Modern Dutch design owes a great deal to Gerard van den Berg. While the Netherlands has a rich furniture-making tradition, it took a maverick like Van den Berg to bring it into a new era. His innovative armchairs, lounge chairs and sofas offer a reinterpretation of mid-century modern Dutch designs and have found wide appeal among international customers.
Van den Berg was born in 1947 to a family of designers. His father owned a furniture company in Hellevoetsluis where Van den Berg worked as an apprentice and then designer until he and his brother, Ton, founded their own workshop, in 1974. That company, named Montis, produced mostly upholstered seating for homes and businesses.
At Montis, Van den Berg challenged traditional Dutch furniture forms. Rather than starting with the piece's frame, which he felt was restrictive, he focused on the silhouette. This inspired Van den Berg to create slim and elegant furniture, often featuring angular metal legs and leather upholstery. In 1983, he pioneered the "jacket technique," consisting of a zipped leather cover around a metal frame. Several iconic Montis seats use this technique, including the Chaplin chair, the Butterfly lounge chair and the Rocky sofa.
In 1989, Van den Berg launched his own design studio and began designing for companies like Wittmann, Molteni and Perobell. He left Montis in 1990 to cofound a new company, called Label, with Ton the following year. Label furniture captures the essence of no-nonsense Dutch design. It is comfortable and relaxed, featuring simple forms that are pleasing to the eye.
Van den Berg's irreplaceable contributions to furniture design have garnered multiple awards over the years. Some of the most notable include the Kho Liang Prize, the Mobilia Innovation Award and the Prize for Interior Architecture.
Today, Van den Berg's son Jasper and Ton's daughter, Marieke, manage Label. Van den Berg's other son, Ivo, is also a designer at the company.
On 1stDibs, find Gerard van den Berg seating, case pieces and more.
Customizable Montis Yves Armchair by GERARD VAN DEN BERG
By Gerard Van Den Berg
Located in New York, NY
Is it a dining room chair, a project or conference chair? With his flexible character, Yves is it all. Gerard van den Berg devised a slender steel construction as the basis for a uni...
Upholstery
Customizable Montis Vico Armchair by GEERT KOSTER
By Montis
Located in New York, NY
Price listed for starting fabric. Vico is the cousin of our easy chair Enzo. Geert Koster designed a compact dining chair that complements any interior. With its streamlined shape a...
Upholstery
Customizable La Manufacture-Paris Calice Armchair Designed by Patrick Norguet
By Patrick Norguet
Located in New York, NY
The Calice armchair owes its name and shape to the ancient sacred cups revered as objects of desire.The result of designer Patrick Norguet’s high-minded work on simplicity, this armc...
Textile
Customizable La Manufacture-Paris Linus Armchair Designed by Marco Dessi
By Marco Dessi
Located in New York, NY
The Linus chair inspiration is rooted in the Nordic design heritage. Homage to an organic modernism, its sumptuous and inviting shapes espouse a contemporary and straightforward min...
Textile
Customizable La Manufacture-Paris Sassi Armchair Design by Atelier Oï
By Atelier Oï 1
Located in New York, NY
Sassi owes its Italian name and its shape to pebbles, stones whose rounded shape provided its main inspiration. The chair’s back and armrests appear to float freely, barely touching each other, like perfectly smooth polished stones. The chair’s back and armrests appear to float freely, barely touching each other, like perfectly smooth polished stones. Stones either laid down by hand to erect a tower or carefully placed using the time-old technique of dry stone walls, where interlocking rocks prevent the structure from coming apart. Drawing from Italian craftsmanship, atelier oï...
Textile
Customizable Montis Ringo Lounge Chair by GERARD VAN DEN BERG
By Montis, Gerard Van Den Berg
Located in New York, NY
Gerard van den Berg describes his design Ringo as ‘cosy and inviting.’ Taking a strikingly minimal shape as his starting point, he designed three basic models. Ringo is available as...
Leather, Fabric
Jean-Luc Le Mounier, Empreinte, Contemporary Dining Armchair, France, 2023
By Jean-Luc Le Mounier
Located in New York, NY
From his Empreinte Collection, a series of pieces centered around a theme of destruction and reconstruction, these chairs are composed of patinated bronze cast from broken and burned wooden planks. Fine, light, and comfortable (feats unto themselves when it comes bronze), these pieces are nevertheless characteristic of the attention Le Mounier pays to the smallest of details. The Brittany-based designer, artist, and furniture maker Jean-Luc Le Mounier has been acquainted with the world of craftsmanship since his childhood, a large part of which was spent in the workshop of his grandfather, a carpenter. “Already when I was very young,” says Le Mounier, “I was passionate about building objects, I made miniature wooden...
Bronze
Jean-Luc Le Mounier, Empreinte, Contemporary Dining Armchair, France, 2023
By Jean-Luc Le Mounier
Located in New York, NY
From his Empreinte Collection, a series of pieces centered around a theme of destruction and reconstruction, these chairs are composed of patinated bronze cast from broken and burned wooden planks. Fine, light, and comfortable (feats unto themselves when it comes bronze), these pieces are nevertheless characteristic of the attention Le Mounier pays to the smallest of details. The Brittany-based designer, artist, and furniture maker Jean-Luc Le Mounier has been acquainted with the world of craftsmanship since his childhood, a large part of which was spent in the workshop of his grandfather, a carpenter. “Already when I was very young,” says Le Mounier, “I was passionate about building objects, I made miniature wooden...
Bronze
V-Dining Chair, Arno Declercq
By Arno Declercq
Located in Geneve, CH
V-dining chair - Arno Declercq Burned and waxed Iroko wood. Measures: 46 cm wide x 57 cm long x 81 cm high / 18” wide x 22.5” long x 32” high Seat. 45cm high x 45 cm wide x 42 cm ...
Wood
Contemporary Armchair Design by Benjamin Poulanges
By Benjamin Poulanges
Located in Paris, FR
Origine armchair, Off-White Tweed Fabric and Corten Steel Arms, made in France, Limited Edition, Designed by Benjamin Poulanges, French artist represented by Galerie Negropontes in P...
Steel
Maiori, Occasional Armchair Upholstered with Leather and Fabric
By CPRN HOMOOD
Located in Ponsacco, IT
The Maiori occasional armchair is a new way of decorating an interior environment. Its smooth and tapering silhouette allows it to create harmony in a brand-new or existing ambience...
Leather, Fabric, Ash
Interlock Dressing Chair By André Fu Living
By André Fu
Located in Admiralty, HK
a dressing chair designed as a nod to traditional interlocking timber furniture. crafted in solid ash, the low-back chair is adorned with intricate deta...
Fabric, Leather, Ash
