Description
Rob Parry studied interior design at the Royal Academy of Art in his hometown of The Hague from 1945 to 1949. His teachers included Paul Schuitema and Cor Alons. Another important mentor was Gerrit Rietveld, with whom Parry worked for a time as a student. In 1950, he founded his own design agency. From 1954 to 1958, Emile Truijen was his partner. They designed shop interiors, stands for trade fairs, exhibitions, and several products. Their best-known work is the red mailbox for the PTT (Dutch postal service), designed in 1957. Until the 1960s, Parry’s focus was on designing furniture, including for Meubelindustrie Gelderland. A great success at Gelderland was his mattress armchair (model ‘1611’), the Lotus in different versions. His style is characterized by elegant lines and the way materials are used. Besides working as an industrial designer, Parry also taught architectural design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rotterdam from 1962 to 1990, and later at the Willem de Kooning Academy. During the 1960s, Parry’s interests shifted from chairs to product design, interior design, and the design of stands and exhibitions. He also remained active in product design, such as jewelry, lettering, and toys, well into the 1990s. This Lotus lounge chair is newly upholstered and has also new seatwebbing, attached to a newly installed slat. In very good condition, steel, wood and upholstery in fabric, h. 93, w. 70, d. 90, seat h. 41, seat d. 52.
