Modernist Bastille Side Chairs by Piet Blom, 1960s, Set of 2

He designed these Bastille Chairs in 1964 for the canteen of the Technical University in Twente, Netherlands. Only about 400 were ever manufactured. After renovation of the university 200 pieces survived. This set of chairs, amongst others, was salvaged and restored, and was then used in the university of Delft before its new life now as a rare set of design icons.

In the 1960s Piet Blom designed the ”Bastille” canteen to become an exciting castle full of stairs and corridors where students could meet. The building was baptized ”Bastille” as a reference to the famous Parisian prison fortres, with its massive stone facades and high positioned windows were little light came through.
The Bastille had a square vertical core with a stairwell, and Blom placed four concrete cubes around it. The complex placement of the building components created a true labyrinth in the interior with no less than thirteen level differences. The twelve mezzanines had dozens of balustrades, walls, niches and stairs. Blom believed that if students experienced his building as a small town, it would promote their social well-being.

These modernist chairs blended in perfectly in the design, as illustrated in the last photograph.