Cees Braakman, Dutch modernist of Pastoe

Cees Braakman (1917-1995) is one of the founding figures of modern Dutch design. A designer at UMS Pastoe in Utrecht from 1945, he ran the studio for thirty years and developed a language halfway between American modernism (discovered during a trip to Herman Miller in 1947) and Scandinavian rigour. His Made to Measure series (from 1955), modular, in teak or rosewood veneer, equipped a whole generation of European interiors. A democratic and sober body of work, today rediscovered for its absolute formal coherence.