A colorful Dutch desk at the bend of a path...

Last week-end, we were wandering through "Marché Paul Bert", in the pittoresque "puces" of Saint-Ouen to find Jacobsen's pieces, when, at the bend of a path, we admired this beautiful desk, one of the first designed by Cees Braakman in 1951.

(Marché Paul Bert, allée 5, stand N. 212)

Cees Braakman (1917-1995) was one of the most influentual designers of the Netherlands. He started his career very young already at the age of 17 learning the basics of furniture production. After the second world war, he was sent to the US to study American design and production processes. There he was particularly inspired by the works of the  Eames at Herman Miller. 

The clean, efficient and forward-thinking designs of Braakman paved the way for success for the manufacturer Pastoe during the 1950's and 1960's he worked for from his very beginnnings. Some of Braakman's most reknown designs includes a pioneering series of modular cabinets that was based on self-assembly and could be combined in endless ways and in various materials, as well as the 'U+N' series created during the 1960's.