Designboost 2007

Furniture for the digital depot of the Boymans van Beuningen Museum Museum collections sometimes resemble living creatures: they grow. In the new digital depot of the Boymans van Beuningen Museum this is apparent. By means of digital presentations it is possible for visitors to acquaint themselves with the entire museum collection. There is for example a projected digital data cloud, constructed from small balls each representing an object of art. They make the sheer size of the collection palpable. There are also projection screens zooming in on the world behind an object of art.

The six seating elements in the digital depot are designed by Rene Veenhuizen and Tejo Remy. The units invite visitors to sit down, rest or look around. What attracts the attention immediately is that the units are different in size. Starting point for this design was the idea that the museum expanded like a body. Subsequently the idea arose to let the seating units originate through cell division: by means of connecting the same basic element (a tennis ball) over again, the units represent organisms in different stages of growth. Depending on size, the units offer seating capacity from 2 to several visitors.

Although the material has probably never been used for furniture before, it appears to be made for this purpose. The tennis ball not only has an appropriate molecule like shape, it is also soft on the outside. The upholstery of the seating unit is therefore already enclosed in the smallest part of the unit, the ball itself.

Tejo Remy and Rene Veenhuizen were commissioned by among others, Boymans van Beuningen museum, Central Museum in Utrecht, Fondiazione L’ Arte Teseco Pisa, Kossmann and De Jong exhibition architects and De Appel Amsterdam. Their products are included in the collections of Droog Design and Mobach.

The Boymans van Beuningen Museum and Kossmann and De Jong exhibition architects commissioned the furniture for the digital depot.

Tejo Remy en Rene Veenhuizen