Macassar Desks

This unique architect's desk was designed by Frits Spanjaard in 1932. With its generous proportions, striking asymmetry, contrasting woods and the large knobs in solid Macassar ebony, the desk can be considered as an important example of the Haagse School (The Hague School) style. The desk has four large drawers on the right, which can be simultaneously locked with a single key. The interior on the left features six drawers and additional storage, and can be locked altogether as well. Particularly noteworthy are the four cleverly incorporated pull-out shelves of different dimensions creating additional space: two on the front, one on the right side and one large shelf on the back side. The desktop is executed in dark stained oak and features a dark grey leather insert. in 1932, the prosperous Van Stolk & Reese company commissioned Spanjaard to design the interior and furniture of their offices located on the Ceintuurbaan in Rotterdam. This custom desk was most likely designed for the office of the company’s director, which was designed by Spanjaard in a radically modernist way, combining his own sumptuous designs with the functionalist tubular steel furniture made by W.H. Gispen. Between 1925 and 1935 the work of Spanjaard was strongly connected to the Haagse School movement of which he’d become a main proponent. This style was not so much inspired by the Classic European Art Deco capitals such as Paris and Vienna but more by other national and international architectural developments such as the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. The influential magazine Wendingen published a series of articles on Wright still relatively unknown at the time in 1925 and the renowned architect Jan Wils also played an important role in the orientation towards Wrights work in The Netherlands. In its particular application of geometric shapes, primary colours and its sophisticated cubist division of the surface, the Haagse School designers were also aware of De Stijl movement, lead by contemporaries such as Gerrit Rietveld and Piet Mondriaan. At the same time the geometry, the harmonious proportions and the understated decorations were primarily based on the rationalist design principles of H.P. Berlage, who would later become one of Spanjaard’s clients himself. Design had to meet the functional demands of the user but purely utilitarian ideas were certainly not the most important. Due to his frequent travels to Germany, Spanjaard was also familiar with the designs of Marcel Breuer and Mies van der Rohe, especially appreciating the simplicity and purity of their designs. Biography Frits Spanjaard (1889-1978) started his career as the artistic director of the LOV furniture...

Elegant Macassar Art Deco desk, circa 1930. Bronze handles.

Macassar and bronze desk attributed to Marc Du plantier inset with leather top and sliding extension with brass side compartments Galerie Themes, Saint-Ouen Property from a Private N...

Elegant pair of Italian Art Deco twin desks, 1940s. The refined design features Macassar wood structures enriched with parchment surfaces on the tops and drawers. The geometric rhyth...

Desk by Margareta Köhler (1901-1974). ca. 1938. Macassar Ebony. Desk with detachable top with two drawers. Designed by Margreta Köhler for...

A Macassar ebony and rosewood desk with adjustable lamp, attached waste bin, and hardware detail in solid polished nickel. This museum-quality reproduction of Ruhlmann’s original 193...

Beautiful streamline desk by Swedish architect Axel Einar Hjorth for NK, circa 1930. Birch and Macassar ebony Measures: 65" L x 29.5" H x 25.5" D.