphic designer Harry Sierman change the focus of the catalogs from pamphlets into small, visually arresting books.

Starting in 1955, and continuing well into the 1960s, Braakman devoted much of his attention to the design of modular cabinets. His angle on these designs was that the user could choose from a variety of woods and arrangements to create a system that was 'made to measure' for their specific needs. An early series was made to be assembled by the customer in their home, with each cabinet fitting together by a patented corner molding. The series created in the 1960s, the 'U+N Series' was more formal and was not meant to be taken apart. Both series were elegant solutions to storage problems, tailored to fit in a small living space. The 1959/60 Pastoe catalog outlined the "basic features of his [Braakman's] design" as "a sense of proportion, a taste for clean lines with an accent on first class materials."