Jan des Bouvrie

Jan des Bouvrie (born August 3, 1942 in Naarden) is a famous Dutch architect, interior & product designer. His own vision on design was developed at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, where he started his professional career. With his unique and progressive ideas the young Des Bouvrie has made a huge impact on the design world. His vision was further developed by working with several manufacturers, including Linteloo, Dutch Originals and Gelderland. The latter, in 1969, was the first to produce a design of Des Bouvrie's; the kubusbank sofa, which is now recognised as a design classic. The Shell collection has been specifically created for FueraDentro by Jan des Bouvrie, and is the first time that he has designed a collection of outdoor furniture (up until this time, he had designed lighting, wallpaper, window decorations and furniture).

In 1993 Des Bouvrie moved his design studio to Bussum Naarden-Vesting. Together with his partner, Monique, he transformed the iconic 'Het Arsenaal' building into a leading interior design institute of unprecedented influence in the field of interior architecture and product development.

Des Bouvrie not only creates furniture with attractive looks; his design ethos ensures that they are very comfortable too. Over the years, Jan des Bouvrie's designs have won many awards and distinctions, including the Culture Prize of 1974, the Style Prize in 1990 and the Furniture Prize in 1999. Des Bouvrie's vision is also clearly reflected in the numerous interior design books he has published.

Jan des Bouvrie is also active as a distinguished lecturer at various design academies, as well as having design college being named after him (Jan des Bouvrie Academy, based in Deventer).

After he finished high school, he went to the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam at the age of sixteen. He later started his own interior design shop in Naarden, The Netherlands, and hosted the TV show TV Woonmagazine. He designed the rooms in the Floris Suite Hotel to "Dutch colonial style with Caribbean temperament".

In the course of an episode of the Dutch television show Verborgen Verleden, which is similar to the British Who Do You Think You Are?, Jan des Bouvrie found that his family was descended from Jehan de le Bouvrie (born about 1480), of Sainghin-en-Mélantois, where his widow, Jeanne de la Motte, inherited a farm with four cows and two horses in 1543. A grandson of Jehan, the merchant Lawrence de Bouverie, born in Sainghin, migrated to England, where his descendant William des Bouverie, became the ancestor of the Earls of Radnor, of Longford Castle. Jan des Bouvrie hoped to meet the present-day William Pleydell-Bouverie, 9th Earl of Radnor, but was unsuccessful, as Lord Radnor would not agree to meet him.

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Wikipedia