Braakman at the R Gallery

BIRCH "COMBEX" PIECES

Biography

Combex

Made To Measure

U+N Series

"The modern interior decoration must by ‘flexible,’ it should be able to keep up with the house and family, so that under all circumstances one can keep a practical and harmonious whole."
--Pastoe 1950 catalogue, translated by Daan de Kuyper

Cees Braakman’s oak and birch furniture represents the earliest phase of his work at UMS Pastoe. The series was introduced as early as 1948, and continued to be developed and sold throughout the next decade. Produced at the tail end of the wartime materials restrictions, these pieces exposed Braakman as a designer who could add a remarkable element to a relatively simple piece of furniture and make it extraordinary. In this series, Braakman explored the use of bent plywood frames and legs, an international trend in furniture design at the time, but also took the technique inside the piece with his design of elegant bent plywood drawers. Braakman and his team advertised the functional "dust free" edges that would make cleaning easier, but as we re-evaulate Braakman’s work as part of the history of Dutch furniture design, the aesthetic importance of this feature is equally apparent.

The 1952 Combex series was unique in the way the pieces could work off of each other. A set of side tables, for example, could function alone or slide together like a puzzle. The Combex lounge chairs could be placed next to each other, and arm rests added at the outside, to form a couch.