In Bergharen, the Dutch workshop Van Rossum begins a new chapter in its history by bringing together Studio KO, Christophe Delcourt, Pieter Maes, Thomas Haarmann and Xavier Dohr around common themes: roundness, mass, slow gesture.
A collection where solid wood and marble combine to create a tactile representation of patience. In the Gelderland countryside, there is a workshop where work is as natural as breathing. Since 1978, Van Rossum has been shaping solid wood there with the deliberate slowness of a craftsmanship measured more in seasons than in industrial cycles. Certified French oak, sourced from trees at least 50 years old, rests for two years before being moved to the workshop's climate-controlled rooms where it dries for up to twelve months. This discipline of time, long kept out of the spotlight, is about to be showcased in a new way: the family business now intends to broaden the scope of its offerings, to incorporate a more comprehensive vision of contemporary living. This approach takes the form of a collection where each piece engages in a dialogue with its neighbors like chapters in a single narrative.
The approach hinges on one obsession: the rounded shape. Not the dramatic curves of the 1960s, but an eroded, almost geological softness, as if each piece had been polished by time. This grammar finds its emblem in the library Patine By Belgian designer Pieter Maes, a subtly curved structure with cantilevered shelves, supported by exposed columns. The French oak is finished in a brushed Alice blue, a powdery blue reminiscent of the faded pastel of an ancient fresco. Maes speaks of forms reduced to their essence by wear; one senses the influence of archaic objects, whose beauty lies in the fact that their edges have disappeared under the caress of hands.
The same intuition guides the armchair Cairn Designed by Studio KO. The solid oak or walnut base supports a generously padded seat, bisected by a single armrest-back that creates a sensually asymmetrical shape. Details in patinated bronze brass, black ink velvet leather, and black pepper oak finish: everything is carefully chosen to evoke the stone structure from which the chair takes its name – a slow accumulation, an unstable balance, a reassuring presence.
Christophe Delcourt, on the other hand, is betting on grounding. His table RomyThe long, burnt oak table, brushed to a deep amber brown, rests on two sculptural legs split in the center, like a limestone rock weathered by water. The tabletop tapers to a discreet chamfer, an almost imperceptible detail that lightens the mass without betraying its essence. To complement it, the Parisian manufacturer offers the chair AbiThe upholstered seat is nestled within a seamless oak frame, while a leather strap encircles the backrest uprights – a detail of exquisite saddlery. The dove-blue velvet of the version shown contrasts with the Alice blue of the bookcase in a chromatic interplay that defines the collection's palette: powdery blues, warm browns, and deep blacks.
At this table, the chair Kitale Xavier Dohr's design offers a more geometric silhouette, where sculpted arms and tapered legs reveal a frame of calm rigor. Further on, the bar table Barrel Designed by Thomas Haarmann, this piece elevates the conversation with its solid oak base, refined profile top, and softened edge. The same designer also created the rarest piece in the collection, the coffee table. CurvumAvailable in Castleton marble and produced in a limited edition of six numbered pieces, this low, compact, almost self-contained piece reads like a single block, a continuous mass with its edges smoothed. It is, in a way, the epitome of the entire collection. Van Rossum doesn't seek to seduce through mere effect; the company champions a beauty that is slowly revealed, as the wood lightens with age. A patient school of design, reminding us that the most modern furniture is sometimes that which has never ceased to be timeless.
