During this time the young Schrofer acted as de Wit's artistic assistant, developing an awareness of sculptural style in the process.
[4] Inspired by slow relaxed movement and shape of turtle ('scudo' means 'shield' in Italian), the reclining armchair was one of the most commercially successful for the manufacturer.
It is based on the structure of a working bee and a few years later, for Formi Phase II, Schrofer further innovated the design to incorporate a rotary continuous passive motion (RCPM) industrial seating mechanism (used for spinal rotation).
Schrofer has designed for Dutch furniture manufacturers such as Leolux,[5] Metaform, Harvink, Hartman Outdoor Products and Bree's New World,[2] as well as international brands such as: In 1998, Schrofer approached the Dutch-managed, Chinese-based trade house, Xindao, and English teak garden firm, Lister Teak 1874 (part of the Sun Wood Group), with designs for mixed material garden furniture collections.
[6] He was successful: five collections designed by Schrofer for those manufacturers were, in 2000, simultaneously introduced at SPOGA, the annual sport and garden trade fair held in Cologne, Germany.
Early on in his career, Schrofer's created several lighting designs (for Dutch firm, Scopelight, and Indoor of Amsterdam) including the Plume (1990),[4] a lamp whose metal components were so intricate that the precision engineering skills of instrument makers had to be used for manufacture.
In 2011, Schrofer approached the historic Dutch gin manufacturer, van Kleef, with an idea to innovate the product's packaging, suitable for use as a gift representing the city of The Hague.
Using a traditional ceramic manufacturing technique, Schrofer designed two distinctively shaped bottles to differentiate the old gin (oude) from the young (jonge) distilling process, together with matching shot glasses.
Still a keen advocate for developing local talent, in 2012 Schrofer lectured for the Dutch organisation, Cultuur Ondernemen, which seeks to encourage entrepreneurship amongst artists and cultural creatives.
His uncle, Jan Schrofer, was the founder of the furniture factory, The Circle (later to become the market leader, Ahrend), in Zwanenberg, Netherlands and was renowned for his collaboration with Friso Kramer in the development of the Revolt chair.