Michiel van der Kley [1962, the Hague] started designing and producing furniture for his own company in 1989. After several years, working as a 'self producing designer' he decided to emphasise exclusively on the design part. Meanwhile his designs are being produced by leading furniture companies in Holland and abroad.
Michiel van der Kley: "I sometimes like a design because it makes a large gesture, and sometimes I like a design because its details turn it into something special.
Nature inspires me, and music, especially Jazz.
For me, great design is autonomous. That and the lack of unnecessary ornaments and details.
I believe that an objects’ shape is always something whole, like a sculpture and I welcome details as integral part of a construction, not as something just to decorate with.
I personally like something that has a certain similarity with things from nature, be it a structure , be it a shape or just a small detail like a transition from a leg to the fabric of a chair. Apart from that I am always attracted to monolithic things.
Recent awards:
Merit award Singapore 2006
Best of the Best Award, 100%design 2006 Rotterdam for i-Con desk, the Netherlands
Winner Lokta Paper Contest 2007 Kathmandu, Nepal
Special reference at Toonvantuijl prijs 2009 with Impulse collection
GIO for Globus, the Netherlands 2009
