W. H. Gispen

Willem Hendrik Gispen (7 December 1890, in Amsterdam – 10 May 1981, in The Hague) was a Dutch industrial designer, best known for his Giso lamps and serially produced functionalist steel-tube furniture.

The same can be said of his steel-tube chairs and furniture, with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Mart Stam and Gerrit Rietveld among his inspirations.

[citation needed] In the early years, Gispen’s designs were much in line with the expressionism of the Amsterdamse School and the Art Nouveau.

Besides ornamental wrought-iron work, Gispen produced things like firesides, lamps, wooden furniture and clocks.

In the following years Gispen successfully experimented with quantity production of small cast brass lamps and bronze window and door profiles.

[citation needed] From 1923 onwards Gispen comes into (in)direct contact with multiple inspirational sources: the ideas of the Bauhaus through architect J.J.P.

In 1925, at the international exhibition of Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris, not only did Gispen receive a medal for his ornamental iron-work, he also became acquainted with Le Corbusier, Constructivism and other French modernists.

[2] In 1926 Gispen put his Giso lamps on the market, which were designed on the basis of the demands of Scientific Lighting, aesthetics and economics.

Gispen became inspired by objects such as the cantilever chairs of Mart Stam and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

[citation needed] Gispen opened showrooms in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Brussels and later in London, Paris and other cities abroad.

Leading representatives of the "New" Photography and Typography of the 1920s, such as Jan Kamman and Paul Schuitema, designed the product catalogs and other advertising material.

[citation needed] In the ‘30s, Thonet-Nederland summoned Gispen to court on account of breach of authorship of Mart Stam on the cantilever chair.

He remained active in the design related field, with several publications in the magazine Goed Wonen, lecturing at the Royal Academy in The Hague, co-founding the Kembo-factory in 1953 and so on.