Meet Weltevree + The Designers
Weltevree is a Dutch design brand founded in 2007. We are a manufacturer of contemporary durable goods which aim to activate you and your surroundings. Our team develops inventive products in collaboration with the best designers and inventors, both established names and emerging talents. Weltevree is located in Amersfoort, The Netherlands.
What does Weltevree mean?
“Weltevree means you feel pleasant, contented with your surroundings. In the Netherlands old farmhouses are often named after this. It is a homely feeling: this is where I feel good.”
The Designers
Floris Schoonderbeek
Floris Schoonderbeek studied product design at ArtEZ School of Arts in Arnhem. In an ever-changing world not only do our surroundings change, our needs evolve as well. Floris wants to cater to these new needs as a designer, entrepreneur and concept developer. Practical solutions for a creative existence in a more beautiful world are his motives. Experience, functionality and sustainability are key in his vision. In his studio he creates his concepts, products and (art) works. Floris’ main goal: providing for a more independent and sustainable existence.
“You go on an adventure in your own backyard, or create comfort in the middle of nowhere”
The Dutchtub Original is without a doubt Floris’ most excellent design. The mobile tub, warmed by a wood oven, can be enjoyed everywhere. Forage some wood, fill the tub with either ground- or seawater and enjoy the warm bath. The Dutchtub will make you look at your environment in a completely new manner: transform your own backyard into an adventure, or create comfort in the middle of nowhere.
Besides this design Floris made other designs for Weltevree: Dutchtub Loveseat, Dutchtub Wood, Guidelight, Forestry Table, Forestry Bench en Stringlight.
Browse Floris Schoonderbeek's Designs >
Jair Straschnow
Jair Straschnow is a designer from Israel. He acquired a bachelor’s degree in technological education in design studies at the Tel Aviv University in 1995. Later, he did his post-graduate studies at the applied arts department of the Sandberg Instituut in Amsterdam (1991-2001). Straschnow’s work has been shown internationally and has been featured in numerous publications and magazines.
“Once a product can successfully fulfill more than one function it has even more reason to exist.”
The established designer currently resides in Amsterdam. On occasion, he gives workshops or lectures, but he’s mainly busy working in his studio. Jair Straschnow has a great passion for creating smart, ingenious products: “I’m a big fan of multifunctional furniture. Once a product can successfully fulfill more than one function it has even more reason to exist.”
This idea gave rise to the design of the Tablebench as well. The well-balanced classic design of a picnic table can often be experienced as static and limited in its functions. Designer Jair Straschnow got inspired by this observation and developed a modern and multifunctional interpretation of the picnic table: the Tablebench.
His latest addition to the Weltevree collection is the Bended Series. This aluminum garden furniture set consists of a table, a bench with a backrest and a bench without, and a stool. The series is made by bending aluminum sheets at a 45 degree angle, which creates a flexible yet sturdy construction that adapts to the ground it stands on. In short, the Bended Series will never wobble.
Browse Jair Straschnow's Designs >
Dirk Wynants
Dirk Wynants is an established designer and the founder of the Belgian brand Extremis. He studied Interior Architecture and Furniture Design at the Architecture Institute of Sint-Lucas in Ghent, Belgium. Soon after completing his studies he founded Extremis in 1994. Nowadays he is also the managing director of his own design studio Dirk Wynants Design Works. To Dirk Wynants a valuable product is more than a good-looking object.
“A design is often judged on several aspects, like economic viability, function, sustainability, esthetics and added value. It is very important to me to only create products that meet all of these standards and have added value most of all. A strong design offers a solution. The looks of the design should not be the result of just trends or taste, but the result of practical considerations and its function. In this way a product is more likely to be timeless and long-lasting.”
The Woodstock by Dirk Wynants was formerly part of his Extremis collection but was redesigned for Weltevree. It consists of two parts: a hand truck and a frame, both made of weatherproof steel. In the Woodstock Frame wood can be neatly stacked and stored near the fireplace. With the Woodstock Trolley one can transport the filled frame with ease. Dirk: “You can also use the Trolley for transporting all kinds of objects, like the Weltevree Outdooroven. I get a real kick out of developing products that serve multiple purposes.”
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Tom De Vrieze
Tom De Vrieze is a Belgian designer who’s currently active for his own design studio Tovdesign and a design cooperation Fox & Freeze. He studied IT and afterwards developed industrial CAD designs for a couple of years. Then he switched to furniture design in 1996. His experience in engineering and production have shaped his ideas and influence his designs, with functionality at the heart of each design.
“I don’t like too much blah-blah.”
The Serpentine was formerly part of the Extremis collection but was redesigned for Weltevree. On a warm day Tom de Vrieze longed for a way to cool off in his own garden. This is when he came up with the design for the Serpentine: a stainless steel garden shower with a practical design. Tom: “The shape is reduced to a minimum, a certain logic: form follows function. This resulted in an art-deco-look”.
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Lex Pott
Lex Pott is a Dutch designer who works from his own design studio based in Rotterdam. He studied at the Design Academy in Eindhoven, The Netherlands and graduated cum laude in 2009. In his work, Lex Pott returns to the origin of the materials he uses.
“My designs are often based on the use of pure and natural materials. I try to bring them back to their essence: the material. In the case of my designs for Weltevree that’s wood and natural stone. I always strive to create a certain harmony in shape, function and context"
The Rabat Shelving
Lex’s latest addition to the Weltevree collection is the Rabat Shelving. He got his inspiration for the design of the shelving system from Scandinavian architecture. Lex: “The inspiration comes from sheds and houses in Sweden, where you see this iconic profile of overlapping wood everywhere. If you turn this technique around, you create a functional shelf support. You simply hang the shelves inside.” The result is a profiled interior, while the exterior stays smooth: a uniquely refined closet that can be used indoors and outdoors.
Dick van Hoff
Dick van Hoff studied Product Design at the School of Arts in Arnhem. Functionality, quality and the relationship between the user and the product empower Dick’s designs. “Functionality surpasses aesthetics, but it doesn’t mean that form follows function,” Van Hoff claims. The designs are prominent and overwhelmingly stunning due to their powerful visual language. Often robust in form but subtly detailed. True icons that conquer your heart. “Their presence comes naturally, their place is logical and pleasant like an old friend,” says Van Hoff.
Dick van Hoff designed the Outdooroven and the Outdooroven XL specially for Weltevree.
“The Outdooroven was realized from the need to find more functions for fire than making a simple bonfire.”
Fire brings pleasure on a universal level, but has also always been used to prepare food. Van Hoff designs with his hands, often without the use of pen and paper. The end form from the oven is created through the process of making. The best way of heat distribution was found through trial and error.
Despite the fact that use value and experience are prominent, the simple and robust character of the oven shows an aesthetic appearance, which makes you want to put it in your backyard. It is a social product that sharpens the value of sitting around a fire or cooking together.