Piet Hein Eek

Above: the Tree-Trunk garden house


Piet Hein Eek specialises in making furniture from waste material from the industry and nature. He also undertakes commissions which can be as varied as his ideas and materials. A recent commission is the 'Tree-Trunk garden house' made from hundreds of found logs.


Above: The Treetrunk armchair

Piet Hein Eek said, "While designing, material, technique and organisation are modifying factors. Because these factors are, or are chosen, different all the time, the designs are very different also. Our approach and pragmatic method of working stay unaltered by which you will sooner see a connection in methods of work than in appearances. For example I take the tree-trunk chair. This chair evolved from the nature project. A project in which I make products from material that, more or less, was withdrawn from nature. To let the material flourish it had to be processed in a simple technique. By using a specific screwed connection, the planks can now be joined square to each other. The materials we use are uncommon and modifying. Because of this, products arise that surprise me too. I would never have come up with the tree-trunk chair, if I'd design from my traditional sense of beauty."




Above: Scrap wood cupboard

Piet Hein Eek said, "The scrapwood cupboard from 1990 was my reaction against the prevalent craving for flawlessness. I wanted to show that products that aren't perfect still can appeal to our sense of aestetic and functionality. I also wanted to design a product that could be made with limited means, material that was abundant. The combination of uncommon material and also uncommon, but simple methods of working became the thread through our work. Because of the expanded possibilities the variety in work has grown. Still, the challenge remains to get the maximum out of the circumstances."

Piet Hein Eek