Dom Hans van der Laan table for Town hall Budel 1966

Dom Hans van der Laan

Leiden 1904 – 1991
Dutch Benedictine monk, architect

Rare and amazing small sober writing table designed by Dom Hans van der Laan and executed by Jan de Jong for the Raadhuis Budel, 1962/1966. This table comes from the town hall where Jan de Jong was the architect for and who decorated this town hall, also this table was in it for example. Where most of the furniture from the town hall was destroyed, a few inhabitants from Budel saved the furniture from the waste containers where the furniture was thrown in. The table has an ash wooden structure with very nice dark brown/green lacquer finish which is difficult to define and has a very nice patina from age and usage. The table is finished with copper nails, big ones on the sides and small ones on top. The holes on the sides are to easily lift the table and is a visibly nice detail. The table is in very good condition with a nice patina, there is only a visibly bigger damage to the wood on the side, which is also visible on the pictures. Can be restored on request. The table was fully designed by the proportions of the  ‘Plastic number’ which was designed by Dom Hans van der Laan. The town hall was designed in 1962 and the building started ended in 1966. The town hall still exists but was completely renovated in 1997.

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: Town hall, Budel 1966