Martin Visser, born in Papendrecht in 1922. He was born with a love for art and became a great art collector. His collection includes work by Cobra, Kiefer and Keith Haring. The Kröller-Müller Museum has 400 of these objects in its collection.
After the MTS, Martin Visser started at the Bijenkorf after 5 years as purchasing manager. From 1955 to 1974 he worked at ‘t Spectrum (a subsidiary of Weverij de Ploeg). At ‘t Spectrum, he coordinated the production of furniture and designed the famous BR02 sofa bed, the chairs SZ01, SZ07 and the well-known SZ63 himself.
During his 19 years at ‘t Spectrum, he linked big names with this company such as: Gerrit Rietveld, Friso Kramer, Hein Stolle, Koh Liang Ie and Benno Premsela.
From 1978 to 1983 he worked as a curator of modern art at Boymans-van Beuningen in Rotterdam. In the 1980s, inspired by art and his wife Joke van der Heijden, he designed a few more pieces of furniture (Unica and small series), he tries out new shapes and materials such as cardboard and perforated steel plate.
In 1998 Visser’s design career was awarded the Oeuvre Prize for design from the Fund for Visual Arts.
He passed away in 2009.
Check out our items by Martin Visser:
Blue sofabed – ‘t Spectrum – Martin Visser
Article number 7472 Martin Visser sofabed br02.7 produced by ‘t Spectrum. With new hr foam and also new upholstery. We’ve choosen the woolen fabric by Camira,it is a woolen fabric with a special, but subtle structure in a beautiful blue … Continued
Sofa bed br03 – ‘t Spectrum – Martin Visser
Article number 7473 Martin Visser sofa bed br03 produced by ‘t Spectrum. With new hr foam and also new upholstery. The sofabed has a square, black metal frame. And you can turn this sofa into a bed, by simply pulling … Continued
Martin Visser sofabed br03 – ‘t Spectrum
Article number 7441 Martin Visser sofabed br03 produced by ‘t Spectrum. With new hr foam and also new upholstery. We’ve choosen the woolen fabric by Kvadrat from the Perla 2.2 series. This fabric is designed by the Dutch artist Frans … Continued
Sofa bed br03 – Spectrum – Martin Visser
Article number 7440 Visser sofa bed br03. Martin Visser’s Iconic Dutch Design Designed for ‘t Spectrum in the early 60s. This model with a black metal square frame is one of the first versions of this Visser sofa bed. With … Continued
Light gray sofabed br02.7 – Martin Visser – ‘t Spectrum
Article number 7397 Discover the versatile sofa bed by Martin Visser. This sofa bed model br02.7 was designed by Visser in the early 60s for Spectrum and is the perfect combination of style and functionality. This timeless design classic offers … Continued
Kiwi Green sofa bed br03 – Martin Visser – ‘t Spectrum
Article number 7168 The Martin Visser sofa bed is an iconic design from the early 60s. Martin Visser designed this classic for ‘t Spectrum (the Netherlands). The design of this sofa has sleek lines, but the sofa provides a lot … Continued