RODERICK VOS' DESIGN PHILOSOPHY

Good design can—like art—question apparent truths. Good designs confronts with ingrained mindsets and offers ways to look at the world ‘differently’. Why is a table always round, rectangular or square? Why do we accept that it is impossible to arrange a bouquet of flowers in most vases? Why is a bookcase almost always a variation on ‘shelves along a wall’? Roderick Vos is a designer who keeps asking ‘why?’ And this leads to extraordinary, innovative designs, which make you think ‘yes, indeed, why not?’ At the same time, Roderick never loses sight of functionality. No ‘l’art pour l’art’ for him, no unusual shapes merely to be seen as ‘different’. Because, at the end of the day, you need to be able to eat from a table, to clean a vase, and to find the book you are looking for.

A striking example of Roderick’s design philosophy is his new ‘Broadway’ sofa, the transition from the front to the sides is not square or rounded, but chamfered at a 45 degree angle. So simple and also so brilliant that it makes you wonder ‘why did nobody else think of this?’ The unique silhouette this gives the ‘Broadway’, is underlined by a thick ‘cord’—covered in the same material as the sofa—, which traces the outline of each element. The silhouette also derives its strength from the fact that each element has been reduced to its essence: a seat and a back, without loose cushions interrupting its visual calm.

The ‘Broadway’ is a modular sofa, allowing each user to compose their own living environment. Because Roderick values the ‘be your own designer’ principle. And whichever composition you choose for your ‘Broadway’, the resulting look is both organic and cubist. An apparent contradiction, which Roderick has achieved through the combination of the aforementioned pure silhouette with a generous filling creating luscious ‘round’ shapes—as well as extremely comfortable seating! Because, as Roderick says, ‘what’s the use of a good-looking sofa if it is not great to sit on?’ Roderick is not a fan of the sometimes cynical postmodernism and prefers to pay heed to Plato, who saw the good, true and beautiful as coming from the same source: so what is beautiful, is also good and true. ‘I want to make people happy with beautiful things they can use. Objects that offer aesthetic pleasure. Strong shapes, which you sense are ‘beautiful’, ‘good’ and ‘true’.’ And this is where ‘Broadway’ succeeds.

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Roderick Vos

Dutch designer Roderick Vos (1965) graduated from the Design Academy Eindhoven in 1990, upon which he and his wife Claire, a textile designer, upped sticks and went to live in Surabaya, Indonesia. There, Roderick further developed his interest in Asian culture and its designs, an interest he was quite literally born with, being part Asian himself. Once back ‘home’ in the Netherlands, Roderick and Claire established ‘Studio Roderick Vos’ in beautiful Heusden Vesting, in 1999.

In his design aesthetics, Roderick feels less connected with post-modernism than with the Platonic philosophy that every soul desires the good, the true and the beautiful. So, that is what he tries to achieve. ‘I want to make people happy with beautifully useful pieces. Objects that exude aesthetic pleasure. Strong shapes that feel beautiful, good and true.’

We at Linteloo feel he succeeds in his achievements, each and every time.

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