“Come on by, and you can see for yourself what I mean.” So I am standing in front of big glass sliding doors in the business centre Cabfab in The Hague, one creative hub. Once the sliding doors are opened I walk into a enchanting studio where the designers Bartel and Rogier extend me a warm welcome.

Prototypes of design ideas are heedlessly awaiting perfection. On the big computer screen three-dimensional CAD-designs are blinking brightly, photos of shapes found in nature decorate the walls, but the real eye catcher in this design kitchen is a timeless looking armchair. Rogier joins me: Isn’t it great, our first shoot of the gradually growing Lonc tree? I nod my head approvingly while I gingerly take place in it. “It must be very satisfying to encounter a figment of your imagination in reality.” “Very true, and the successors are already finished” 

After having exchanged the preliminary tidbits, Rogier starts telling enthusiastically. “After having completed our industrial design studies we worked for years with various design companies before we decided to start for ourselves in 2004. Now we produce work on command as well as autonomously. When we do assignments for a client it’s always a puzzle to figure out how to create a good design that also meets the wishes of the client. When creating our own designs we can transform our ideas without compromising into products which give us complete satisfaction. We keep fine-tuning until we retrieve our ideas in their final shape. On the other side for example, a chair should sit perfectly and be practical. That means building prototypes, testing them and then adjusting the design until we have the feeling that we have attained  the desired result.

Once we have taken place at the royal desks, each with a cup of coffee, the two boyish men tell about their motives to start their own label. Bartel: “When you think about it, the inspiration can come from just about anything. Sometimes you use a form detail from nature. Or we find out about an industrial technique which is really exciting to use in a totally different context to create new interior design pieces. Rogier interrupts: “It remains important that in that process we don’t follow any trends, but that we create timeless products. At Lonc you won’t find any gadgets which are nice for one year, and then disappear too a dusty attic. 

It is clear that these two men definitely know what they are talking about when they show me the full range of realized products,  of which certain award winning, on the 30inch monitor. Bartel interrupts the silence: “From the starting point at the drawing table up to the production we provide our designs with our own signature. This self willfulness can be recognized in a surprising combination of production techniques and materials, and always our own flowing design idiom. After a brief silence, he continues: “Maybe our designs do not appeal to everybody. We prefer having a smaller group which adores our products rather than that everyone finds them just fine.” Rogier attracts mine attention and states: “In the design phase we test our products both virtually and physically. For us durability is important, that’s why we want our clients to be happy with our product for a very long time.” Bartel: “That’s true, sometimes you can find the most amazing furniture in vintage stores, which above all when you look at the quality aspect are perfectly built. In 30 years you have to be able to find our designs in those same vintage stores.” 

As yet we’ll have to go to regular design stores to find the interior designs of Lonc. There you’ll have to do without the explanation of the designers. Ultimately the explanation is redundant because finally I cannot but agree with Bartel and Rogier: go have a look at one of those chairs, then you can experience for yourself what they are talking about. 

Jacob Troost