Hella Jongerius

Background

Hella Jongerius (born 1963 in De Meern, the Netherlands) is a Dutch designer. She studied at the Academy of Industrial Design in Eindhoven from 1988 to 1993 and founded the studio Jongeriuslab in Rotterdam in 1993. According to her CV the studio opened a second location in Berlin in 2009; Wikipedia gives 2008 for the move.

Signature Style

Her studio's own text describes research on colours, materials and textures that is never complete, with attention to imperfections, traces of the making process and the potential of materials and techniques. Wikipedia says her design combines opposites such as new technology and handmade objects, and industrial manufacturing and craftsmanship.

Notable Works

• Polder Sofa for Vitra, 2005, her first industrially designed piece of furniture
• Worker chair (2006), Sphere Table (2012) and East River Chair (2014) for Vitra
• Upholstery textiles for Maharam, from 2002
• Cabin interiors and seats for KLM, from 2011
• The 2013 interior of the North Delegates' Lounge at United Nations Headquarters in New York

Legacy

She received the Sikkens Prize in 2017 and the BNO Piet Zwart Prize in 2021. In 2024 the Vitra Design Museum acquired her studio archive, and a retrospective at the museum with the book Whispering Things followed in 2026.