Dick Dankers
Born
Hendricus Dankers

22 April 1950[1]
Amsterdam
Died2 March 2018
Brasil
NationalityDutch
Occupation(s)Furniture designer; gallery owner
AwardsDutch Furniture Award, 1990[2]
Websiterkd.nl

Hendricus "Dick" Dankers (Amsterdam, 22 April 1950 - Brazil, 2 March 2018) was a Dutch furniture designer, and founder and gallery owner of The Frozen Fountain on the Prinsengracht in Amsterdam.[3] He is remembered as "the man who brought the Netherlands to design."[4]

Life and work

Youth and early years in interior design and sales

Dankers was born in Amsterdam and grew up in Rotterdam, where he completed the social academy after high school. After a world tour through America and Israel, he opened his first interior store in Amsterdam around 1975, focusing on vintage and art deco furniture.[4]

In 1985 Dankers opened The Frozen Fountain interior store in the Utrechtsestraat in Amsterdam. He collaborated with young designers to show their work, and also designed carpets and furniture himself. In 1990 he won the Dutch Furniture Award with his own designed round chest of drawers .[4]

The Frozen Fountain on the Prinsengracht

In 1992 in collaboration with Cok de Rooy they started The Frozen Fountain design gallery and moved to the Prinsengracht. The store offered a platform for starting designers such as Jurgen Bey, Piet Hein Eek, Hella Jongerius, Marcel Wanders, and Studio Job.[3]

In the first half of the 1990s, The Frozen Fountain organized several exhibitions with multiple design disciplines. There was a duo exhibition by Tejo Remy and Viktor & Rolf, and a duo exhibition by the theater group Alex d'Electrique and Henk Stallinga.[3]

Death

Dankers drowned in the sea while visiting his daughter in Brazil .

References

  1. ↑ Dana Ploeger. "Dick Dankers (1950-2018): Een aimabele hippie met een neus voor designtalent." Trouw, 16 April 2018.
  2. ↑ Els Palmkoeck. "Bekroonde ontwerpen op Utrechts meubelfestijn," De Telegraaf, Amsterdam, 1990/08/29
  3. 1 2 3 Arjen Ribbens. "The Frozen Fountain-oprichter Dick Dankers (67) overleden." NRC Handelsblad. 6 March 2018.
  4. 1 2 3 Peter de Waard, "Dick Dankers, de man die Nederland aan het design bracht: Het eeuwige leven: Dick Dankers (1950-2018)," de Volkskrant, 3 April 2018.
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