Louis Christiaan Kalff

Evoluon , designed by Louis Kalff and Leo de Bever

Louis Christiaan Kalff ( November 14, 1897 in Amsterdam - September 16, 1976 in Waalre ) was a Dutch designer . After graduating from high school, Kalff studied at the Quellinus School in Amsterdam (today's Gerrit Rietveld Academie ) and at the Technical University of Delft .

Between 1925 and 1926 Kalff and Jan Hanrath designed the building for the Delft student rowing association DSRV Laga in the style of the Amsterdam school .

In 1925 Kalff started working in the advertising department at Philips . Under his direction, the Lichtadviesbureau (German: Light Consulting Office, LIBU) was set up in 1929 . He designed the Philips logo and took part in the world exhibitions in Barcelona , Antwerp , Brussels and Paris . Afterwards he designed freelance posters and advertising prints for the Holland America Line, the Calvé company, the seaside resort Scheveningen and Holland Radio. He also designed book covers.

At Philips, Kalff also worked as an architect on objects such as the Dr. AF Philips Observatory in Eindhoven (1937), the Diamantenhof in Valkenswaard (1948) and some country houses for Philips directors in Eindhoven and Waalre .

After the Second World War , Kalff worked as a product designer at Philips. After his retirement in 1960, he stayed with the company as a consultant and architect. In 1961 he was entrusted with the construction management of the Evoluon . That was the last work of the lighting architect, who was in charge of advertising for the Philips group for almost forty years.

literature

• Peter van Dam: Ir. Louis Christiaan Kalff (1897–1976): Het artistieke geweten van Philips. Published by [Z] OO producties (www.zooproducties.nl), 2006, ISBN 978-90-74009-44-7 .