Rob Eckhardt (1953)

After his studies at the department of Architecture on the former Polytechnic of Delft, Rob Eckhardt settled as an independent architect in 1980. Soon he met a few persons who were rebuilding and decoration of several cafës in Amsterdam. Through these channels he obtained the assignment to design a compact chair for a Disco. This resulted tin the chair "Dolores", which caught the attention of the magazine Avenue. At that time the furniture industry had reached a dead end and showed little interest. This was a reason for Eckhardt to open his own shop in 1982 in order to sell his designs by himself. Characteristic for his way of working is that he does not approach furniture as an isolated independent element, but always has a look at the surrounding of which they are part of.

A number of prominent Dutch museums have bought several of his designs. But also internationally the recognition Eckhardt receives is increasing. Until recently, several of his designs were produced by the prominent furniture factory Pastoe. However Eckhardt decided to have his designs "Groeten uit Holland" and "Karel Doorman" produced by Gebroeders van der Stroom.