Refurbishment

The refurbishment of these chairs has been made possible by a joint effort between Gispen and Stichting De Inzet from The Hague. This is a healthcare foundation for people with a mental or physical impairment. The foundation has a workshop where they guide people in professionally refurbishing desk chairs. The desk chair that was supplied to the Van Geuns building is the NPR model of the Drabert Entrada chair. Noortje van Kerkhof: ‘The chairs are comfortable and easy to use, but what is perhaps an even greater compliment, is that they did not even notice that the chairs were refurbished! I think it’s safe to say that I am a satisfied customer.’

Using sustainability and circularity as our guiding principles, both in terms of the building and its interior design and furniture. This was the mission for the renovation of Rijn IJssel Vakschool Wageningen (vocational college). It was Gispen’s task to refurbish all the reusable furniture pieces; a process carried out at its own factory in Culemborg. The frames and undercarriages of the tables were repainted and the tabletops were either renewed or sanded down and repainted in a new colour. The office chairs were given a thorough clean and have been fully reupholstered. The burgundy stools were repainted in anthracite grey to give them a more contemporary look. Robbert: “Another great example is the student chairs with wooden seat, wooden backrest and steel frame. These were present in large numbers. Functionally these sturdy chairs were still fine, but aesthetically they no longer fit the bill. Odette came up with the idea of blasting the wooden parts instead of sanding them. This was new to us, but it turned out to be possible at our own factory. The blasting process allowed us to safely remove all the old lacquer from the wooden parts and made it easier to repaint and stain the wood evenly. The frames of the chairs that were destined for the PLAZA were repainted in black. A product that has lasted for a decade or two can now last another twenty years!”