Michiel van der Kley [born in 1962, The Hague], describes himself as a designer with a clear vision. His work is functional, associative and non-conceptual. ‘What you see is what you get.’ When studying history he came across the futuristic furniture design of the beginning of the 20th century and he was sold. After he finished his study History he couldn’t stop thinking about designing and started to design furniture on his own. After several years as a self-producing designer he decided to focus on design only, and he started to sell his work to manufacturers. Currently his designs are produced by several leading manufacturers in the Netherlands and abroad, among which are Artifort, Arco, Gispen, Palau and van Esch. His designs, a wide range of different furniture pieces are recognizable by their futuristic look and fluent lines. Designs as if they are made out of one piece. Van der Kley works like an improvising jazzmusician: he works intuitive and without any plan in advance. He starts with putting lines on paper while reacting to the impulses around him, and then all of a sudden he sees something in his drawing to define a new design. Van der Kley says: ‘I have to follow my heart. And when, at some point, my heart makes a jump, I know my design is finished and I won’t make any changes to it anymore. What works for me must work for other people as well.’
