Dom Hans van der Laan stool for Sint-Willibrorduskerk Almelo 1964

Dom Hans van der Laan

Leiden 1904 – 1991
Dutch Benedictine monk, architect

Rare stool designed by Dom Hans van der Laan and executed by Jan de Jong for the Sint-Willibrorduskerk Almelo, 1964. This stool comes from the church who had 6 of these stools in the interior of which only a few survived probably, have a look at the last pictures where the stools were standing in the church. The stool has a deal wooden structure with very nice dark green lacquer finish and has a nice patina from age and usage. The stool was fully designed by the proportions of the  ‘Plastic number’ which was designed by Dom Hans van der Laan. The church was built in 1964 and was one of the best examples of modernist churches of the era, but unfortunately this was knocked down in 2005.

During the reconstruction period after WWII the Dutch architect Jan de Jong and Dom Hans van der Laan collaborated on several architectural projects including the interior furniture. They created an outstanding body of work defining the the style of the Bossche School. Jan de Jong was able to translate many of Dom v.d.Laan’s idealised concepts and ideas into pioneering buildings and spaces. They worked in such close collaboration however that it is difficult to discern the individual level of input into the furniture they designed. The artist Wim van Hoof worked with the two architects proposing different colour schemes for their projects. The original olive green surface visible on these tables derived from one of those schemes.

Provenance: Sint-Willibrorduskerk Almelo, 1964